Bangladesh hints at zero-tariff facility to Nepali products

Bangladesh has indicated it could provide duty-free market access to Nepali agricultural produces such as tomatoes and lentils when top trade officials of the two countries meet in Kathmandu next week.
“Bangladeshi officials have informed us that they are positive at providing zero-tariff facility to selected Nepali products, which have competitive edges in Bangladeshi market,” said a reliable source at Ministry of Commerce and Supply (MoCS).
He informed Republica that they were expecting a concrete announcement to this effect from Bangladesh when Commerce Secretary of the two countries will sit for talks starting from July 29.
Nepal had been requesting special treatment to its products, particularly agro produces, since almost a decade. But it has failed to secure the facility mainly as Bangladesh is also asking for the similar facility from Nepal.
Such demand from Bangladesh had forced officials to step back because existing bilateral treaty between Nepal and India restricts Nepal from providing equal or more favorable tariff treatment to any third country.
“Thankfully, Bangladesh has finally understood our constraint. We are optimistic the upcoming bilateral trade talks will finally bear fruit,” said the source.
Commerce Secretary Lal Mani Joshi, who is leading the talks, however, refused to talk on the message received by the ministry. He confirmed the date of the meeting though.
“We have not been able to penetrate the market despite the huge demand for lentils and tomato in Bangladesh,” he stated. During the talks, he said he would continue to his push for the duty-free facility to the Nepali products in order to expand the bilateral trade.
The commerce secretaries of the two countries, who are holding talks after a gap of two years, are also scheduled to discuss issues such as additional infrastructure development along the bordering areas, identify problems faced by their respective traders and work out ways to solve them.
They would also discuss over signing a mechanism for operating the transit routes between the two countries and work for sorting out quarantine related hassles. “We will also review the status of implementation of agreements that we had reached during the previous meetings,” said Joshi.
Nepal and Bangladesh had agreed on the draft of the operation mechanism of transit route during the commerce secretary-level talks in Dhaka in 2010. Once signed, it will pave the way for Nepal to use Mongla and Chittagong ports for international trade.
Likewise, it will also sort out problems faced by traders on the overland transit route of Kakarbhitta-Fulbari-Banglaband. Despite that, officials doubted smooth operation of this land route as India has not improved the roads conditions and ease movement of transit traffic along the Kakarvitta-Fulbari and Fulbari-Banglabanda segments of the route.
Nonetheless, if Bangladesh provided duty free facility for agro-produces, private sector believes Nepal´s export to this South Asian neighbor would rise significantly.
Records show, Nepal´s exports to Bangladesh presently stands at around Rs 3.3 billion, whereas its imports from Bangladesh stand at around a billion rupee.