Bangladesh wants India to remove barriers of seed, jute exports

Two senior ministers of Bangladesh have requested India to remove export barrier of seeds and withdraw anti-dumping duty, which they think are big barriers to foster further bilateral trade and commerce between the two friendly neighbours.

“Bangladesh will appreciate if India removes export barrier of seeds,” said Agriculture Minister Dr Muhammad Abdur Razzaque.

He made the observation at a virtual discussion on ‘India Bangladesh Digital Conference on Agriculture Sector’ followed by B2B session on Tuesday. The conference was jointly organised by the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) and the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII).

Razzaque said: “We would like to see more cooperation in agro processing sector. Indian companies can set up manufacturing plants in our economic zones.”

During the discussion, Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi said India is not just a neighbour but also a good friend of Bangladesh.

He mentioned that India is the second largest trade partner of Bangladesh, but the trade balance is heavily tilted to India.

Munshi said the anti-dumping measures taken by the Indian government against Bangladeshi export items, including jute, have adversely affected Bangladesh’s exports.

Piyush Goyal, minister of commerce and industry, railways and consumer affairs, food and public distribution of India, believes agriculture can have game-changing potential between the two countries.

He mentioned that Bangladesh is the India's biggest trade partner in South Asia and the partnership is a role model in this region.

Sheikh Fazle Fahim, president of FBCCI, said: “No two nations are like ours in this world build on humane ties that are bonded in our heritage, culture, anthropology which were to be cherished and honoured for generations to come.”

He said Bangladesh’s private sector procures multi-billion dollars of value chain inputs from India which have higher prospects and Bangladesh wants to jointly work to move towards a sustainable trade balance.

“These will be possible through JVs, industry diversification and market diversification. And we are confident we can achieve any goals through stronger public private engagement beyond our borders,” Fahim said.

He said there is a huge scope for joint collaboration, mutual expansion and knowledge sharing between India and Bangladesh.

Pawan Goenka, managing director and CEO of Mahindra & Mahindra, said Bangladesh is one of the top three markets for Mahindra. “We want to make it number one,” he said.

Vikrm Doraiswami, Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh, said agriculture is a key sector for both of us in political, social and economic terms.

T V Narendran, President-Designate of CII and CEO & Managing Director of Tata Steel Ltd, said the two countries can jointly target the economies of the east to diversify exports.

Delegates from leading companies of both countries participated in two B2B sessions of the programme.