Bangladesh and India are going to start negotiations on signing the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) soon, said Indian High Commissioner in Dhaka Pranay Verma on Sunday.
Addressing a seminar on multi-layered connectivity in the Bay of Bengal, jointly organised by the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) and the Japan Embassy in Dhaka, Mr Verma said that in the last two consecutive years, India has emerged as the largest destination for Bangladesh’s exports in Asia, crossing the $2 billion mark.
Quoting a study, he said that seamless transport connectivity, along with improved trade and transport regulations and infrastructure between India and Bangladesh, has the potential to increase Bangladesh exports to India by almost 300 per cent.
“And increasing Bangladesh exports to India is one of the priorities of our trade relations with Bangladesh as Bangladesh makes the important economic graduation to become a developing country in 2026,” the Indian envoy said.
“We are going to slowly start negotiating a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) through which both countries will be able to harness each other’s growing potential to mutual benefit,” he added.
Highlighting the importance of the CEPA, Mr Verma mentioned that the CEPA will be a forward-looking framework that is not just focused on trade but also, more importantly, on creating supply chain linkages and value chains linking our MSMEs in an overall scheme of raising the level and quality of our trade engagement with Bangladesh.
Both countries have instituted innovative ways to promote trade, such as the settlement of a part of the bilateral trade in Indian rupees, which can provide a new boost not just to the trade ties but, in particular, to promote Bangladesh exports to India, he opined.
About the progress in energy connectivity, he said a cross border diesel pipeline was launched last year, that is bringing high-speed diesel from an Indian refinery to Bangladesh .
Through cross border power transmission lines, power transmission from Nepal to Bangladesh would be launched soon, he said, adding that India is moving forward to achieve great connectivity with Bangladesh through a high-capacity interconnection between Katihar in India and Parbatipur in Bangladesh that will establish a synchronous regional energy network connecting Bangladesh not just with India, but also with Nepal and Bhutan.
“Another emerging dimension of our connectivity agenda is our ongoing project for high tech parks in 12 districts of Bangladesh, which will become incubation centres for an IT-ready workforce, and it is an example of the new focus on digital connectivity,” he added.
“We are creating new platforms such as the India-Bangladesh Startup Bridge, which was launched last year by the honourable Prime Minister of Bangladesh, to connect our startup communities to promote collaboration in digitisation, innovation and entrepreneurship. We also signed an MOU last year to create linkages between our digital payment platforms.”
He said that given the shared geography and similar development visions of both countries, Bangladesh’s aspirations and emergence as a regional economic and connectivity hub are very much aligned with part of India’s own outlook for regional and sub-regional integration.
“An important connectivity link for our northeastern states with Bangladesh is our agreement on the use of Chattogram and modular ports, whereby goods can be transported to India’s northeastern region from the west of India and vice versa to Bangladesh as transport. This will save time and overhead for our traders and generate revenue for Bangladesh’s logistics sector,” he noted.
Bangladesh is important for India’s northeastern states, and given the geographical proximity of the northeastern states of India to Bangladesh, Bangladesh is best positioned to tap into the abundant economic potential of India’s northeast, the Indian envoy mentioned.
“Indeed, we believe that Bangladesh can be a driver of our Northeast economic development,” he said, adding: “India that is more connected to its Northeast and the Northeast that is more connected to our neighbours like Bangladesh will mean a complete transformation of the regional economy.”
Underscoring the role of Japan in promoting regional connectivity, he said Japan is clearly a valuable partner in India’s development agenda for the sub region with Japan.
“Japan’s growing engagement in Bangladesh offers opportunities to create new synergies in our sub-regional connectivity agenda, including under Japan’s Big B initiative,” he said.
Addressing the seminar as the chief gust through a virtual platform, Commerce Minister Ahsanul Islam Titu said that efforts are being made to make customs procedures in Chittagong Port paperless to remove hassles for businessmen.
He said he had talked to Singapore’s commerce minister recently about this issue
He also urged Japanese investors to come forward to invest in Chittagong Port mordenisation projects.
He thanked India for allowing exports of 50,000 metric tonnes of onion ahead of Ramadan.
He said Japan can be an excellent partner for supporting Bangladesh and India in building connectivity with the North Eastern States of India.
He also sought cooperation from the international community to address the post-graduation challenges.
He urged India to resume the ‘border haats’ and to raise the number of the haats, which, he said, can help make the border peaceful.
“India is not only one of the largest trading partners, but it also plays a vital role in ensuring the food security of Bangladesh,” he noted.
Japanese Ambassador in Dhaka Iwama Kiminoru attended the seminar as the guest of honour.
CPD executive director Fahmida Kharun moderated the session, which was also addressed by former Foreign Secretary Shahidul Huq, JICA Chief Representative Ichuguchi Tomohide, Professor Kemmmei Tsubota of Toyo University, BIMSTEC Secretary General Indra Mani Pandey, Principal Public Sector Management Specialist of ADB Sonoko Sunayama, Chief Country Representative of JETRO Yuji Ando, Pran RFL director Uzma Chowdhury, and MD of Conveyer Logistics Ltd Dr Kabir Ahmed.
