Indian Commerce Minister Due Next Saturday.

Bangladesh will seek duty-free access of its 61 items to Indian market, or withdrawal of the existing quantitative restriction on the duty-free entry of local apparel products during the upcoming visit of Indian Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma, a top trade official said.

Anand will arrive in the city next Saturday for a two-day visit. He will lead a 33-member delegation that includes two government secretaries and 21 high-profile businessmen.

"Our longstanding demand for granting duty-free access to 61 items in Indian market will be placed at the bilateral discussion, to be held during the visit of Anand Sharma," a high official in the Ministry of Commerce (MoC) said.

"Our second option is to get duty-free access, only for export of all ready-made garment (RMG) products, through withdrawing the current quantitative restriction, imposed by the Indian government," he added.

Besides, Dhaka will seek removal of non-tariff and para-tariff barriers, often imposed by Indian customs authority on Bangladeshi products, sources said.

The officials in the MoC and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), however, could not give any concrete idea about the purpose of visit by Anand Sharma, saying India is yet to send their agenda for discussion.

The officials said Anand will hold an intensive discussion with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina during his stay in Dhaka.

Issues, like transit and use of Chittagong and Mongla ports by India, might get priority during the discussion between Hasina and Anand, a top official in the MoFA said.

Currently, only 8.0 million pieces of RMG from Bangladesh get duty-free facility to Indian market each year, under a bilateral trade arrangement between the two countries.

However, Bangladesh could never fulfil the quota because of its lack of capacity and relatively lucrative markets in the West.

Dhaka has long been pursuing New Delhi to allow 61 Bangladeshi items in the Indian market under duty-free facility. The proposed facility could be awarded either on the basis of a bilateral deal, or under the arrangement of SAFTA (South Asian Free Trade Area) agreement, a high official in the MoC said.

Presently, all items from Bangladesh, except 480 included in the 'Sensitive List' of India under the umbrella of SAFTA, are enjoying duty-free access to the Indian market.

Of the 480 products, Bangladesh has only 56 exportable items, a member of Bangladesh Tariff Commission (BTC) said. Of 56, 43 items belong to different categories of RMG, he added.

The remaining major items, other than RMG products, include betel nuts, soybean oil, palm oil, steel pipe, toilet or facial tissue, sanitary napkin, paper or paperboard labels of all kinds, and silk fabrics.

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

The two-way trade balance was $968.71 million, in favour of India, in the fiscal 2001-02, when Bangladesh exported goods worth $50.19 million to India, against the import of $1.01 billion. The gap increased to above $3.0 billion in the fiscal 2009-10.

Source : thefinancialexpress-bd.com