Dhaka and New Delhi will ink a number of agreements, including one that will allow Bangladesh to use a number of Indian ports to carry goods and vice versa.

The two sides will also finalise the standard operating procedures for use of Mongla and Chattogram ports by India to ferry cargoes to its north-eastern states when shipping secretaries of the two countries meet here tomorrow.

They will discuss the development of stretches of the Kushiara and Jamuna rivers during the two-day high-level meeting on Inland Water Transit and Trade and Shipping.

As part of the deal on ports of call, New Delhi will offer use of Haldia and Kolkata ports to Dhaka which would mainly benefit Bangladesh for faster transshipment of garments to Europe and the US, said Indian officials.

It remains to be seen whether Bangladesh will accept the offer.

A port of call is a port where a ship docks in the course of a voyage, especially to load or unload passengers or cargo, to obtain supplies, or to undergo repairs.

Today, the Standing Committee on Protocol on Water Transit and Trade will meet at Le Méridien Hotel from 10:30am Indian time till the evening and this will be followed by the shipping secretary-level talks tomorrow, an Indian shipping ministry spokesperson said.

A delegation led by Bangladesh Shipping Secretary Md Abdus Samad arrived here yesterday afternoon for the meetings. The two sides will brief the media tomorrow.

Indian shipping ministry officials said under the deal, Indian goods can be transported through four entry points: Akhaura in Bangladesh and Agartala in Tripura, Tamabil in Sylhet and Dawki in Meghalaya, Sheola in Sylhet and Sutarkandi in Assam, and Bibirbazar in Cumilla and Srimantapur in Tripura.

Under the deal already approved by the Bangladesh cabinet last month, India will have to use Bangladeshi vehicles for transporting goods through Bangladesh territory.

Tomorrow's signing of the deal on the use of Chattogram and Mongla ports comes three years after a memorandum of understanding was signed on the issue during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India to Dhaka.