Cabinet okays drafts of 5 deals with India

Ahead of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's maiden visit to Bangladesh on June 6-7, the cabinet yesterday approved the drafts of three agreements and two protocols to be signed with India to boost trade, commerce and connectivity between the two countries.

Meanwhile, a bus from Kolkata to Agartala via Dhaka went on a trial run yesterday. Led by Alapan Bandopadhyay, West Bengal's principal secretary of the transport department, the bus with 14 passengers arrived in Dhaka last night and leaves for Agartala today.

To this end, drafts of an agreement and a related protocol were approved at a weekly cabinet meeting with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.

Briefing reporters after the meeting, Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Bhuiyan said the draft agreement has been structured in line with earlier agreements on operating bus service on the Dhaka-Kolkata-Dhaka and Dhaka-Agartala-Dhaka routes in an effort to strengthen connectivity.

The cabinet also approved a draft of an agreement on passenger bus service between Dhaka and Indian city of Guwahati via Sylhet and Shillong, and another draft on a related protocol, which are also aimed at enhancing connectivity.

The cabinet secretary said both the countries would get equal facilities under the three agreements and two protocols.

Replying to a query, he said the bus crew and passengers would travel with valid passports and multiple entry visas. Nothing is mentioned about fares in the protocols, he said, adding that mutual agreement would be the basis of everything.

The other draft is on an agreement between Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution and Bureau of Indian Standards on Cooperation in the field of standardization and conformity assessment, said the secretary.

 He said both the countries would accept each other's standard certificates while importing and exporting goods from or to the other country.

The cabinet also approved the draft of Bangladesh Economic Zones (Amendment) Act-2015 which would allow foreign countries to set up economic zones in Bangladesh on government-to-government (G2G) basis.

The proposed amendment has the provision of establishing Economic Zones in city corporations, municipalities and cantonment board areas for only IT and ICT related industries, Musharraf said. Earlier, there were restrictions in setting up economic zones within these areas, he added.

As countries like China, Japan and India have shown their interests to set up economic zones in Bangladesh on G2G basis following the successful visits of the prime minister to those countries, amendment to the act has been proposed, he said.

The cabinet also approved the draft of 'National Social Security Strategy of Bangladesh' for bringing the vulnerable social groups under social safety network for their whole life.

This would also give special attention to the physically-challenged and disabled people, added Musharraf.

LBA GETS PRANAB'S NOD

On the Indian side, President Pranab Mukherjee has approved the India-Bangladesh Land Boundary Agreement.

Mukherjee gave his assent to the Constitution (100th Amendment) Bill, 2015 on May 28 to ratify the 1974 Indira-Mujib agreement on the demarcation of a portion of India-Bangladesh border and transfer of territories, Parliament sources said today. A gazette notification was issued in this regard on May 29. 

TRIAL BUS SERVICE

The bus that left Kolkata on a trial run was received at Benapole in Jessore around 2:30pm by a government delegation. Azharul Islam, joint secretary of road transport and bridges ministry and deputy commissioner Humayun Kabir, among others, received the Indian delegation.