India agrees to recognise BSTI certification for food, bakery items

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Nazmul Ahsan
New Delhi has agreed to recognise the certificate of Bangladesh Standard & Testing Institute (BSTI) for exporting processed food and bakery items from the country to Indian markets. Such recognition will be effective from January 1, 2010, official sources said.
Another 10 Bangladeshi items, which will also be excluded from taking mandatory certificate from the Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS) for export purpose, will soon be finalised.
The decision was taken at the just concluded three-day Bangladesh -India Joint Working Group (JWG) meeting held on August 29 last in New Delhi.
Dr. Ruhul Amin Sarker, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Commerce, led a six-member delegation comprising representatives from the foreign, communications and commerce ministries and the National Board of Revenue to the JWG meeting.
According to the meeting decision, the authority of Bureau of Indian Standard will visit Dhaka at the end of the current month to assess the weakness of BSTI prior to providing the BSTI with necessary technical support and cooperation, a delegation member said.
"Indian government has finally agreed at the JWG meeting to accept the certificate issued by the BSTI for processed food and bakery items,' a delegation member told the FE on Wednesday.
"The BIS top officials will provide technical assistance and human resource supports to the BSTI so that Indian requirements and standards are achieved by our BSTI authority by December, 2009", he said.
The ministry of commerce will finalise list of 10 other items, which will also be exempted from the BIS certification, another delegation member said.
The probable items are food products, cosmetics, and leather and textile products, hinted a commerce ministry official.
Furthermore, India has agreed to lift the mandatory laboratory and psychosanitary tests for importing each consignment of Hilsha fish from Bangladesh, sources said.
Instead, Hilsha exporters will have to obtain certificates once for exporting Hilsha for six months, instead of against each and every consignment of Hilsha, the meeting decided.
The gesture of India in recognising the certificates of BSTI after long persuasions from successive governments, would help build confidence of Bangladeshi exporters upon India. Bangladeshi exporters have long been victims of non-tariff barriers erected very often by the Indian authorities, trade officials said.
The two-way trade balance was $968.71 million in favour of India in the 2001-02 fiscal year, when Bangladesh exported goods worth $50.19 million to India against her imports of $1.01 billion. The gap increased to $3.03 billion in 2007-08.
Bangladesh exports about Tk 1.50 billion worth of processed food and bakery items annually to India, which might be increased manifold if non-tariff barrier like mandatory certification from BIS, which often takes more than a week to issue certificate, is lifted and certificate of BSTI is accepted, exporters said.
They said India should prove its assurance and gesture into reality for the sake of friendly relations with its close neighbour-Bangladesh.