Multimodal connectivity holds the key: Experts

Although Bangladesh and India are the largest business partners of each other, their trade volume is still lower than expected, experts told a seminar on Tuesday.
Establishing multimodal connectivity, trade facilitation and capacity enhancement of ports can help boost their bilateral trade, they said.
The observations were made at a seminar styled 'Multimodal Connectivity between India and Bangladesh' hosted by Unnayan Shamannay (UnSy) at Biswa Sahitya Kendra in the capital's Banglamotor area.
Pranay Verma, Indian high commissioner in Dhaka, attended the seminar as the chief guest with Dr Delwar Hossain, Dhaka University's international relations professor, in the chair.
UnSy chairperson and former central bank governor Prof Dr Atiur Rahman presented a keynote there.
Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD)'s Distinguished Fellow Prof Mustafizur Rahman, Foreign Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry executive director TIM Nurul Kabir, PRAN-RFL Group CEO Ahsan Khan Chowdhury, and India-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry vice-president Shoeb Chowdhury joined a panel discussion.
Road Transport and Highways Division's additional secretary Neelima Akhter and DU IBA professor Dr Syed Ferhat Anwar, among others, also spoke.
In his speech, Mr Verma said cultural and historical relations between India and Bangladesh as well as their geographic proximity need to be leveraged to materialise their economic potential.
"Governments of both countries and other stakeholders are working relentlessly to enhance connectivity infrastructure to bolster intraregional trade and have achieved commendable progress in recent years."
Studies show seamless transport between the two countries can increase the national income of Bangladesh by as much as 17 per cent and of India by around 8.0 per cent, according to Mr Verma.
"Bangladesh's export to India could enhance by up to 300 per cent," he mentioned.
India and Bangladesh share a unique and special relationship unlike any other bilateral relationship in the world.
Regarding the proposed Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), Mr Verma said: "We've decided that we'll soon start negotiating on CEPA, through which both countries can harness each other's growing potential and mutual benefit."
Meanwhile, Dr Atiur said India and Bangladesh are the largest trading partners in South Asia.
"Yet, the level of trade between the two countries remains sub-optimal," he said, citing that there is no alternative but to enhance connectivity between them.
However, the keynoter said the discourse must focus on multimodal connectivity rather than relying solely on any single mode of transportation.

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