Indian Minister of Railways, Commerce & Industry, Piyush Goyal has assured Bangladesh, complete cooperation from India in ensuring barrier-free trade between the two countries.
Addressing a digital conference, the Minister said, “We share a very strong relationship in the Railways sector which is our bridge to greater engagement in infrastructure development. The Government of both our countries have set very high benchmarks on how Bangladesh & India together can capture a larger share of the global market in textiles. Through this, we can provide jobs to people, increase earnings from trade and support economic development.”
The statement becomes important as in recent days there were reports that businesses in Bangladesh’s port city of Chittagong have reportedly called upon India to cut non-tariff barriers while demanding enhancement of the port infrastructure of both countries to facilitate movement of goods.
Prior to that, the Indian authority issued a notification termed Customs (Administration of Rules of Origin under Trade Agreements) Rules, 2020 in August.
And it was being said that this rule is going to hurt Bangladesh’s exports to India and undermine the efforts to narrow large trade imbalance between the two neighbours, according to two Government agencies.
The Minister also added that India and Bangladesh share a very warm and cordial relationship, based on mutual trust as well as friendship, which goes beyond the arithmetic of economic gains or losses.