Finance
Bangladesh-India Export of Bangladeshi products to India will increase by 300% with improved connectivity
Dhaka, May 3: Pranay Verma, the Indian High Commissioner posted in Dhaka, said, "Improved and uninterrupted connectivity can increase the export of Bangladeshi products to India by 300 percent."
He said, "A study has shown that seamless connectivity between India and Bangladesh has the potential to increase the national income by 17 percent in Bangladesh and 8 percent in India."
The Indian High Commissioner said these things at a seminar on 'Multimodal Connectivity between India and Bangladesh' organized by the Development Coordination Center in the capital on Tuesday.
Pranay Verma said India wants greater access to Bangladesh's ports, inland waterways and road connectivity to tap connectivity between the two neighboring countries. New Delhi has already offered Bangladesh several options to use Indian ports, railways and airports to export goods to India and other countries around the world.
He said, "We want to improve connectivity with our north-eastern states through Bangladesh. We encourage Bangladesh to take up transit facilities to export goods to third countries using specific land custom stations, airports and seaports in India. As part of the plan, initiatives have recently been taken to develop Kolkata and Delhi airports as transshipment hubs for export goods from Bangladesh to other countries."
The Indian High Commissioner said that a bilateral agreement has been reached regarding the use of Chittagong and Mongla ports. Through these two ports in Bangladesh, goods can be transported from other parts of India to and from the northeastern region of India. This will reduce the cost of transportation of goods to our North Eastern states.”
Pranay Verma also said that the geographical proximity of India and Bangladesh should be used for mutual benefit. Ease of doing business and ease of living requires better connectivity, which is a top priority for India.
Development coordination chairperson Dr. Atiur Rahman presented the main article in the seminar. Referring to World Bank's research, the former governor of Bangladesh Bank Atiur Rahman said, India's existing trade with South Asian countries is currently 19.1 billion US dollars per year, it can be tripled to 62.4 billion dollars. And Bangladesh's trade with South Asian countries may increase more than twice from the current 7.6 billion US dollars to 18.9 billion US dollars.
