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India to address trade surplus issue with Bangladesh

India on Monday said the issue of its favourable balance of trade with Bangladesh will addressed by encouraging investments into the neighbouring nation. ‘It is not acceptable to India at all that we enjoy a one-sided trade surplus. India’s mission is not to export more and more to Bangladesh as it is emotionally close to our hearts.’

‘We are not here to compete with you in any sector but to encourage business, create jobs and re-export products to India where there is a huge market for these goods,’ Commerce secretary S R Rao told reporters on the sidelines of the ‘India Show’ here. He added that by investing in Bangladesh, Indian companies can also have access to western markets like EU and the US where Bangladesh enjoys zero duty especially for textiles.

During 2011-12, the two-way trade stood at $4.3 billion. Bangladesh has long complained that trade with India was unequal with India selling goods worth over $3.5 billion to Bangladesh against the latter’s export to India of about $0.6 billion.

Inviting Indian companies to invest in various sectors like automobiles, manufacturing and energy, Bangladesh said it offers a conducive and business-friendly environment to investors.

‘The partnership between India and Bangladesh has great potential and we are proud to a certain extent that India is an emerging super power. We have an open business-environment in the county and Indian businessmen are welcome to invest in any kind of establishment they want to,’ Bangladesh Commerce Minister Ghulam Muhammed Quader said after inaugurating the ‘India Show’.

Meanwhile, India also said it has decided to adopt a liberal visa policy for people of Bangladesh to promote economic engagement, people-to-people contact and tourism between the two neighbouring nations.

‘There is no formal agreement between India and Bangladesh on the visa regime. As a step towards showing India’s commitment to joining hands with Dhaka in giving a boost to the economic prosperity of Bangladesh and its people, we have decided to adopt a liberal visa regime,’ India’s Ambassador to Bangladesh Pankaj Saran said.

He was talking to journalists after the inauguration of the ‘India Show’ organised by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and Ficci here. During the Home Secretary level talks in October 2012, both the countries agreed to hold exclusive meeting to work out procedures and modalities at the earliest.

However, India did not wait for joint working group (JWG) to be set up to sort out the issue of liberal visa regime. India at present gives nearly 500,000 visas to Bangladesh nationals every year and with a new visa regime in place, this figure is likely to witness a massive hike, Saran said.
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