When there is a shortage of food products in the international market due to the war in Ukraine, Bangladesh has set a quota of seven products from the neighboring country India and is seeking assurance of importing products according to that quota.

The products are rice, wheat, sugar, onion, ginger, garlic and lentils. Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi is leaving Dhaka for Delhi on Thursday morning to discuss this proposal.

According to the annual quota, 9 lakh metric tons of rice, 45 lakh metric tons of wheat, 15 lakh metric tons of sugar, 7 lakh metric tons of onion, 1 lakh 25 thousand metric tons of ginger, 30 thousand metric tons of lentils and 10 thousand metric tons garlic Bangladesh has offered to import.

India sometimes imposes restrictions on food exports to meet domestic demand. When it happens, Bangladesh falls in trouble.

For this reason, Bangladesh requested to give advance information to the government before banning the export of daily necessities. In that perspective, during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to India last September, the two countries decided to set a quota for the import of goods.

Those concerned said that the visit of the commerce minister is to discuss the progress of the issues mentioned in the joint statement given by the two countries during the visit of the Prime Minister to India.

They said that because of the war, the price of food products has skyrocketed. Due to the dollar crisis, traders are also in trouble with opening LCs for importing products. In the meantime, Ramzan is approaching. In this situation, the government is going to rely on India for daily necessities.

Commerce Ministry officials said that India exports essential commodities to its two other neighbors, Maldives and Bhutan, under an annual quota system. In this manner, the country publishes a gazette of the amount of food products to be exported to these countries every fiscal year.

As a result, if there is a shortage of a product in the local market, even if India bans its export, the two countries can import that amount throughout the fiscal year. Through this, Maldives and Bhutan can keep their local market stable. Now Bangladesh is also asking for that benefit.

Talking to Bangladesh Pratidin, Tapankanti Ghosh, senior secretary of the concerned ministry said, “Trade in goods between the two countries is continuing. However, occasionally India imposes restrictions on food exports to meet domestic demand. Our proposal is to keep this restriction relaxed in the case of Bangladesh, and India will export the products in question to Bangladesh every year on a quota basis.”

Negotiations on the CEPA Agreement begin:

In the Dhaka-Delhi joint declaration, it was mentioned that the bilateral Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) would be started by December this year. During this visit of the commerce minister, there will be a discussion about the start of separate negotiations. According to a joint study of the two countries, Bangladesh's export earnings to India will increase to 3-5 billion dollars and Indian exports to Bangladesh will increase by 4-10 billion dollars in the next 7-10 years.

Formation of CEO Forum:

Bangladesh and India have taken a policy decision to form a CEO Forum with top entrepreneurs and business leaders to advise the government on policy-making decisions on bilateral trade and investment.

The formation of this forum was discussed during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to Delhi.

According to the Ministry of Commerce, this forum will be formed with leading industrialists or company CEOs (Chief Executive Officers) and senior business leaders from different sectors of the two countries. The government of both the countries will nominate this representative.

If necessary, this forum can include a representative of a particular sector as an associate member or as a guest. After its formation, the forum will meet once a year or more times if necessary in alternating meetings (Delhi-Dhaka).

Withdrawal of anti dumping of jute products:

In January 2017, India imposed anti-dumping duty ranging from $19 to $352 per ton on imports of jute yarn, chat and sacks from Bangladesh. The five-year anti-dumping duty is set to expire in January.

India wants to extend the anti-dumping period again. Bangladesh wants India to withdraw anti-dumping duty on jute products.

The Commerce Minister will also have a courtesy call on India's Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to discuss the matter during this visit.

@The reports was published in Bengali on print and online versions of The Bangladesh Pratidin on December 22 and rewritten in English by Tanvir Raihan.