Transit a tool for trimming trade gap: Hasan Mahmud

File photoUNB, Dhaka

State Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Hasan Mahmud today said the transit between India and Bangladeshi should be considered from the perspective of mutual benefit.

He also observed that the transit could be a tool for Bangladesh to reduce trade deficit with India.

“Some quarters want to link politics with transit. Transit is no longer a political issue. It is rather an economic issue,” he told the reporters at his office at the Secretariat.

The state minister's remark has a parallel with a recent statement of Indian High Commissioner Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty who had told reporters, "Transit is not a political issue but an economic one."

When pointed out that Dhaka and Delhi hold an identical view on the matter of this proposed passage for India crossing over Bangladesh, Mahmud, however, disagreed.

For a pretty long time India has pressed for the transit facility to transport its products to the landlocked seven northeastern states known as seven sisters.

Bangladesh has long been seeking road connectivity through India for direct trading with Nepal and Bhutan, but India has not given access to Bangladesh. The Bangladesh-Nepal transit route through Banglabandha land-port couldn’t takeoff.

Mahmud said it is not transit rather connectivity for trade facilitation. Since Bangladesh has huge trade deficit with India, “we need to take some pragmatic decisions to reduce this trade gap”.

Pointing to free economy and globalized world, the state minister said it is an era of interdependence. “We feel that we need some practical decisions protecting the interest of the country.”

On the proposed trade deal with the United States, he said decision about the TIFA was not yet taken. Any decision in this regard will be taken after discussion in cabinet meeting.

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