The cabinet on Monday approved the draft amendment to the 1976 Protocol to the Transit Agreement to be signed between Bangladesh and Nepal allowing the use of railway to transit goods between the two countries through India.
Cabinet secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam at a briefing at the Cabinet Division after the weekly cabinet meeting said that the transit deal had been in force between the two countries since 1976 and the latest move was initiated at the request of Nepal to add two more openings — Rohanpur of Chapainawabganj in Bangladesh and Singhabad in India — for transit of goods between Nepal and Bangladesh using railways.
The commerce ministry placed the draft amendment to the protocol at the weekly cabinet meeting held virtually with prime minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair at her official residence Ganabhaban.
The cabinet secretary said that Nepal also wanted to use Saidpur Airport in Bangladesh’s northern district, but the proposal was not placed before the cabinet. ‘This has been in discussion. It will be placed in future,’ he added.
Responding to a question, he said that India was already involved here. ‘This is out and out a trade and commerce issue, nothing of the geopolitics,’ Anwarul said.
Bangladesh and Nepal business people now send and receive their commodities by vehicles, mostly trucks and covered-vans owned by Nepalese and Indians, operated between land ports of the two countries through Indian territory.
The volume of Bangladesh’s export to Nepal was about $45 million in 2018-19 financial year, which was about $10 million in 2013-14, according to commerce ministry statistics.
Bangladesh exports motorcycle, prefabricated building materials, furniture and ceramic etc to Nepal.
Nepal’s export in the past financial year to Bangladesh was about $11m, consisting of mostly fruits and vegetables.
The rail communications between Bangladesh and Nepal will allow Bangladesh to export more goods to Nepal and also import fresh produce from the Himalayan country. Moreover Nepal’s dependence on mostly Indian products will be lowered as a result of new competition from Bangladeshi origin items.
