New Delhi, April 18: External Affairs Minister, S. Jaishankar on Monday said that India has placed a renewed emphasis on strengthening ties with its surrounding countries under its ‘Neighbourhood First Policy’ to deepen economic linkages.
In his address at the Bharat Chamber of Commerce event on ‘Post-Covid Economic Recovery’, he said that with sustained focus on reducing barriers to trade and facilitating seamless movement of goods and people, “we have been able to see significant enhancement in bilateral trade with some of our key partners in the neighbourhood”.
Referring to the two success stories of neighbours – Bangladesh and Nepal, the External Affairs Minister said that Bangladesh and Nepal are now among the top ten export destinations for India with its total exports to these two countries amounting to over $16 billion.
“Bangladesh has emerged as our largest trading partner in the neighbourhood and the fifth largest export destination globally. However, for a country that has been growing at an average annual growth rate of over six per cent for the last one decade, potential for trade with Bangladesh is much higher,” he said.
Bangladesh is also undertaking rapid infrastructure development in the form of airports, seaports and highways and as its closest neighbour, the Indian business community has much to offer to Bangladesh in its transformation, Jaishankar said, adding that more and more Indian business houses should open representative offices and subsidiaries in Bangladesh to understand the market better.
“Bangladesh is also on track to graduate out of the Least Developed Country status in 2026. As many of the trading arrangements of Bangladesh would change when that happens, India is in discussions with Bangladesh for a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement,” he noted. About Nepal, he said that it is a close neighbour and economic partner of India which is the ninth largest export market and an important destination for Indian investments.
He informed the gathering that Indian firms account for over 30 per cent of the total FDI stock in Nepal, worth nearly $600 million. There are about 150 Indian ventures operating in Nepal in manufacturing, services, power sector and tourism industry and a number of reforms have been undertaken in recent years in Nepal which are expected to improve ease of doing business in that country.
Some upcoming areas that may be attractive for Indian industry include vehicle assembly, hydropower, medicinal and aromatic plants and pharmaceuticals, he added.
As a recent World Bank study pointed out, India’s exports to Bangladesh could grow by 172 per cent through improved connectivity because of the steps like revival of historic rail links – Haldibari-Chilahati being the most recent, establishment of a new rail link between Agartala-Akhaura, commencement of rail-based container freight movement and expansion of inland waterway routes have been facilitated in the last couple of years, he said. (IANS)
