Transit facility to India, Nepal, Bhutan unlikely soon

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Syful Islam Bangladesh is unlikely to provide much-talked-about transit and transhipment facility to neighbouring India, Nepal, and Bhutan soon, sources said. An adviser to the Prime Minister at a recent meeting at the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) expressed frustration over the slow pace of activities relating to awarding the facilities to the neighbours, they added. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) is now handling the issues, which was earlier transferred to the Ministry of Shipping (MoS) from the Ministry of Commerce (MoC). Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque told the FE that a technical committee meeting on transit and transhipment issues will be held in New Delhi in the coming months as the earlier meeting was held in Dhaka. Asked whether any significant development took place in the recent months regarding awarding the facilities to neighbours, he answered in the negative. "So far as I know, the transit and transhipment facilities are unlikely to be given to India, Nepal, and Bhutan soon," Mr Haque said. A senior MoC official said Bangladesh will have to strike transit deal with India first to make the initiative mutually beneficial. "Unless we have transit deal with India, our vehicles won't be able to enter Bhutan and Nepal by land route despite having such accords with them since Bangladesh does not have land borders with those countries," he said. He said Bhutanese and Nepalese vehicles can come to Bangladesh border through the Indian territory as the two have deals with New Delhi. Since Bangladeshi vehicles have no access to the Indian territory, the connectivity among the three countries faces trouble. Bangladesh, Bhutan, and India held a trilateral meeting on connectivity and transit last April in Dhaka. In the meeting, Bangladesh proposed a draft terms of reference (ToR) which was discussed by the parties. Moreover, the meeting exchanged views on various aspects on connectivity and transit including potential benefits in the sub-regional context. Another senior MoC official said Bangladesh has finalised a draft of transit deal and placed it at the bilateral Commerce Secretary level meeting in Dhaka with Bhutan last March. The Bhutanese side said they will communicate on the issue after returning to Thimphu. However, Bhutan did not reply on this issue since then despite Bangladesh's reminder, he said. Bangladesh in the final draft has suggested signing of the transit deal for ten years and then making it a permanent one. The last transit deal between the two neighbours expired in 2000. Since the present government came to power, providing transit and transhipment facilities to neighbouring countries through land, rail, and water routes was being discussed among the governments. A core committee on transit and transhipment was formed which submitted a final report to the PMO in January 2012, keeping both the options -- transit and transhipment -- open for the neighbouring countries. The committee identified nine land routes, nine rail routes, and five waterways for providing transit facilities to the neighbours. However, the committee suggested not for awarding the facilities at this stage without necessary infrastructural development. Neighbouring India wants to get the transit and transhipment facility in Bangladesh mainly for carrying cargoes to its 'seven sister states' of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura. Land-locked Nepal and Bhutan are also interested to enjoy the similar facilities for their external trade activities.