The first Bangladesh-India joint working group (JWG) meeting is set to be held this month for further strengthening bilateral relations between the two countries in textiles, officials said.
In the upcoming meeting on January 21 to be held in the city, the setting up of a successor organisation to the International Jute Study Group (IJSG) in Dhaka will be high on the agenda, they said.
Besides textiles, the agenda being prepared will include discussions on jute, silk, garments, looms and purchase of cotton for Bangladesh's textile mills, sources concerned said.
The Ministry of Textiles and Jute (MoTJ) has already informed the Indian side in this connection.
Both the sides would also discuss the future of the IJSG as the tenure of the body will expire in March, source said.
"Bangladesh is in favour of continuing the operation of the IJSG as it is the only organisation having headquarters in Dhaka," a high official of the MoTJ said.
India has, in principle, agreed to support the Bangladesh initiative for a successor multilateral organisation in jute sector for taking forward the initiatives of the IJSG, the ministry's latest minutes said in this regard.
Dhaka has already informed the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) secretary general along with Indian agreed papers for the continuation of the operation of the IJSG, an official of the MoTJ said.
Led by MoTJ a policy paper has to be prepared for continued operation of the IJSG. The ministry of foreign affairs will take necessary steps in this regard, the minutes added.
India and Bangladesh signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on cooperation in textiles on August 19 last year.
Under the MoU on textiles sector, collaboration would act as a major trade facilitation mechanism, by establishing an institutional mechanism for collaboration through a joint working group (JWG), sources said.
The JWG would develop collaborations between the textiles institutions in the two countries, including skill building institutions, fashion institutes and research institutions, sources said.
Jute and textiles contributed more than 50 per cent of Bangladesh's exports of $63.96 million to India in the last fiscal.
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