4 SAARC ministers to sign motor vehicle transport deal June 15

The Cabinet has approved Motor Vehicles Agreement draft for signing by four South Asian nations – India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan – on June 15. The road transport ministers of the four SAARC states will ink the agreement in Thimpu for seamless transit of vehicles between the four countries as is prevalent in Europe. Cabinet Secretary Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan on Monday said that a meeting would be held in Bhutan’s capital Thimpu on June 14 where secretaries of the four countries would finalise the agreement. At the ministerial-level meeting on June 15, the ‘Motor Vehicle Agreement’ would be signed, Bhuiyan told reporters after a regular Cabinet meeting held on Monday in the conference hall of the Cabinet Division at the Secrtetariat. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina chaired the meeting. Bhuiyan said the meeting approved the draft of the ‘Motor Vehicle Transport Agreement’ for singing by the ministers of the four countries. He said Motor Vehicles Agreement to be inked for regulation of passengers, personal and cargo vehicular traffic between Bangladesh and the three neighbouring countries. At present, there is no direct road link to Nepal and Bhutan from Bangladesh. To go to these two SARC countries, people from Bangladesh need to go via India only after changing vehicles at border point.