India and Bangladesh are set to discuss an annual fixed quota for importing six commodities and food-grains from India to Bangladesh, sources said.
The Indian High Commission in Dhaka has proposed the discussion, which will be held in a virtual format.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) has forwarded the proposal to the Ministry of Commerce, which is expected to hold a preparatory inter-ministerial meeting on Tuesday.
The meeting will be chaired by Senior Commerce Secretary Tapan Kanti Ghosh and will be attended by representatives from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), foreign, food, and agriculture ministries, the National Board of Revenue (NBR), and the Trade and Tariff Commission.
The inter-ministerial meeting will set a tentative date for the bilateral meeting, which will be held in India. It will also nominate participants for the Bangladesh side to bargain on the issue.
A senior official said that they hope to reach a positive result on the annual quota for Bangladesh.
"Neighbouring India is supposed to offer export quota for Bangladesh on essential goods in its next national budget," the official said.
The Indian government is considering giving Bangladesh a quota of wheat and other commodities, to help the neighbouring country tackle its growing food security concerns.
The move comes as Bangladesh is facing a severe wheat shortage due to the Russia-Ukraine war, which has disrupted global wheat supplies. The war has also pushed up global food prices, making it difficult for Bangladesh to import food at affordable prices.
The senior official said that the commerce ministry sent the quota proposal to its Indian counterpart several times in the last couple of months to take the required measures.
He, however, said the Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi has already informed that the neighbouring nation is already in consultation with its concerned ministries in this regard.
Bangladesh has already shared a revised list of six commodities (wheat, rice, sugar, onion, garlic, and ginger) with India to stabilize the former's domestic market.
In the December 2022 Indo-Bangla commerce ministerial meeting, Dhaka proposed a quota of 4.5 million tonnes of wheat, 2.0 million tonnes of rice, 1.5 million tonnes of sugar, 0.7 million tonnes of onion, 0.125 million tonnes of ginger, 30,000 tonnes of lentil and 10,000 tonnes of garlic.
However, following Delhi's recommendation to rationalise the list, Dhaka sent a revised list later. The new proposal asked for 2.5 million tonnes of wheat, 1.5 million tonnes of rice, 1.0 million tonnes of sugar, 0.6 million tonnes of onions and 0.1 million tonnes of ginger.
But, it increased the volume of garlic to 50,000 tonnes from 10,000 tonnes, an increase of 400 per cent from the quantity in the previous proposal.
According to the revised proposal, the government is considering purchasing 0.8-1.0 million tonnes of rice and 0.5-0.7 million tonnes of wheat, while the private sector is proposed to import 0.5-0.7 million tonnes of rice and 2.0 million tonnes of wheat.
The revised quota on sugar, onions, garlic, and ginger has only been proposed for private imports.
In mid-January 2023, the commerce ministry sat with officials and stakeholders concerned to review the quota proposal and facilitate the import of items from India.
During the meeting, the ministry formed a five-member high-powered committee to prepare a revised annual import quota for food items from India.
The committee prepared the report based on the country's last 10-year detailed demand, production, import and supply data of the items.
Dhaka has already excluded lentils from the revised proposal as India will not provide it due to shortages of pulses in times of crisis, in response to Dhaka's request.
The local annual demand for sugar is more than 2.0 million tonnes, and over 0.6 million tonnes of lentils are needed to meet the annual demand, of which 0.4 million tonnes are imported and 0.2 million tonnes are produced locally.
Besides, more than 2.5 million tonnes of onions are needed every year, and 0.6-0.7 million tonnes need to be imported, with over 90 per cent coming from India.
Bangladesh annually imports 6.0 million tonnes of wheat, with a major portion of the item being imported from neighbouring India, according to a high official.
In March 2022, India offered an export quota on essential goods to Nepal and Bhutan in its national budget.
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