Border haats on focus at Indo-Bangla CEO Forum
Commerce secretaries of Bangladesh and India yesterday agreed to advance discussions on border haats and the proposed Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), a mega trade deal between the two countries, during the Bangladesh-India CEO Forum in New Delhi yesterday.
At present, four border haats, which are designated market places where day to day commodities are traded, can be found along the Bangladesh-India border on a weekly basis.
The CEPA is a free trade accord under which participating countries significantly reduce or eliminate import duties on goods and services traded between them. The secretaries also discussed some issues like sharing of trade data, regional connectivity initiatives, harmonisation of product standards, upgrade of border trading infrastructure and easier business visas, said the Indian commerce ministry in a statement.
The forum was preceded by the 12th Joint Working Group (JWG) meeting, which discussed technical issues on various areas of interest in trade and commerce.
The two sides also agreed to hold the next JWG and Commerce Secretary meeting in Bangladesh on mutually convenient dates.
Mohammad Jafar Uddin, commerce secretary of Bangladesh, and Anup Wadhawan, commerce secretary of India, led their respective countries in the discussion.
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