Govt takes measures to reduce trade deficit with India: Tofail

BSS, Sangsad Sangstha :
Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed today told the Jatiya Sangsad that the government has taken a series of measures to reduce Bangladesh’s trade deficit with India.
“We’ve taken steps to hold regular meetings at joint-secretary level working group and secretary level under the Bangladesh-India bilateral trade agreement to reduce Bangladesh’s trade gap with India,” he said while replying to a tabled question from treasury bench member M Abdul Latif.
The government is trying to remove various tariff and non-tariff barriers to boost Bangladesh’s exports to India, Tofail said, adding that India has already withdrawn four percent special duty on the import of readymade garments and 14 percent additional duty (countervailing and customs) on jute goods.
Besides, India has already set up a lab at Kolkata for testing Zamdani sarees and allowed exporting of Bangladesh goods through different land-ports, Tofail said, adding that both the countries have signed Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) and made it effective for allowing entry of import-export goods-laden trucks of the two countries up to 200-km of their territories.
Tofail said Bangladesh’s exports to India is steadily increasing as the country has already given Bangladesh quota-duty free market access to its market for all products except 25 items under South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) agreement.
Bangladesh is also organizing trade fair at different places in India to boost export of its products to India, he said, adding that for increasing cross-border trade between the two countries, two border-haats have already been set up on a pilot basis and process is under way to set up 40 more such border-haats.
According to the available data, Bangladesh’s trade gap with India stood at $4.17 billion in the fiscal year 2012-13. Bangladesh imported Indian goods worth $4.74 billion in the FY13 against the exports of $563.96 million.