Finance Minister AMA Muhith says it is not possible to provide full-transit to India, without developing infrastructure.
“If we give permission for transit but the heavy vehicles using our roads damage this infrastructure it will be of no benefit,” the finance minister told reporters after a meeting with WTO Director General Pascal Lamy. “It will take time.”
The minister said Lamy praised Bangladesh's decision to provide transit to neighbouring countries and described it as an “epoch-making decision”.
For giving transit to neighbouring countries, Bangladesh's port facilities and infrastructure will have to be developed, Muhith said.
When journalists drew his attention to the fact that India wants transit immediately, the minister said, giving transit is not possible before development of necessary infrastructure.
Muhith said he urged the WTO to take steps so that Bangladesh gets trade financing from the World Bank (WB) and IMF on easy terms.