The duty-free list includes items like lentils, various seasonal and off season vegetables, citrus fruits like orange and lemon, among others. [break]
Basically the list includes items which Nepal truly can export in significant volumes and are in high demand in Bangladesh, said a senior official at Ministry of Commerce and Supplies (MoCS).
The MoCS forwarded the list as Bangladesh, during a bilateral talks held on July 30, had agreed to provide duty-free entry facility to 100 agro-products and promote business through preferential trading arrangement.
A final decision on the list will be taken after further talks between the two countries.
"We forwarded a draft memorandum of understanding (MoU), including the list to Bangladesh recently. Hopefully, we will receive the good news soon," said Lal Mani Joshi, secretary at the MoCS.
The MoCS officials said that the two sides would finalize the MoU by holding the talks at the joint secretary level soon. "The meeting will be held in Dhaka, but its date has not been fixed yet," said a source.
Apart from duty free facility, Bangladesh has also agreed to facilitate Nepal´s bilateral and overseas trade by operating transit carriage of cargoes through Chittagong and Mongla Port of Bangladesh by December this year.
The two sides also hope to finalize their operations modality when their joint secretaries meet in Dhaka.
The meeting would also attempt to finalize the groundwork for setting up a uniform quality benchmark, harmonizing quarantine system and health related criteria for agri- and other product. "Establishing a uniform quality rule and harmonization of quarantine are crucial if we are to ensure smooth trading of those goods," said the source.
Bangladesh is the second largest trading partner of Nepal in South Asia. According to Trade and Export Promotion Center, the volume of Nepal-Bangladesh trade stood at Rs 4.08 billion in 2011/12. During the review year, Nepal had imported goods worth Rs 1.5 billion from Bangladesh and exported goods worth Rs 2.58 billion.
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