Body to identify hurdles for raising exports to India

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Siddique Islam
The government has formed a five-member high-powered committee to identify the existing obstacles to increasing exports to India that will also help reduce the trade deficit between the two countries.
The committee, headed by the president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI), will also recommend a plan in details on removing the existing trade barriers between the two neighbouring nations, official sources said.
The government has taken the decision when the trade position is largely in favour of India. The trade gap between the two countries stood at US$ 1.97 billion (197 crore) in the fiscal 2006-07 despite different measures taken by the concerned authorities.
In the fiscal 2006-07, Bangladesh's exports to India stood at $289 million and imports $2.265 billion, according to official statistics.
Businessmen, however, are expecting to reduce the trade gap between the two countries by the next fiscal as some measures have already been taken by the authorities concerned.
"The Country of Origin certificate is a major problem impeding export to India. A move is under way to solve any such problem that may help increase exports to that country," Vice President of the FBCCI Dewan Sultan Ahmed told the FE Saturday.
He also said the Indian government will grant some products of Bangladesh duty-free access to its market from January next.
The committee, comprising senior officials of the ministry of commerce, ministry of finance and Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institute (BSTI), was formed at a council meeting of the BSTI held recently with Adviser for Industries Geetiara Safiya Chowdhury in the chair.
The meeting discussed implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which was signed by the BSTI with the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), the national standards body of India, recently for technical cooperation in the fields of standardisation, conformity assessment and training.
A senior BSTI official informed the meeting that the MoU would only help to exchange information relating to standardisation of products between the two countries. However, signing a bilateral agreement with India is needed to receive certificate of standardisation for any product exportable to that country.
Sources, however, said Indian expert teams visited the BSTI laboratory twice and advised to update the quality of testing the products.
The BIS has already entered into a bilateral cooperation agreement with Sri Lanka Standards Institution (SLSI) to envisage cooperation in services in the field of standardisation and conformity assessment with an aim to facilitate the market access.
The trade gap between Bangladesh and India had been widening continuously in the last five years. In the fiscal 2002-03, Bangladesh's exports to India stood at $84.08 million against imports worth $1.354 billion, the data showed.
The trade gap was about $150 million, which was in favour of India in the fiscal 1990-91. In the fiscal, Bangladesh's exports to India were worth $31.06 million against imports worth $180.65 million.
Bangladesh mainly exports chemical fertiliser, frozen foods, jute products, leather and toilet soap to India.
On the other hand, Bangladesh imports different items including vegetable products, textile and textile articles, mineral products, rice, chemical products, prepared foodstuffs, beverage, spirits and vinegar, vehicles, aircraft, vessels and associated transport equipment, live animals and animal products from India.