Trade on the India-Bangladesh border remains unaffected in wake of the spurt in violence in Bangladesh.
Businessmen claim that export and import of items is taking place without much disruption in West Bengal’s South Dinajpur district, reports ANI.
Trucks carrying goods took a bit long to enter the neighbouring Bangladesh. However, the unrest did not affect the trade between the two countries.
“Any strike in Bangladesh due to the ongoing protests and violence has not affected the trade on hill area border so far. Trucks do take a little long to enter the neighbourhood but the vehicles are moving smoothly and the export-import in hill area is normal. The strike in Bangladesh has not affected the trade in the hill area,” said Asoke Mandal, Secretary of Hilly Export Association.
Meanwhile, drivers of trucks at the border said that they did not encounter any problems.
“We’re not affected by the strike, the goods have reached their destination, We went yesterday afternoon at around 2 or 3 and left 11 in the morning from the parking there must be around 100-150 trucks,” said Yogendra Gupta, Indian truck driver at Hilly Border.
Bangladesh imports more than 4.0 billion dollars worth of products from India while India import less than 1.0 billion dollars worth of products annually.
Besides, traditional economic and cultural links between India and Bangladesh have been greatly enhanced with Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina visited India in January 2010 followed by a return visit by Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh in September 2011.
Taking into account the trade imbalance between the two countries in favour of India, Dr. Singh during his visit to Bangladesh announced the removal of all 46-textile items from the sensitive list and zero duty access in all these 46 items for Bangladesh exports to India.
Source: UNB Connect