Immediate Initiative to Allow Cross-Border Deal: Indian PM Manmohan

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that an initiative would be taken to pass an amendment to the constitution for the approval of the border agreement signed with Bangladesh in the forthcoming assembly session. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said this on the meeting with our Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed on Saturday met at his official residence.

In 1974, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the then Indian Prime Minister Indian Gandhi signed this agreement. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his visit to Bangladesh in 2011 and Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina signed a memorandum of understanding in this regard. The bill was proposed in last Rajjo Shova Assembly but was not passed.

Today Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed told BSS that he had talked with the Prime Minister of India about the region's business-trade development, an increase of investment and communication. India's prime minister sought to promote trade between the two countries.

During his visit, Tofail Ahmed conveyed Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's greetings to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. He gave his congratulations and best wishes to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for winning the election and taking responsibility again.

After that, Tofail Ahmed met with India's Commerce Minister Anand Sharma. Two ministers expressed their common thought to solve the problems regarding trade and business between India and Bangladesh through quick negotiation.

In the meeting, the Working Group of Bangladesh and India's commerce ministry was told to be more effective and solve the problems in a specific period.

Tofail Ahmed said that India had given tax-free access to all products manufactured in Bangladesh except for tobacco and alcohol. However, Bangladesh is not able to take this opportunity due to various constraints of tax. Specifically, India does not accept the verification certificate of quality products given by BSTI. So this is creating trouble to export products in India. He also tackles this issue to the Indian Commerce Minister. Anand Sharma said with assurance that India will help Bangladesh with all kinds of cooperation to make BSTI more modern to solve the problem.

In the discussion, the Indian Commerce Minister gave a positive response to Tofail Ahmed for his proposal of increasing Border Hut from two to four. Bangladesh High Commissioner to India Tariq A. Karim was present then.

Tofail Ahmed is on tour in New Delhi, India to attend a two-day ‘SAARC Business Leaders Conclave’ hosted by India's Ministry of Commerce.

In addition to attending in Conclave, he met Indian President Pranab Mukherjee and Indian Prime Minister’s Security Advisor Shiv Shankar Menon on Friday. He also interacted with India's leading journalists and intellectuals.