Pranay Verma, Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh, visited MCCI's Gulshan office during a luncheon meeting on Tuesday. Members of the MCCI Board of Directors and the business community discussed with him various topics on bilateral trade and development. 
Businesses in Bangladesh Tuesday urged India to remove “bottlenecks” in boosting country’s exports to the second-largest consumer market of the world, now that reordering of global trade relations is visibly on stream.
Addressing the quarterly luncheon meeting of the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) in Dhaka, they recommended a string of tasks, including introduction of dual currency in transactions, to give a fillip to trade and business between the two next-door neighbours.
The dos they listed also include common standardisation, free flow of both Indian rupee and Bangladeshi taka in export trade, easing visa procedures and gearing up business-to-business (b2b) activities.
Indian High Commissioner in Dhaka Mr Pranay Verma, who was main speaker at the event, assured the business community of addressing the problems facing Bangladesh businesses.
He said Bangladesh and India would soon start negotiations on signing the proposed Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA).
Mr Verma also stressed promoting multimodal connectivity for the benefit of both the countries through transshipment and cross-border trade.
He said efforts to modernise and decongest the land ports are underway to facilitate smooth trade between the two countries.
Highlighting multimodal connectivity he pointed out the initiatives to promote rail, shipping and air links between the two countries.
“We also commenced construction of the second cargo terminal which we believe will help double the throughput of vehicles” he said, adding that “there is definitely a need to decongest the checkpoints by improving infrastructure there”.
The Indian high commissioner said Bangladesh is in the best position to tap the economic potential of the contiguous landlocked northeastern states of India.
“Removing trade restrictions will also provide incentives for more investment,” he told his Dhaka business audience.
About expansion of the railway connectivity he said, “We have already restored five of the seven pre-1965 rail links, and these are already operating.”
On river communications he said the quantity of goods transported by the existing 10 protocol routes had gone up 29 times since 2001.
He also mentioned nearly 99 per cent of the cargos on the protocol are carried by Bangladeshi vessels with the result of a clear economic benefit for Bangladesh.
Admitting that transshipment facility through Chittagong and Mongla seaports delivers benefits to their NE states, the Indian diplomat pointed out that India is also offering Bangladesh options to use its ports, railways and airports to and from India and to the world.
“Just as we look to improve connectivity of our northeastern states in Bangladesh, we are also encouraging transit facilities for Bangladesh to export its products to third countries through specified land customs stations, airports and seaports.”
Opening up Indian airports as transshipment hubs for Bangladeshi exports to other countries will give Bangladesh businesses more options for export, he added while elaborating on the complementarities.
“We have also agreed to expeditiously expand our direct shipping links between the two countries,” he told the meet, adding that India is keen to work towards not just the expansion of bilateral link but also expanding it to include third-country community which will immensely help Bangladesh’s global exports and make them more cost-effective.
He said the transshipment through Chittagong and Mongla ports would generate revenue and create significant economic gains for the logistics and services industries of Bangladesh.
“We have now the necessary standing order issued by the National Board of Revenue of Bangladesh that formalises regular movement using these two ports and I would urge our businesses on both sides to make best use of this mechanism.”
He observed that given the geographical proximity of the northeastern states of India, Bangladesh is in the best position to tap an abundant economic potential of India’s north.
Mr Verma also stressed the need for sectoral and cross-sectional investment missions, road shows, capacity-building programs as well as data connection and collaboration between small and medium industries of the two countries.
On the visa problems he said, “It is our constant endeavor to improve and expand the visa services that we offer.”
And they are trying to improve, not just resources to better handle the huge volume of requests that they are now receiving, but also to ensure that they can cater to the increasing demand.
“Now, last year alone… we issued more than 1.5 million visas that make us the largest visa-issuing mission in the world,” he mentioned.
“We are trying definitely to augment our capacity and resources to deal with increasing demand, which is a constant work in progress.”
The mentioned that both the economies had grown at such high rates in the last 10 years shows that greater inter linkages have rewarded and reinforced.
“We must also leverage each other’s strengths and comparative advantages and utilize the framework of connectivity that is in place and that we have to put in place.”
Mr Verma notes that India and Bangladesh share a unique and special relationship unlike any other bilateral relations.
“I think it’s really a very unique and special relationship that we have between our two countries. It is more than strategic partnership,” he told the business meet, attended by trade leaders and economists.
“I think they’re rooted in our shared sacrifices during the immigration borders 1971 which really makes it very, very special and unique relationship which I don’t see any other international relations.”
MCCI President Syful Islam lauded the CEPA initiative and proposed the introduction of dual-currency credit card between the two countries.
He also suggested free flow of the Bangladeshi taka and the Indian rupee without any cap in case of bilateral trade regardless of Bangladesh’s export performance.
Mr Islam stressed harmonization of the standards of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) with those of Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI) to promote trade and ease it.
Former MCCI president Syed Nasim Manzur reminded the audience that ‘this is indeed the age of Asia’ and highlighted the shared vision of creating high-quality manufacturing-and services-sector jobs for both the countries.
Underscoring the need for boosting supply-chain linkage Mr Nasim said, “We are seeing an unprecedented opportunity in terms of timing to, as was said recently, diversify and de-risk global supply chains because of overdependence, particularly on China.
“And, therefore, there is unprecedented interest in manufacturing in both our countries, and we see a huge opportunity to link our supply chains.”
The former MCCI president also noted that the opportunity could be utilised properly if the two countries would increase and facilitate trade in raw materials, semi-finished products, as well as movement of people.
“So, as you said, we need to also innovate and innovations are needed to capture this opportunity.”
He recommended steps to remove three challenges: synchronisation of standard institutions of both countries, ensuring work permits, and strengthening b2b relationships.
About the upcoming rules of the Bureau of Indian Standards, he suggested harmonisation between BIS and BSTI to ensure mutual recognition of standards.
“That could be a huge game changer for Bangladeshi exports to as well as Indian exports to Bangladesh so it would benefit both sides,” he said.
In this connection he suggested that Bangladesh should be given longer timeframe to comply with the BIS rules as implementation of mutual- recognition mechanisms may not be possible in a short time.
He apprehended that the tremendous export growth may be hard hit by BIS rules.
“And I can tell you for the garment industry and for other industries like ceramics or even food products, that this is a challenge,” the leading businessman told the meet.
He also suggested facilitation of cross-border movement of service-providers between Bangladesh and India.
“Many of our farms, we now have operations we will see a huge potential in what is the world’s second-largest consumer market for many products. But it’s very difficult for us to get people to get there,” he said, requesting easing visa restrictions.
MCCI Vice-President Habibullah N Karim gave the vote of thanks in the programme moderated by Farouk Ahmed, secretary-general and CEO of MCCI.
mirmostafiz@yahoo.com
© 2026 - All Rights with The Financial Express
