Dhaka seeks duty-free entry of 61 items into Indian market.

Dhaka has sought duty-free facility for its 61 products from New Delhi to narrow the ever-widening trade gap between the two neighbouring countries, sources in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

The list of 61 items, prepared by the Ministry of Commerce (MoC), has recently been sent to the office of the Indian High Commission, Dhaka. All but 480 items, originating from Bangladesh now enjoy the duty-free facility to Indian market.

The proposed duty-free facility is likely to be provided to Bangladesh under the Trade in Goods Agreement of South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) accord, a top foreign ministry official said.

Of the 61, zero-duty facility has been sought against 49 ready-made-garment (RMG) items.

The major goods against which duty-free facility have been sought include edible grade soybean oil, refined palm oil/palmolein, aviation turbine fuel and fuel oil, natural rubber (smoked sheets), toilet or facial tissue stock, sanitary napkin, paper or paperboard labels of all kinds and silk fabrics.

The main RMG products are-men's or boy's trousers, women's or girl's blouses, girl's skirts and divided skirts, overalls and shorts for boys', girls' and women's, men's or boy's cotton nightshirts and pajamas, women's or girls' night dresses and cotton pajamas, swimwear for boy's, girls' and women's, tracksuits, made-up clothing accessories and brassieres of all types of textile materials.

Officials in the MoC said the list of 61 items has been prepared by a committee comprising trade officials and trade body representatives. Pointing to the rationale of including soybean and palm oil in the list, they said the traders have scope to re-export the edible oils after certain percentage of value addition.

They said the duty free facility sought for items falling under the RMG have enormous potential in Indian markets, which are now included in the negative list by India.

Earlier, the government sent a list of non-tariff barriers to the Indian government requesting their removal.

"The list of 61 items if are provided with duty-free facility would bring positive result to Bangladeshi exporters," a high official in the MoC told the FE.

"India looks cooperative now in addressing trade related bilateral problems that have been affecting the export growth of Bangladesh."

He said the upcoming commerce secretary level talks to be held between India and Bangladesh in Dhaka is likely to solve the trade issues in a holistic way.

The two-way trade balance was $968.71 million in favour of India in the 2001-02 fiscal year, when Bangladesh exported goods worth $50.19 million to India against her imports of $1.01 billion. The gap increased to above $3.0 billion in 2008-2009.

Source : thefinancialexpress-bd.com