|
Bangladesh has sent a draft deal to Kathmandu, ahead of prime minister Sheikh Hasina's India visit next month, to activate a 1976 transit treaty allowing Nepal to use Mongla port for export of goods to a third country.
Government officials say Bangladesh and Nepal are ready to sign the deal to activate the transit agreement, which will also allow goods-laden trucks and trains to enter each others' territory.
Positive signs are also there that India will give landlocked Nepal the long-awaited approval on using a patch of territory as transit for transporting goods to Bangladesh, communications ministry officials told bdnews24.com on Monday.
The approval is likely to coincide with Hasina's visit now slated for the second week of January, they added.
THREE-WAY COOPERATION
Bangladesh and Nepal must both have Indian approval, to cross its territory, before implementing the deal aiming to increase trade volume between them.
The relations between Dhaka and Delhi have been boosted recently as the two countries have moved closer through cooperation in a number of areas, including trade and cross-border crime.
Delhi in September this year assured Bangladesh of providing transit facilities to reach both Nepal and Bhutan through Indian territories.
In return, Dhaka agreed to allow India to carry equipment via Bangladesh to one of its Northeastern states to set up a power plant there.
"The issue of third-country trade between Bangladesh and Nepal, and Bangladesh-Bhutan will be discussed during the prime minister's upcoming Delhi visit," foreign secretary Mohamed Mijarul Quayes told bdnews24.com Saturday.
"We hope the deal with Nepal will be signed," he said.
TRADE BOOST EYED
The volume of Bangladesh-Nepal bilateral trade is negligible and the balance is highly in favour of Nepal. Bangladesh's exports to Nepal were worth only US$ 8.1 million against imports amounting to $69 million in fiscal 2008-09.
Officials say if Nepal could use Mongla port to export its products to a third country, it will help Bangladesh earn revenue from the port. The volume of trade between the two countries will increase too.
Bangladesh and landlocked Nepal in 1976 signed transit agreement to boost trade. But the deal could not become operational without Delhi's approval.
"Our ministry has drafted a deal to make the transit trade operational with Nepal," Naim Ahmed Khan, a joint-secretary of the communications ministry, told bdnews24.com.
Khan said communications ministry formulated the draft of the agreement considering prime minister's upcoming India visit.
"We have already sent a copy of the draft deal to the Nepal government," communications ministry's deputy secretary Md yousuf Ali, who was authorised by Naim Ahmed Khan, told bdnews24.com Monday at his office.
"The negotiation on operationalising the trade deal is on," said Ali, who was involved in drafting the deal.
He said the purpose of the transit deal was to increase the volume of trade between Bangladesh and Nepal.
"If the deal is inked, Nepalese trucks will be able to reach Mongla port through Burimari border post in Bangladesh crossing Indian territories.
"In the same way, Bangladeshi trucks and trains will reach Nepal via India," clarified Yousuf Ali.
He also said the proposed transit agreement would also cover operating passenger buses between the two countries.
Railway sources say they have already sent a draft of a rail transit agreement involving Bangladesh, India and Nepal to Indian authorities for finalisation before its signing during the prime minister's Delhi visit.
As per the rail transit deal, India will allow Bangladesh Railway to use Rahanpur (Bangladesh)-Singhabad (India) rail route to reach India's border stations Jogobani and Rauxal.
Nepal has negligible rail network. The Nepalese trucks will carry goods to Rauxal or Jogobani stations and the cargo will enter Bangladesh through Rahanpur (Chapai Nawabganj) station.
Source: bdnews24.com
|
RSS