{"id":120896,"date":"2021-12-04T17:05:33","date_gmt":"2021-12-05T00:05:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=120896"},"modified":"2021-12-04T17:05:33","modified_gmt":"2021-12-05T00:05:33","slug":"bhutan-and-bangladesh-can-benefit-from-growing-trade-ties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/12\/04\/bhutan-and-bangladesh-can-benefit-from-growing-trade-ties\/","title":{"rendered":"Bhutan And Bangladesh Can Benefit From Growing Trade Ties"},"content":{"rendered":"

MD Pathik Hasan<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

South\nAsian neighbors Bangladesh and Bhutan have a harmonious relationship on the\nstrength of their mutual interest, shared history and culture. On December 6,\n1971, Bhutan and India became the first countries to recognize the independence\nof Bangladesh. Bangladesh-Bhutan ties started to deepen from this period. Bhutan\nand Bangladesh can work together in the sectors of information and\ncommunication technology, agriculture, horticulture and fisheries to enhance\ntrade and investment relations between Bangladesh and Bhutan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bangladesh and Bhutan have excellent\nrelations in various fields including trade investment, communication,\neducation, cultural exchange, people-to-people contact, tourism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bhutan is a loyal, true friend of\nBangladesh. The people of Bangladesh are always grateful to the government and\npeople of that country for their unwavering support and cooperation in the war\nof liberation in 1971. Bilateral relations between Bangladesh and Bhutan are\nvery good. Over time, this relationship is reaching new heights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bangladesh and Bhutan signed the\n\u2018Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA)\u2019 on December 06, 2020. This is Bangladesh’s\nfirst priority trade agreement or PTA with any other country in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As per this agreement of Bangladesh\nwith Bhutan, 100 products of Bangladesh will get duty free facility in Bhutan\nand 34 products of Bhutan will get duty free facility in Bangladesh. As a\nresult, trade relations between the two countries will increase further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the Export Promotion\nBureau of Bangladesh, trade between the two countries in 2018-2019 is 56.90\nmillion US dollars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bhutan imports vegetables and\nfruits, minerals, construction materials, boulder, limestone, coal, pulp and\nchemicals from Bangladesh. On the other hand, garments, furniture, food items,\nmedicines, plastics and electrical products made in Bhutan are exported from\nBangladesh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Duty-free market facility<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since 2010, Bangladesh has been\nproviding duty-free market access to Bhutan on 18 products. Besides, 90\nproducts of Bangladesh are getting duty free market facilities in the Bhutan\nmarket. Bhutan is the largest exporter of stone to Bangladesh. Bangladesh is\nBhutan’s second-largest export market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All ports of Bangladesh can be\npotential for Bhutan<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Bangladeshi media\noutlets, PM Sheikh Hasina commented that Bhutan can use Bangladesh’s\nChittagong, Mongla, Payra seaport and Syedpur airports including river ports of\nBangladesh if it wants. They can also set up warehouses anywhere in Bangladesh\nif they want to facilitate inland transport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bhutan wants to use our river routes\nfrom Chittagong and Mongla ports in Bangladesh to take goods to Dhubri port in\nIndia. Bhutan is very close to Dhubri, so they want to use the rivers of\nBangladesh to transport goods there. Bangladesh has shown a positive attitude\ntowards bringing and taking goods through Roumari-Chilmari.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besides, Bangladesh has initially\nagreed to allow Bhutan to import and export goods by rail. To this end, the\nRohanpur-Singabad rail route between Bangladesh and India will be launched.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three land ports can bring the\npotential for both countries<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At one time trade with Bhutan was\ndone only through Burimari land port. However, Bangladesh has now allowed the\nuse of land ports at Tamabil, Banglabandha and Nakugaon as an initiative to\nincrease trade by land.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traffic between the four countries<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There has been a discussion between\nBangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal (BBIN) on the movement of passenger,\nprivate and freight vehicles by road. Once the agreement is completed, the\nresidents of the four countries will get many benefits while moving from one\ncountry to another. However, the other three countries agreed to the agreement,\nbut due to the environment, the Bhutanese parliament has not yet agreed to the\nagreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hydropower exports<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of the total hydropower\ngenerated in Bhutan is not needed. Bangladesh has shown interest in buying this\nelectricity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Bhutan’s Prime Minister\nLotay Tshering stressed the need for trilateral talks to bring it through India\nduring his visit to Bangladesh in March 2021.No agreement has been reached yet,\nbut it has been discussed at various meetings between the two countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Prime Minister of Bangladesh\nSheikh Hasina and the Prime Minister of Bhutan Lotay Tshering have emphasized\nbuilding the necessary infrastructure to avail the maximum benefits of the\nPreferential Trade Agreement (PTA) signed between Bangladesh and Bhutan. The\ntwo Prime Ministers discussed cooperation between the two countries in various\nsectors including trade and connectivity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bhutan and Bangladesh have already\nagreed to operate naval routes between the two countries to expand\nBangladesh-Bhutan trade. Bhutan and Bangladesh also emphasized building more\nseaports. Besides. A bilateral or tripartite memorandum of understanding would\nbe potential for the construction of cooperative hydropower plants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lotte Schering requested one-time\nfull-term visas and multiple-entry facilities for Bhutanese students studying\nin Bangladesh. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina agreed with the Prime Minister of\nBhutan on the issue and directed the concerned parties to take necessary steps\nin this regard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bangladesh can cooperate with Bhutan\nin the IT sector including broadband internet. Bangladesh and Bhutan can work\ntogether in international forums including the United Nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The visit of Bhutanese Prime\nMinister Lotay Tshering was very important. Because this year marks the\nfiftieth anniversary of Bangladesh’s diplomatic relations with Bhutan as well\nas the golden jubilee of Bangladesh’s independence. At any rate, this is a very\nimportant and historic event for both countries. During his visit to\nBangladesh, the Prime Ministers of the two countries reviewed the overall\naspects of bilateral relations and expressed interest in enhancing mutual\ncooperation in various fields of potential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sheikh Hasina and Lotay Tshering\ndiscussed trade and investment, roads, rail and air communication, hydropower,\nbilateral and multilateral cooperation, health, education, agriculture, culture\nand increasing people-to-people contacts between the two countries. During this\ntime several bilateral memoranda of understanding have been signed between the\ntwo countries. Earlier, the Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) was signed\nbetween Bangladesh and Bhutan on December 6 last year; Which is of special\nimportance in the expansion of inter-trade between the two countries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MD Pathik Hasan South Asian neighbors Bangladesh and Bhutan have a harmonious relationship on the strength of their mutual interest, shared history and culture. On December 6, 1971, Bhutan and India became the first countries to recognize the independence of Bangladesh. Bangladesh-Bhutan ties started to deepen from this period. Bhutan and Bangladesh can work together […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[179],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-120896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-md-pathik-hasan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120896"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120896\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}