"Export of gas and offer of transit facilities on which bilateral agreement was reached way back in 1972 are viable options," the Indian High Commissioner to Dhaka, ML Tripathy, told the New Delhi-based Sahara Times.

He, however, said increased export is the other option for restoring a balance in the two-way trade, and for that Bangladesh would need to expand its export basket by offer ing goods and services that can find a place in the Indian market on their own on a competitive basis.

About Dhaka's demand for duty-free access, the diplomat said Bangladeshi exports already enjoy preferential market access to India. Under the South Asian Free Trade Arrangement( SAFTA), he added, Bangladesh enjoys a minimum tariff preference of 50 percent on over 2,000 tariff lines.

Besides, duty-free access has been granted recently on 79 items. These have resulted in some increase in Bangladesh's exports, but he noted it had only a marginal impact on the country's trade deficit.

Asked about the opposition to pipeline -sale of gas to India, Tripathy said India had always been of the view that it is the sovereign privilege of Bangladeshis to determine whether they have some surplus gas that they would want to export.

"Since we are an energy-deficient country and are looking at all possible sources to meet our needs, we will certainly consider buying gas from Bangladesh on mutually agreed terms," the envoy said.

Asked about the prospects of trade relations between Bangladesh and northeastern states of India, he said this must be viewed in the overall context of relations between the two countries.

"A narrow approach which seeks to treat the northeast as a locked backyard or a captive market of Bangladesh will be shortsighted and self-defeating," he observed.

"We should, however, try to leverage the inherent complementaries between the economies of the two countries," Tripathy said, citing Lafarge- Surma cement plant as a good example, where limestone from Meghalaya will be used to make cement in Bangladesh.

Similarly, an Indian business team recently discussed the possibility of setting up fertiliser plants using Bangladeshi gas.

Tripathy said during the last Joint Economic Commission( JEC) meeting, held in Dhaka in July, India had expressed its keenness to introduce this service, which operated till 1965.