The meeting will be held on May 28, said Surya Silawal, joint secretary at the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies, adding that it will mainly revolve around issues like duty concessions and a bilateral transport agreement.
Bangladesh is Nepal´s second largest trading partner in South Asia and trade between the two countries is governed by the Bilateral Trade Payment Treaty of 1976. But two years ago, the two sides agreed to enter into a preferential trading agreement providing special duty concessions to each other´s commodities, within the ambit of a regional free trade agreement.
In this connection, Nepal has already forwarded a list of 140 commodity groups to Bangladesh for the duty-free facility, said a source. The duty-free facility has mainly been sought for primary goods.“
"The technical teams will negotiate over this list as well as the one that Bangladesh has forwarded to us, with an aim of raising the volume of bilateral trade and diversifying exports," the source said.
Currently, Bangladesh imposes customs duty of up to 40 per cent on Nepali agricultural products. Traders said the high duty structure has largely deterred Nepali exports.
Despite geographical proximity, annual bilateral trade volume between Nepal and Bangladesh remains low due to tariff barrier and poor trade facilitation measures. In 2007/08, Nepal-Bangladesh trade was valued at Rs 5.15 billion, with Nepal enjoying a surplus of some Rs 4.17 billion.
Nepal´s export to Bangladesh made up 10 percent of its total export, while imports from Bangladesh stood at 0.3 per cent of its total import.
Major exports of Nepal are agricultural produce like yellow lentils, wheat products, rice, noodles and fruits, and tubes and tyres, among others. It imports commodities like fertilizer, homeopathic medicines, raw materials for the garment and jute industries and cutlery from Bangladesh.
During the upcoming meeting, the two sides are also scheduled to hold talks on a transport agreement that will allow hassle-free movement of vehicles to and fro between the two countries.
Nepal has in the main requested Bangladesh to allow Nepali goods carriers to move up to the major trading cities and ports of Bangladesh.
Presently, Nepali vehicles are allowed up to Banglabandh, the dry port in Bangladeshi territory. But traders complain that poor coordination at Indo-Bangladeshi customs has prevented Nepal from making use of the facility.
The two sides will also hold talks on developing the Kakarbhitta-Phulbari-Banglabandh road transit route and the Radhikapur-Birol rail-based transit route as the major transport corridor between the two countries.
Lack of proper infrastructure support like customs and warehouse facilities and the inferior condition of roads have hindered effective operation of these routes.
To facilitate direct trade, Nepal is also proposing to Bangladesh to connect the Rohalpur-Singhbadh broad-gauge railway line (between India and Bangladesh) with a railway line to Birgunj dry port.
milan@myrepublica.com
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