CHITTAGONG, Jan 21: A business delegation from Nepal has expressed the interest to use the seaport here for exporting their goods to third countries.
They wanted to take advantage of the empty containers being shipped from the port.
The Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) considered that it would put hardly any pressure on the port as one-third of the containers exported to other countries go empty.
The 25-member team, headed by Nepalese Ambassador in Dhaka Chup Lal Bhusal, visited the port and held a meeting with acting CPA chairman Commodore Zulfiquer Aziz at the CPA conference room in the city on Saturday.
The Nepalese team included diplomats, exporters, importers and businesses of different sectors of Nepal. CPA member (admin and planning) Md Zafar Alam, secretary Md Omar Faruq and other senior officials were present at the meeting.
The meeting was told that thousands of empty containers are sent back as the import volume is much larger than the export volume. These empty containers are sent through the ports of Sri Lanka, Singapore and Malaysia.
On the other hand, Nepal exports goods, mainly spices, through Haldia Port of West Bengal in India.
The business leaders of Nepal said they would like to use the empty containers shipped from Chittagong port for exporting their cargoes to different countries of the Middle East, Europe and America.
The Nepalese Ambassador told the meeting that the Nepalese businesses are eager to use Chittagong Port for exporting their products, especially different kinds of spices, by bringing the goods and storing at warehouses and exporting the same from the port.
He said that it will be a win-win situation for both the countries. Currently, the businesses of Nepal are using the Haldia Port for shipment of their products to a third country. They are also shipping cargoes using the Visakhapatnam Port of India. But in this case, the export cost is much higher.
In response, the CPA officials said the warehousing facilities in Chittagong will not be required because the cargoes transported from Nepal through trucks or covered vans could be directly taken to the Kamalapur ICD (inland container depot) in Dhaka through containers.
Later, the containers could be shipped to the importers' destinations through Chittagong port.
Since, the lion's share of containers shipped from Chittagong remains empty, the export of Nepalese cargoes through Chittagong port will not have any extra pressure on the port, the CPA officials said.
After the meeting, the Nepalese business leaders went round different yards and jetties of the port.
On Friday night, they attended a views exchange meeting on Nepal-Bangladesh relations at a hotel in the city.
The Nepalese Ambassador said Bangladesh could take advantage of producing hydroelectricity in Nepal, having technical facilities to generate 0.1 million megawatt annually.
He said Nepal wants huge investment in the hydroelectric power sector. Bangladesh and Nepal signed a trade and transit facility agreement in 1976 but it remained suspended since 1982. Nepal wanted to revive that agreement, said the Ambassador.
Moderated by national daily Bhorer Kagoj editor Shyamol Datta, the meeting was addressed also by Chairman of Trade Service International Syed Mahmudul Haque and Nepal's Deputy Ambassador Dhan Bahadur Oli, among others.
Syed Mahmudul Haque said the two countries have huge trade potentials as the businesses have been talking about it for the last three decades. "We need to open up the road transport and communication which will open up the door of opportunities further."
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