The government of Bangladesh will start fresh bilateral dialogue with its Nepalese counterpart on boosting trade between the countries. A commerce secretary level meeting between the top officials of Bangladesh and the Himalayan country will be held on October 17-18 here to discuss market access of products and set modalities for transit cargo and rail connectivity. Bangladesh side has so far considered duty-free preferential access to 100 Nepalese items including agriculture products like lentil, vegetables, cereals, wheat flour, fruits, juice, and dairy and primary products like handmade papers. The Nepal government earlier sought preferential access for 146 items during the previous meeting. During the 2nd Additional Secretary/Joint Secretary Level Technical Committee Meeting between Nepal and Bangladesh concluded on April 23, 2015, Nepal offered to provide duty-free preferential access to 50 Bangladeshi products. Besides, Nepal side earlier informed that it may explore possibility of allowing preferential access of Bangladeshi fish and jute to enter into its market. Bangladesh had also sought preferential market access for its pharmaceuticals, garments, agro-processed food items, refrigerators and other electronics home appliances. The modalities of providing duty-free access by Bangladesh and preferential access by Nepal will be discussed in the coming meeting, concerned officials said. Bangladesh and Nepal will also discuss on Dhaka-Kathmandu bus services. Bangladesh has already allowed Nepalese trucks to enter up to 200 metres from zero point of Bangladesh. Bangladesh wants to know about the progress made in facilitating the entry of Bangladeshi vehicles into Kakarbhitta in Nepal, concerned sources said. Nepal earlier said, once the transit issue is sorted out between Bangladesh and India, Bangladeshi trucks can enter into Nepalese territory without any hindrance. Bangladesh side will also seek rail transit into the Rohanpur-Singbad rail line point for Nepalese transit traffic. Both sides might also discuss on exploring hydroelectricity potentiality of Nepal. The Nepalese hydroelectric potentiality was badly damaged due to massive earth quack on April this year. The government has a plan to import 500MW of electricity from Nepal. Bangladesh had almost reached a consensus on signing a deal with the consortium of India-based Himtal Hydropower Company Private Limited and the GMR Upper Karnali Hydropower Ltd in March this year. Bangladesh is Nepal’s second largest trading partner in South Asia. Nepal’s main exports to Bangladesh are lentils, vegetables and animal feed and its major imports from this country are electronics, juice, medicines, cotton, solar batteries, readymade garments, cosmetics, raw jute and plastic furniture.
