Agri products to be imported from India

Rezaul Karim | Published: February 02, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00

The government has taken steps to promptly import key essential items from India under a government to government (G2G) arrangement to help ease their prices in the local market, official sources said.
Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) is going to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in this regard with the State Trading Corporation (STC) of India soon. The MoU will be for five years.
The TCB has prepared a draft of the MoU which will be finalised after getting the nod from the concerned Indian authority.
Under the deal, agricultural products will be imported from the neighbouring country. The payment will be in US dollars.
"Both countries agree to provide such current market information and business contacts to each other upon request," according to article 3 of the MoU.
Under the MoU, "The procurement of the products will be carried out on the basis of contracts, concluded between the economic entities which are empowered to do so by parties, with the application of market prices and procurement conditions being set up in the contracts."
Under the upcoming deal, "The parties will contribute to conduct and develop economic cooperation in the sphere of agricultural products to the mutual benefit of their respective countries."
The Parties (India-Bangladesh) will exchange trade enquires from their respective home markets, in article 2 said.
According to the article 11, the MoU will be valid for five years after it comes into force and automatically renewable for similar periods unless one side notifies the other, in written and through diplomatic channels, of its intention not to renew the memorandum."
For containing continuous price hike of essentials in the domestic market in future, the government is now planning to import those from India under a G2G arrangement through the TCB, a source said.
The TCB under the MoC took the decision in a bid to ensure stable supply of key essential items to the market.
The move will help TCB curb the prices of essential items, sources said, adding, the move should have taken before.
Under the MoU, The TCB will import onion, pulse, sugar, ginger, garlic, spices and other essentials.