Dhaka, Delhi agree on comprehensive economic partnership

Dhaka and New Delhi have agreed to forge comprehensive economic partnership to boost trade ties as Bangladesh moves out of the LDC.

Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed and his Indian counterpart Suresh Prabhu took the decision at a bilateral meeting in Dhaka on Wednesday.

"This will be futuristic as well as realistic," Prabhu said in a joint briefing at the state guesthouse Padma.

India and Bangladesh have an existing trade agreement and both countries are also members of the Agreement on South Asian Free Trade Area or SAFTA, under which India has granted duty free quota free access to Bangladesh as an LDC.

As Bangladesh graduates from the LDC status in the next few years, Prabhu said there would be a need to have a bilateral arrangement to enhance trade and commerce between the countries.

This is Prabhu’s first official visit to Bangladesh as a minister.

Since his arrival in Bangladesh on Monday, there have been informal one-on-one talks with his counterpart to find out what are the issues that need to be addressed, he said.

“In formal delegation-level talks, we have decided to address each and every issue that both the countries have while dealing with trade with each other,” said Prabhu, flanked by his counterpart.

“This is in line with the great understanding, friendship, and relationship that both the prime ministers share with each other that resulted in the relationship with two close neighbours – one of the best ever we are experiencing today,” he said.

India will be a $10 trillion economy by 2035 and soon after that Bangladesh will be a developed country, Prabhu said. “Young people dominate both the countries.”

So, he said, they have decided to work closely to address the aspirations of the people and societies so that all can benefit.

Taking that into account, they have decided to look at the possibilities of signing a “comprehensive economic partnership agreement”, he said.

“It will be a win-win situation for both,” he said, adding that they will take into consideration all the concerns of Bangladesh and any deal “will never be signed unless we make sure Bangladesh’s concerns are put in it”.

Both sides decided to work together at the WTO to infuse dynamism into it.

The Indian minister also invited Bangladesh to be a “partner country” in the “partnership summit” to be held in India in January.

“This is probably one of the best bilateral talks we held together because each party was very frank. Bangladesh has put across all of its concerns at the right earnest and we did the same.

“But at the same time, there is a strong underline desire to address the issues without compromising national interests of either side,” he said.

“Therefore we are very keen to resolve all the issues while taking into consideration the interests of Bangladesh and Indian industries.”

“This will be a win-win situation.”

Tofail Ahmed said there would be a joint statement based on the talks.

He said they have discussed all the issues related to bilateral trade and that there is “no problem” between the countries at this moment.

Ahmed said his Indian counterpart also assured him of looking into anti-dumping duties on jute when he made the request.

As India and Bangladesh operate four border haats on the no-man’s land of the border, they have decided to open six more.

One on the Sherpur border will be opened very soon, Ahmed said.

Both sides also decided to give a push for two months from Oct 15 at the Benapole-Petrapole border to clear the congestion so that all the export and import goods can reach the destination on time.

The two-way trade between India and Bangladesh crossed $9 billion last year.