From Our Correspondent
AGARTALA: Transshipment of Indian goods through Bangladesh soil and overall infrastructure development of Ashuganj Port will be on the table when Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will meet local businessmen at Prajna Bhavan here on January 11, official sources said here on Sunday.
Bangladesh Prime Minister, who will land here on January 11, is scheduled to meet businessmen of both sides at Prajna Bhavan on know how bilateral trade can be flourished.
To prepare a agenda for the important meet, Industries Minister Jitendra Chowdhury held a meeting with business players of Tripura Chamber of Commerce and Industries (TCCI) on Saturday night. Chairman of Tripura Industrial Development Corporation (TIDC) Pabitra Kar and Chief Secretary SK Panda also attended the meeting.
In the meeting, it was decided that business players would urge Bangladesh Prime Minister to offer transshipment access to Indian goods after successful trial run last year. The existing infrastructure at Ashuganj Port is not sufficient to flourish business and needs to development facilities on war footing manner. “This will also be placed before Hasina”, said an official of TIDC who attended the meeting.
Businessmen present in the meeting were of the view that there must be effort to develop infrastructure on both side of Srimantapur and Raghna LCSs equally to boost the bilateral trade. They also mentioned that though the facilities at Akhaura LCS are good for bilateral trade, the other side of it still remains worrisome for business.
Besides liberalization of existing Visa policy, the businessmen will also emphasis on opening of a facilitation centre for certification system at Akhaura. “It is often found that exporters and importers face trouble to get their goods certified by competent authority. It will be better if the state government takes up the issue with higher ups”, he said.
Opening of four Border Haats, operationalize of Sabroom LCS and setting up a new LCS at Singerbill will also figure in the wish lists prepared by businessmen.