New Delhi wants Dhaka to remove restrictions on Indian products before PM’s trip

New Delhi has reminded Dhaka once again of eliminating what it said were various ‘restrictions’ at the land ports of Bangladesh for entry of Indian products before Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina begins her India tour on 5th September, officials said.

Indian High Commission in a letter on August 30 asked the Foreign Ministry of Bangladesh to take necessary steps to this end.

The Indian memo was also sent to the commerce ministry and the National Board of Revenue, respectively.

The giant neighbour referred to its note verbale of September 2020 and, in the following February when the 13th meeting of the India-Bangladesh Joint Working Group on Trade took place. There the issue of removal of port restrictions was discussed.

In the note verbale and the meeting, the Indian authority made some specific requests to let go of the port restrictions.

According to a recent memo, India wanted Bangladesh to dedicate one land port per bordering State in the North Eastern Region of India without restrictions and minimum negative list. It said Agartala-Akhaura integrated check post could be taken as a case study.

The neighbouring nation also requested for issuance of statutory regulatory order (SRO) for Sabroom-Ramgarh land port, and solicited permission for export of railway sleepers, petroleum products, including diesel, natural riverbed sand, and pebbles by rail cargoes through Haldibari-Chilahati land port.

India also asked for permission to export chassis through the Bhomra land port and yarn and fabrics export through Sonamasjid and Bhomra land ports, and also printing paper through Burimari and Banglabandha land ports, respectively.

India further asked Bangladesh to allow the export of additional products such as engineering goods, petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, motor vehicles, cars, and auto parts, grey and white cement, marble slabs and solar panels through the Darshana land port.

The export permission for cotton yarn, fabrics, water, juices and beverages, aluminum ingots and billets, granulated pig iron, blast furnace slag, hot rolled coil, cold rolled closed annealed, cold rolled full hard, and TMT bars were also sought vis the same land port.

The neighbour also wanted to export tea through the Chatlapur land port in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh became the fifth-largest import destination for Indian goods this March, registering 11 per cent growth.

A senior official at the Ministry of Commerce told the Business Insider Bangladesh that Indian appeal is now being examined by the relevant Bangladeshi authorities and port restrictions would be eased gradually.

"It's a continuous process and will take time," said the official. Bangladeshi goods see huge non-tariff and para-tariff barriers while entering India, he added.

According to the government data, Bangladesh exported goods worth US$1.096 billion to India against an import of $5.793 billion in fiscal year 2019-20.

In the previous fiscal year, Bangladesh imported goods worth $7.647 billion from India, while its exports aggregated $1.248 billion.