Editorial
Business prospects with North-eastern India
Removal of trade barriers and enhanced connectivity are key
Tripura chief minister Manik Sarkar's observations on the huge prospect of trade and commerce that his and other northeastern states of India hold for Bangladesh made at a conference organised by Indian business and industry leaders in Agartala are highly encouraging for Bangladesh and its business community. That Bangladesh can immensely benefit from expanded trade relations with its closest neighbour need not be overemphasised.
As the Indian business leaders pointed out at the conference, there is a huge market worth USD 20 billion for Bangladesh in the north-eastern Indian states alone. Oddly though, in spite of this enormous volume of business for Bangladesh to make from those outlying states of India, it is still trailing behind India with a large trade gap of over USD 3 billion. And the Bangladesh foreign Minister Dipu Moni, who is on a two-day visit to Tripura and was present at the conference did rightly stress the need for removing the prevailing tariff and non-tariff barriers coming as they are in the way of a freer and further expanded trade relations between the two close neighbours.
Though part of India, the cost of business between these north-eastern states and the rest of India is very high, if only for the great distance the goods and services have to travel to reach there. Which is why Tripura chief minister has portrayed such an optimistic picture of trade between Bangladesh and the north-eastern states of India.
We cannot agree more with Tripura chief minister on such prospects. Having said that we would like him to take note of the customary barriers that often prejudice such possibilities. True, there is a large market for Bangladesh's readymade garment (RMG), food items, toiletries and leather goods in Tripura and other northeastern Indian states. But can Bangladeshi exporters access that market in an open and hassle-free manner? Apart from certain duties that are imposed on our exportable items, there are also the non-tariff barriers like costly laboratory tests and import permits for the Indian importers of these goods.
But we are hopeful that the Indian authorities are increasingly awakening to the fact that freer trade relations with Bangladesh is in the interest of both the countries. On this score, for enabling further expansion of trade and commerce between Bangladesh and India, the present level of connectivity has to be taken to greater heights. To this end, Bangladesh has already opened up the prospect of using its two seaports Chittagong and Mongla for India and two other South Asian states Nepal and Bhutan. It is hoped the region as a whole would seize the opportunity and turn these two ports as a hub of regional trade and commerce.
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