Transit cargo, duty-free access, bus service top on agenda

Members of the technical committees on the Ministries of Commerce (MoCs) of Bangladesh and Nepal will sit next week in Kathmandu to discuss various bilateral trade-related issues.
The issues include operational modalities of transit cargo, duty-free access of goods to each other's market and direct bus service between the two countries, officials said Sunday.
An eight-member Bangladesh delegation, led by additional secretary of the MoC Monoj Kumar Roy, will attend the meeting. The meeting is expected to discuss issues relating to signing of the memorandums of understanding (MoUs) for import of goods on government to government basis, sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) and Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), and visa issuance.
"We are hopeful of finalising the operational modalities for the transportation of transit cargo between Nepal and Bangladesh in this meeting," Mr Roy told the FE Sunday.
Bangladesh and Nepal signed a transit deal in 1976 but it remained ineffective because of the absence of operational modalities. The Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges had sent a draft of the operational modalities to Nepal and discussed the issue on several occasions.
Mr Roy said launching of direct bus serving between Dhaka and Kathmandu is a long-pending issue. This time there could be a breakthrough, he said.
He said Bangladesh and India have agreed to bring changes in bilateral trade deal under which one country will be able to use the territory of the other to carry goods to a third country. After the signing of the deal Bangladesh will be able to send transit cargo to Nepal, and start direct bus service between Dhaka and Kathmandu.
According to officials, at the last bilateral meeting held in February 2013, Bangladesh had offered duty-free access to 108 Nepalese goods while it demanded similar facilities for 153 of its products.
However, finalisation of the list of products to be traded duty-free both ways is still under discussion, sources said adding: Nepal recently unofficially informed that it would offer duty-free access to 64 Bangladeshi goods.
At the ensuing meeting the two sides will also discuss signing of two MoUs between the quality control institutions of two countries on SPS and TBT measures. The draft MoUs on SPS and TBT measures are now under scrutiny.
Officials said the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) is also planning to sign two MoUs with Nepal National Trading Ltd and Salt Trading Corporation (STC), Nepal aiming to import essential items under government to government arrangement. The drafts of the proposed MoUs will be handed over to the Nepalese side during the meeting.
They said once the MoUs are signed the TCB will be able to import essential items quickly in case of any emergency situation.      
Sources said in the meeting Bangladesh side will demand long-duration visa for Bangladeshi businessmen. Besides, issuance of on-arrival visa to Nepalese nationals in Bangladeshi land ports will also be discussed in the meeting.
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