The commerce secretary-level meeting between Dhaka and Kathmandu will be held in the capital on October 17-18 to push forward longstanding issues on trade and transit, a top official in the commerce ministry said. The high profile trade talks between the two south Asian nations are going to take place after above three years, as the last secretary–level meeting was held in Kathmandu on July 29-30, 2012. Hedayetullah Al Mamoon, commerce secretary, Bangladesh, and Naindra Prasad Upadhyaya, secretary, ministry of commerce and supplies, Nepal will lead their respective delegations at the talks. ‘We have crucial issues like trade and transit in the forthcoming trade talks as we are expected to find a longstanding solution on the operational modalities for the carriage of transit cargo between Nepal and Bangladesh,’ Monaj Kumar Roy, additional secretary, commerce ministry told New Age on Monday. The commerce secretary level meeting will also focus on proposed modalities on motor vehicle agreement for the regulation of passenger and cargo vehicular traffic, as both Bangladesh and Nepal are signatories of the pact, along with India, Monaj added. Issues like launching Dhaka-Katmandu bus service and preferential market access between the two countries will also come up at the two-day meeting, it was learnt. Nepal sought duty-free market access for 153 of its products ahead of the meeting, while commerce ministry has decided to hand over a list of 108 products to its counterpart for duty-free market access to the Kingdom. The proposed transit modalities deal, titled, ‘Agreement on Operating Modalities for the Carriage of Transit/Trade Cargo Between Nepal and Bangladesh’, has mentioned only Mongla port for export and import cargo movement, sources said. The route identified in the draft deal for road communication is Banglabandha-Panchagarh-Thakurgaon-Syedpur-Rangpur-Bogra-Natore-Dasuria-Pakshey-Kushtia-Jhenaidah-Jessore-Khulna- ongla and the rail route is Rohanpur (Rajshahi)-Rajshahi-Iswardi-Khulna-Mongla. Officials concerned said they were in favour of two more routes. One is through Benapole-Petrapole and another is Chilhati-Haldibari. Bangladesh and Nepal signed a transit agreement on April 2, 1976 without incorporating any provision for using the territory and ports and routes for entry and exit of Nepalese vehicles which made the agreement virtually redundant, an official in the commerce ministry said. ‘The transit cargo shall not be subjected to usual customs examination and other checks as long as the seals have not been tampered with or unless there are valid reasons to do so,’ said the draft. Goods like firearms and ammunition, gold and silver bullion, antiques, narcotics and psychotropic substances will not be allowed to travel through Bangladesh, the draft agreement said. The secretary-level meeting will also discuss proposed deals on harmonisation of technical barriers to trade and cooperation on sanitary and phytosanitary measures and cooperation between the state trading agencies of Bangladesh and Nepal.
