DHAKA: A high level Indian delegation led by Revenue Secretary of Ministry of Finance of India Sumit Bose will hold two days of talks on 21-22 October 2013 with counterparts of Bangladesh.

Bangladesh side will be led by Mr. Md. Ghulam Hussain, Chairman, National Board of Revenue. The talks will take place within the established bilateral framework of the Joint Group of Customs (JGC).

This is the ninth round of the JGC. The eighth JGC was held in New Delhi on 25-26 April, 2012. Sumit Bose will also visit Chittagong Port and the Export Promotion Zone in Chittagong.

With India announcing duty-free, quota-free access to exports from Bangladesh on September 6, 2011, India-Bangladesh trade has expanded.

Notably, Bangladesh exports to India have grown from US$ 498.4 million in 2011-12 to US$ 563.9 million in 2012-13. This marks an increase of 13.15% over the previous year and is the highest ever level of exports from Bangladesh to India.

The growing trade calls for greater levels of trade facilitation.

With this in view, the two sides are expected to review in the forthcoming talks, the existing mechanism for exchange of customs related information, infrastructure facilities available at the Land Customs Stations (LCSs) and deal with procedural bottlenecks related to trade such as testing facilities, online processing facilities congestion, documentation etc.

BDST: 1748 HRS, OCT 18, 2013
AKA/MZR