Indo-Bangladesh bilateral relations
Thursday, 4 December 2008
BANGLADESH is an important destination for Indian exports. Through such bilateral trade, the businesses in both the countries have otherwise been gaining.
The freight costs or per unit costs of the delivery of an Indian product is cheaper for Bangladesh than from any other import source, because of 'geographical nearness' factor. The quality of Indian products is not found to be unsatisfactory. Bangladesh's export-oriented readymade garments (RMG) sector obtains a bulk of its raw materials or fabrics from India at costs cheaper than from China and other suppliers and the goods also arrive faster helping quicker production. This, in turn, shortens the lead time for the local RMG exporters.
For many years, Bangladesh has been meeting a substantial part of its requirements of food grains from India. The import of food grains from India has helped food security in Bangladesh. Even during the last year when food grain production slumped round the world and India was also a part of this decline in food grain production, India supplied or made commitments to supply, 0.5 million tonnes of rice to Bangladesh. The price thereof has been globally competitive.
Furthermore, a large and wide range of products and items are imported into Bangladesh from India. Such products are otherwise comparatively cheap and do reach this country faster in contrast to any other regional source. Even a large number of sacrificial cows for the religious Eid-ul-Azha festival in Bangladesh come from India.
But Bangladesh has not been exporting much to India. One reason for that may be that India also produces the same goods that Bangladesh would like export to India. The question here for consideration is whether the Indian producers are more efficient, in terms of quality, and do offer better competitive prices than the Bangladeshi ones. In many cases, Bangladeshi exporters cannot meet the quality certification requirements of that country. If this is a non-tariff barrier and also is put with the deliberate purpose of restricting the entry of Bangladeshi products to India, then it is certainly a discriminatory practice on the part of the Indian authorities.
In this context, all concerned would expect that the Indian authorities would look into such matters that tend to restrict the entry of Bangladeshi products to the Indian market, on any unfair ground. In the interest of smooth bilateral trade relations on a sustainable basis, all such barriers should be removed.
Firoz Rahman
Rankeen Street
Dhaka
The freight costs or per unit costs of the delivery of an Indian product is cheaper for Bangladesh than from any other import source, because of 'geographical nearness' factor. The quality of Indian products is not found to be unsatisfactory. Bangladesh's export-oriented readymade garments (RMG) sector obtains a bulk of its raw materials or fabrics from India at costs cheaper than from China and other suppliers and the goods also arrive faster helping quicker production. This, in turn, shortens the lead time for the local RMG exporters.
For many years, Bangladesh has been meeting a substantial part of its requirements of food grains from India. The import of food grains from India has helped food security in Bangladesh. Even during the last year when food grain production slumped round the world and India was also a part of this decline in food grain production, India supplied or made commitments to supply, 0.5 million tonnes of rice to Bangladesh. The price thereof has been globally competitive.
Furthermore, a large and wide range of products and items are imported into Bangladesh from India. Such products are otherwise comparatively cheap and do reach this country faster in contrast to any other regional source. Even a large number of sacrificial cows for the religious Eid-ul-Azha festival in Bangladesh come from India.
But Bangladesh has not been exporting much to India. One reason for that may be that India also produces the same goods that Bangladesh would like export to India. The question here for consideration is whether the Indian producers are more efficient, in terms of quality, and do offer better competitive prices than the Bangladeshi ones. In many cases, Bangladeshi exporters cannot meet the quality certification requirements of that country. If this is a non-tariff barrier and also is put with the deliberate purpose of restricting the entry of Bangladeshi products to India, then it is certainly a discriminatory practice on the part of the Indian authorities.
In this context, all concerned would expect that the Indian authorities would look into such matters that tend to restrict the entry of Bangladeshi products to the Indian market, on any unfair ground. In the interest of smooth bilateral trade relations on a sustainable basis, all such barriers should be removed.
Firoz Rahman
Rankeen Street
Dhaka