Indian High Commissioner in Dhaka Pranay Verma interacted with leading business leaders and chambers of Bangladesh on Monday.
The High Commissioner highlighted the growing economic engagement between the two countries has transformed the bilateral relationship significantly under the visionary leadership of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
He noted that bilateral trade has more than doubled in the last five years and Bangladesh’s exports to India has touched almost $2 billion in the last financial year with India becoming the largest export destination for Bangladesh in Asia, reports Daily Sun.Verma emphasised the importance of a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) which both sides agreed to negotiate, and its potential to enhance bilateral trade and investment ties by creating a new institutional framework and supply chain linkages.
He emphasised the importance of better connectivity and trade infrastructure at the borders to harness the full potential of economic partnership unleashed by the rapid economic development of both India and Bangladesh.
In this context, he underscored the need to decongest ICP Petrapole–Benapole by improving infrastructure at other land ports, and increasing the number of ports without restrictions which would in turn incentivize investments in Land Ports.
The envoy also spoke about the need for greater cooperation, integration and multi-modal connectivity of the sub-region including through roads, railways, inland waterways, and coastal shipping.
The interactive session was attended by top leaders of businesses and heads of business chambers of Bangladesh.
Bd-pratidin English/Golam Rosul