Bangladesh’s cabinet approves 4-nation motor vehicle agreement

The Cabinet Division yesterday approved the draft motor vehicle agreement between four South Asian countries that would allow trans-border movement of vehicles like in the European Union.

The approval came a week ahead of a meeting between the transport ministers of four countries at the Bhutanese capital of Thimphu to ink the deal on June 15.

As per the deal titled “Motor Vehicles Agreement for the Regulation of Passenger, Personal, and Cargo Vehicular Traffic with Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal (BBIN)”, passenger, personal and cargo vehicles can run on designated routes in the four countries.

Once implemented, the agreement would enhance cross-border trade and people-to-people contact in the four nations.

Briefing reporters after the meeting, Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan said an agreement and a protocol would have to be signed after signing of the framework agreement for the deal to come into effect.

According to the agreement, which contains 17 articles, four forms and three annexure, valid travel documents would be required for such vehicular movement. Fees and charges would be determined by the destination country and collected at its entry points.

If a vehicle travels from Nepal to Bangladesh through India, fees would have to be provided to both India and Bangladesh, Musharraf added.

He said the agreement was supposed to be signed at the Saarc Summit in Kathmandu last year, but one of the countries failed to complete internal process in time.

There is a scope for inclusion of a new country in the agreement on consensus. The countries can review the agreement in every three years or before on consensus and pull off from the agreement giving a six months' notice, the draft agreement says.

As per the agreement, vehicles are not allowed to take passengers or board goods midway in any country; authorised officials of the travelling country can search the vehicles; and the vehicles would have to have insurance and follow the prohibited and restricted list of goods of the travelling country.

The number of vehicles would be set through discussion. Vehicles operators would be able to open branch office and appoint agents in any country. Act of a country would get priority in cases which are not mentioned in the agreement.

Any dispute can been resolved through discussion among the member states.

The cabinet secretary said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had taken the initiative and was advocating for long to boost connectivity and cooperation among the four nations.

The cabinet yesterday also highly praised Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his historic visit to Bangladesh. The cabinet members termed the visit a milestone in the relationship of the two neighbours, insiders said.

They also adopted a thanksgiving motion to Hasina for her dynamic leadership and also for successfully organising Modi's visit.

The cabinet ministers discussed overall aspects of Modi's visit. “We believe that what he [Modi] has said, he has said it by meaning it,” a minister told The Daily Star after the meeting.

It also approved the draft of the Navy (Amendment) Act, 2015.