• Investment World
• eWorld
• Catalyst
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest

Our Bureau

Kolkata , July 28

THE Bangladesh diplomat here feels that bilateral trade between the two countries will increase despite innumerable ground level problems faced by the exporters and importers.

Md. Touhid Hossain, Deputy High Commissioner of Bangladesh in Kolkata, said that there is a huge potential for Indian textile items in his country. He was addressing the members of Merchants Chamber of Commerce. However, members of the chamber made several complaints against Bangladeshi importers.

According to them, the most common problem is related letter of credit (LC) issued by different Bangladeshi banks.

It may be noted that formal trade between India and Bangladesh is more than $1 billion, but informal trade is over $3 billion. However, it is mostly in favour of India.

In 2002, under the Indo-Bangla Trade Agreement, India has allowed duty-free entrance to 80 Bangladeshi items.

According to Mr Hossain, Bangladeshi exporters are circumspect about the withdrawal of the duties. They feel that India will create some sort of non-tariff barrier to stop the entrance of Bangladeshi goods. "I want to clear these doubts," he said.

Chamber members also expressed their unhappiness over the visa arrangements. They felt there were too many restrictions on the issuance of visas and the Bangladeshi Government was not keen enough to sort it out. They urged him to take up the matter immediately for otherwise commercial activities would be hampered

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication

Stories in this Section
Gulf NRIs promise to invest $10 b in AP

Copyright © 2003, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line