By IANS,
Kolkata : Bangladesh is actively considering the Indian business community’s plea to allow investment in its exclusive economic zones, the country’s commerce minister Golam Mohammad Kader said Friday.
Bangladesh is currently encouraging and facilitating foreign investors to take opportunities following its liberal investment policy.
Addressing the annual general meeting of the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry here, Kader, however, said the business community in Bangladesh is concerned about the non-tariff and para-tariff barriers hindering trade with India.
“An issue of concern for our business community at the moment is the existence of several non-tariff and para-tariff barriers to our bilateral trade,” Kader said.
“We need to bring these to a minimum level for the business interest of both the countries.”
Kader also said some rules and regulations that impede sound business relations need to be simplified.
“The traders in Bangladesh would particularly appreciate an improvement in land port facilities on the Indian side of the border.”
The minister pointed out that non-acceptance of quality certificates of many Bangladeshi products by the Indian authority at the border was another bottleneck in two-way trade.
Accreditation of Bangladesh Standard and Testing Institute (BSTI) by the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) of India was necessary to overcome the non-tariff barriers, he observed.
The Bangladeshi minister expressed pleasure that India had “responded positively” to the country’s concern of trade deficit by allowing it duty-free and quota-free access of all items, except drug and tobacco.
Trade between the two countries stood over $5 billion, where India’s share was $4,743.30 million and Bangladesh’s $498.42 million.