{"id":121335,"date":"2021-12-19T17:56:51","date_gmt":"2021-12-20T00:56:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=121335"},"modified":"2021-12-19T17:56:51","modified_gmt":"2021-12-20T00:56:51","slug":"india-and-bangladesh-can-benefit-from-growing-trade-and-economic-ties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/12\/19\/india-and-bangladesh-can-benefit-from-growing-trade-and-economic-ties\/","title":{"rendered":"India And Bangladesh Can Benefit From Growing Trade And Economic Ties"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pathik Hasan Dhaka Bangladesh<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Bangladesh\u2019s stable economic development\nis creating new opportunities for India\u2019s northeastern states and work on a\nCEPA trade agreement is ongoing. The two countries are celebrating 50 years of\nIndia-Bangladesh friendship and India\u2019s President Ram Nath Kovind is currently\non an official trip to Bangladesh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2021 marks the golden jubilee of the\nliberation of Bangladesh and fifty years of India-Bangladesh diplomatic ties.\nIndia\u2019s President Ram Nath Kovind is currently on a three-day state visit to\nBangladesh from December 15 to 17, 2021; this is his first state visit since\nthe outbreak of the COVID pandemic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking on the state of bilateral ties in\nNovember, India\u2019s Defense Minister Rajnath Singh affirmed that India Bangladesh\nrelations are going through a golden phase. As Bangladesh attains developing\nnation\u201d status (upgrading from less developed country\u201d status), India has\nreiterated its commitment to deepen trade and economic ties with Bangladesh as\npartners rather than competitors. That Bangladesh is India\u2019s biggest trade\npartner in South Asia, with a volume of over US$10 billion, is testimony to\nthis commitment. In the same pursuit, both countries are working to finalize a\nComprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bangladesh\u2019s holistic development is also\nviewed positively by New Delhi with new opportunities arising along India\u2019s\nnortheast region. Bangladesh and India share a 4096-kilometer-long (2545 miles)\ninternational border, the fifth-longest land border in the world, including 262\nkm (163 mi) in the state of Assam, 856 km (532 mi) in Tripura, 318 km (198 mi)\nin Mizoram, 443 km (275 mi) in Meghalaya, and 2217 km (1378 mi) in West Bengal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Economic and commercial partnership\nbetween India and Bangladesh<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bangladesh is India\u2019s biggest trade\npartner in South Asia and India is the second biggest trade partner of\nBangladesh. Bilateral trade between India and Bangladesh has grown steadily\nover the last decade and the exports of Bangladesh have tripled over the last\ndecade to cross US$1 billion in 2018-19. In FY 2019-20, India\u2019s exports to\nBangladesh were US$8.2 billion and imports were US$1.26 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 The\ntwo countries now should concentrate on people-to-people contact, trade,\nbusiness and connectivity as the issues became increasingly important for the\ntwo sides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A deeper economic and trade engagement\nbecomes all the more relevant, given the success of phenomenal and\nuninterrupted supply chains during the pandemic. An augmented connectivity\ninfrastructure is imperative to actualize the bilateral trade and investment\npotential between the two countries. India\u2019s Commerce and Industry Minister\nPiyush Goyal has recognized five focus areas to bolster bilateral economic ties\n\u2013 technology, connectivity, entrepreneurship, health, and tourism. Bangladesh\nis also important for aiding India\u2019s connectivity in the Southeast Asian region\nthrough Chittagong and Mongla ports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both India and Bangladesh are also working\ntowards holding the first meeting of the India Bangladesh CEOs Forum to provide\npolicy level inputs in various areas of trade and investment and also to\nfacilitate exchanges among the business communities of both the countries.\nAdditionally, a bilateral textile industry forum has also been constituted to\nfacilitate cooperation in the textile sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the data of media outlets, With\nBangladesh being the central pillar of India’s Neighbourhood First policy,\nDhaka is New Delhi’s largest trade partner in South Asia and bilateral trade\nbetween the two countries grew at an unprecedented rate of 14 per cent during\nthe COVID-19 pandemic. the COVID-19 pandemic, bilateral\ntrade was at an unprecedented rate of 14 per cent from 9.46 billion US dollars\nin 2019 to 10.78 billion dollars in 2021. Joint\nenergy space is steadily emerging, India and Bangladesh’s electricity grids are\ninterconnected from east and west with more than 1160 megawatts of powers way\nacross from India and Bangladesh.The \u20b9346 crore\nPipeline Project, signed in 2018, will connect Siliguri in West Bengal in India\nand Parbatipur in Dinajpur district of Bangladesh. The work on the\nIndia-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline, a project that will enable the two\ncountries to integrate their energy needs, is progressing well and could be\ninaugurated next year. ( The NDTV, the Hindu, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan\nShringla )<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite COVID-19 restrictions, the trade\nbetween India and Bangladesh crossed $10 billion. . India had sent over one\ncrore COVID-19 vaccines to the country and has extended concessional credit\nlines of about $8 billion, the highest for any single country. India is also developing\ntwo Indian economic zones at Mirsarai and Mongla. Prime Minister Narendra\nModi\u2019s invitation to 50 young entrepreneurs from Bangladesh will further\naugment our ties. Over 350 Indian companies are now registered in Bangladesh. The\nIndia-Bangladesh CEO Forum will meet soon for the first time, even as the two\ncountries work towards finalising a Comprehensive Economic Partnership\nAgreement (CEPA) to deepen trade and economic ties as partners rather than competitors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

India stands shoulder to shoulder\u201d with\nthe country\u2019s leadership and people in their development journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Noting that India-Bangladesh supply chains\nworked uninterrupted through the pandemic, Improving connectivity is\nimperative\u201d for expanding and realising the potential for bilateral trade and\ninvestments. The two countries\u2019 leaders have brought Delhi and Dhaka closer and\ncan together bring economic prosperity to South Asia. ( The Hindu, Commerce and\nIndustry Minister Piyush Goyal)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

India and Bangladesh have signed a Memorandum\nof Understanding (MoU) for the construction of a high-speed diesel pipeline\nfrom Nonmilitary in Assam to Parbatipur in Bangladesh, a joint venture between\nNumaligarh Refinery Limited and Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation. As an\nindication of goodwill, an initial consignment of 2200 ton of diesel has\nalready been transported from Siliguri in West Bengal to Parbatipur in 50\nwagons by the Indian Railways<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, India-Bangladesh cooperation\nin the power sector too has become an important aspect in this bilateral\nrelationship. Bangladesh is currently importing 1160 MW of power from India.\nThe Joint Working Group (JWG)\/Joint Steering Committee (JSC) on power provides\nan institutional framework to promote bilateral cooperation in cross border\ntrade of electricity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How is India aiding Bangladesh as a\ndevelopment partner ?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Presently, Bangladesh remains India\u2019s\nbiggest development partner. Over the past eight years, India has extended\nthree Lines of Credits (LOC) to Bangladesh, amounting to US$8 billion for\ndevelopment of infrastructure in various sectors, including roads, railways,\nshipping, and ports. Additionally, India has also been providing grant\nassistance to Bangladesh for various infrastructure projects, including\nconstruction of Akhaura-Agartala rail link, dredging of inland waterways in\nBangladesh, and construction of India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Further, High Impact Community Development\nProjects (HICDPs) also form an important part of India\u2019s developmental\nassistance to Bangladesh, with India having funded 68 HICDPs, including\nconstruction of, academic buildings, cultural centers, skill development and\ntraining institutes, student hostels, and orphanages etc. in Bangladesh. 16\nadditional HICDPs are being implemented.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pathik Hasan Dhaka Bangladesh Bangladesh\u2019s stable economic development is creating new opportunities for India\u2019s northeastern states and work on a CEPA trade agreement is ongoing. The two countries are celebrating 50 years of India-Bangladesh friendship and India\u2019s President Ram Nath Kovind is currently on an official trip to Bangladesh. 2021 marks the golden jubilee of […]<\/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-121335","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\/121335","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=121335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121335\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}