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India, B`desh JEC meet ends with little headway
Dhaka, July 16: Giving a major thrust to bilateral ties, India today announced a fresh line of credit to Bangladesh for infrastructure projects and extended the Rs two crore earlier credit even as the two sides failed to make much headway on the key issues of transit and free trade.
Dhaka, July 16: Giving a major thrust to
bilateral ties, India today announced a fresh line of credit
to Bangladesh for infrastructure projects and extended the Rs
two crore earlier credit even as the two sides failed to make
much headway on the key issues of transit and free trade.
"We have discussed every issue including the transit
and transhipment issues and we will continue to discuss this,"
External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha said at a press
conference on the conclusion of the two-day Joint Economic
Commission meeting here.
India has been demanding transit and transhipment facility from Bagladesh for many years to get an easy access to northeastern states, a highly politically sensitive issue for Dhaka despite a 30 year old agreement between the two nations for providing such facilities to each other.
Standing by the side of Sinha, his Bangladesh counterpart Morshed Khan said, "We have discussed the (transit) issue. We have not shied away from it and we will continue our discussions." After signing the minutes of the JEC meeting, Sinha announced a fresh line of credit to Bangladesh for infrastructure, major portion of which would be used in strengthening the railway network in that country.
He said India has also decided to extend the Rs two crore credit line offered earlier to Dhaka till it was fully exhausted.
India also suggested a bilateral agreement on the customs issues since most of the problems in the two way trade arose out of customs policies, he said. On another ticklish issue of non-tariff barriers, Sinha, while denying the charge that India has been imposing these barriers on Bangladesh exports said, "There are certain requirements. Exporters here should be aware of this. Every country has these requirements in certain crucial areas."
Para-tariff and non-tariff issue has been a major problem in Indo-Bangla bilateral trade relations as Dhaka has been complaining that these barriers were being put up to discourage its exports to India and as a result the bilateral trade imbalance was heavily tilted in favour of New Delhi.
Khan said, "We may not have found resolutions of some issues but we are both committed to see to that people of this region are not deprived of the benefits of the regional cooperation." Bureau Report
India has been demanding transit and transhipment facility from Bagladesh for many years to get an easy access to northeastern states, a highly politically sensitive issue for Dhaka despite a 30 year old agreement between the two nations for providing such facilities to each other.
Standing by the side of Sinha, his Bangladesh counterpart Morshed Khan said, "We have discussed the (transit) issue. We have not shied away from it and we will continue our discussions." After signing the minutes of the JEC meeting, Sinha announced a fresh line of credit to Bangladesh for infrastructure, major portion of which would be used in strengthening the railway network in that country.
He said India has also decided to extend the Rs two crore credit line offered earlier to Dhaka till it was fully exhausted.
India also suggested a bilateral agreement on the customs issues since most of the problems in the two way trade arose out of customs policies, he said. On another ticklish issue of non-tariff barriers, Sinha, while denying the charge that India has been imposing these barriers on Bangladesh exports said, "There are certain requirements. Exporters here should be aware of this. Every country has these requirements in certain crucial areas."
Para-tariff and non-tariff issue has been a major problem in Indo-Bangla bilateral trade relations as Dhaka has been complaining that these barriers were being put up to discourage its exports to India and as a result the bilateral trade imbalance was heavily tilted in favour of New Delhi.
Khan said, "We may not have found resolutions of some issues but we are both committed to see to that people of this region are not deprived of the benefits of the regional cooperation." Bureau Report