Bangladeshi businessmen raised Monday their strong voices against different barriers they face while making efforts to boost trade and investment in India.
They pointed out some barriers in terms of investment in India, complexity in getting letters of credit and limited market access to the neighbouring country.
They also raised the issue of delay in issuing visas by the Indian authorities concerned.
Mostly members of the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) raised the issues at its quarterly luncheon meeting held in the city on Monday.
High Commissioner of India to Bangladesh Pankaj Saran attended the programme as the chief guest.
MCCI president Rokia Afzal Rahman moderated the programme while its senior members joined the discussion.
Anis-Ud Dowla, chairman of the Advanced Chemical Company (ACI Ltd.) said capital investment and other constraints to market access to the neighbouring country have impeded efforts of members of the Bangladesh business community in terms of investment and business growth with India.
"We want discrimination-free environment for expansion of our business," Mr. Dowla said.
He also said unnecessary bottlenecks have been affecting their moves to boost trades.
"We need abolition of non-tariff barriers and need to build trust to boost the bilateral trades," Mr. Dowla, also former president of the MCCI, said.
Some of the MCCI members said cumbersome procedures in getting permission for investment are also hitting their plans in investing in north-eastern region of India.
"Seeing the long cumbersome process, our plan for making investment in an agricultural plant in the north-east region of India has been put on hold now," said a MCCI member.
Latifur Rahman, chairman of Transcom Group, however, said India is a big market.
"We only try to explore business opportunities in neighbouring Indian states. We should explore other potential regions like Mumbai to market our goods and services," Mr. Rahman said.
Replying to questions, Mr. Pankaj Saran agreed on some issues and pledged to place those to Delhi for quick solution. He noted that the existing infrastructure of land customs is a major non-tariff barrier affecting both the parties.
Mr. Saran, however, said his office is yet to receive any directive from Delhi about the visa-on-arrival facility for the Bangladesh people.
The Indian envoy said the country is very much on the list of on-arrival visa in India and will be the first country to get it when the process kicks off.
He said traveling to India from Bangladesh will become easier than before as the Indian High Commission in Dhaka has already been permitted to issue multiple entry visas for the next five years.
He said the Indian authority is now opting for devising a technology to identify the genuine visa applicants.
He advised all to go to the helpline if the homepage of online visa causes disturbances.
Mr. Saran said genuine visa applicants do not face any trouble to get the same.
The Indian High Commissioner pleaded for diverting trade between Bangladesh and India from roads to waterways, railways and coastal ports.
Mr. Saran said, "We should decongest the Petrapole-Benapole trading post by diverting the trade to other LCs (Land Customs stations) and away from road to waterways, railways and ports."
He said work on development of the Ashuganj Port is under way.
"We know we should modernise our LCs and border infrastructures to cater to traffic of the 50s, 60s and 70s," Mr. Saran said.
He said: "We should start coastal shipping and have a long-term inland waterways usage plan."
"We should step up our cooperation in the areas of energy security, food security, environment protection, and water management," he said.
Mr. Saran stressed greater sub-regional cooperation, greater integration and greater connectivity in the coming days.
The Indian envoy said local businessmen could tap business opportunities in India as it has opened up its market.
He said his government has done much about reducing the barriers, both tariff and non-tariff, to boost the bilateral trades.
He said as a result, many big companies of India have invested in Bangladesh.
He said a number of Indian giants are in Bangladesh such as Airtel, Tatas, Sun Pharma, Asian Paints, Dabur, Marico, Aditya Birla, Godrej and so on.
Moreover, some important investments are in the pipeline.
He said harmonisation of customs, free movement of business persons and regional integrity could boost the trades in the region.
Mr. Saran said: "In my view, stop talking, begin working (to boost trades)".
Modernisation of border customs infrastructure is one of keys to boost trades.
He said seven land customs are now being upgraded by the Indian government.
He said a project is being funded by the Indian government to strengthen the Bangladesh Standard and Testing Institution (BSTI).
MCCI president Rokia Afzal Rahman said India is a very important trading partner of Bangladesh.
She said the highest authority of India, in its exemplary show of goodwill to her less-developed neighbours, has made goods from the LDCs under the SAFTA completely duty-free and quota-free.
"We appreciate this very much," she said.
She, however, noted that the decisions made at the highest policy-making level are yet to be reflected in the procedural and bureaucratic systems of both the countries when it comes to cross-border trade.
The MCCI president said the good news is that there have been conscious and systematic efforts to increase cooperation between the two countries, particularly in area of trade facilitation, product standard, conformity assessment, transshipment of goods and trade-infrastructure development.
"Let us work together to continue the effort and expedite it," she added.
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