Bangladesh fails to gain duty-free access to Indian market due to non-tariff charges

Bangladesh garment industry although has duty-free access to the Indian market, it is unable to gain benefit from the facility due to non-tariff charges, said state minister for Textile and Jute Miza Azam after inaugurating a two-day Indian man-made textiles exhibition in the city.

Bangladesh has been suffering from inveterate trade deficit with India for decades and need to address the trade imbalance issue in a win-win situation.

Bangladesh not being self-sufficient in manufacturing the synthetic products is looking for a reliable country to meet the growing demand of such items and hence the state minister Mr Azam has invited the Indian traders to set up man-made textiles industry in Dhaka through joint ventures with the local business people as there is huge demand of such items.

The textiles exposition styled ‘Intexpo Bangladesh 2014 jointly arranged by the Synthetic & Rayon Textiles Export Promotion Council (SRTEPC) and Indian High Commission, Dhaka is said to be an effective platform for India and Bangladesh. The minister said that it will create an extensive opportunity to know each other, which will help increase bilateral trade between the two nations.

The Intexpo Bangladesh has also made arrangement for local businessmen to interact with their Indian counterparts.

The BGMEA acting president urged the Indian authorities to ease what he called “complex” visa processing for Bangladeshi traders, making business transaction difficult.