Experts suggest use of entre-pot trade, re-export as alternative to transit

Authorities concerned can facilitate transporting goods to, and from, northeastern states of India via Bangladesh by utilising the still-operational provisions of the country's export policy, before implementation of a massive investment programme for offering full rail, road and riverline transit on a regular basis to India, traders and experts said on Friday.

If such an approach would have been taken earlier, the scope for both India and Bangladesh to go along the provisions of the export policy of the latter, as an alternative to the transit, could be better utilised, they said.

At least, the same mechanism can still be tried for the time being until India is given full-fledged land transit facility, the effective use of which, according to experts, might take, at least, a decade for construction of the required infrastructural facilities that will involve an estimated cost of more than Taka 470 billion.

Had the government implemented the provisions, the political controversy and debates in Bangladesh over the transit issue could be averted, the traders concerned said.

"The provisions incorporated in the export policy in 2003 and retained in the export policy that was recast in 2007, could not be implemented because of unexplained reasons," Syed Toufique Ali, a former vice-president of the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI), told the FE.

But such provisions do still remain legally operative as those have not been scrapped, he added.

The provisions of entre-pot trade and re-export, incorporated in those export policies, clearly authorize intermediaries in Bangladesh to import goods from any foreign country and re-export the same to that or another country, keeping a nominal margin as handling charges.

"There is a fear that such provisions in the Bangladesh export trade policies of 2003 and 2007 about entre-pot trade and re-export will not fulfill the demand of India and as such it might not consider the same as a sustainable alternative to transit in the form that it (India) has been eying on," an economist said.

However, he said until the time the required infrastructural facilities are not ready for regular, full-fledged transit, such provisions, if are implemented, will benefit both the countries.

Under such provisions, Bangladeshi traders can import goods from any part of India or any other country through sea-ports or land-ports and re-export the same back to India or any other country.

However, those provisions have grossly been overlooked while accepting the Indian proposal for allowing movement of goods through Indian states via Bangladesh, Syed Taufique Ali observed.

Prior to giving full-fledged road transit facilities to India, some trial movement of goods has already started, despite mixed reactions among local traders, stake-holders, civil society groups, politicians and the vested interests.

A new land route - between Ashuganj transshipment point to Agartala landport under Tripura state of India - under an existing river protocol of 1980 has meanwhile been incorporated.

Heavy machineries were offloaded from some vessels at Ashuganj river terminal and were carried into India by Bangladeshi trucks and later by Indian ones over the past weeks, officials at Akhaura land-port said.

The opponents of this extension of river protocol, as a covert arrangement, to land route transit, criticized the authorities concerned for allowing movement of heavy lorries, jeopardizing the existing fragile road conditions on the Bangladesh side.

A number of local traders observed that in case of direct road transit, the Indian lorries will require to be loaded in India and unloaded again in India, after traveling across Bangladesh.

"Though Bangladesh may get some 'tips' as transit fees, which are yet to be worked out, it will have no control on the consignments, and will have no rights to know about their contents," Mr. Ali said.

As the owner of Netan, an export-import firm, Mr. Taufique Ali Khan got permission as far back as in 2007 the from Indian state authorities in Tripura and its central government in New Delhi to conduct handling of Indian goods under entre-pot trade and re-export system.

In cases of entre-pot trade or re-export, Bangladeshi handlers (importer and exporter who has to be the same individual, group or firm) will also have a control on the goods and will be responsible for the safety of the consignments.

Under this system, many Bangladeshi traders could be involved in handling the goods between entry- and exit-points on the borders or between ports in India and Bangladesh.

"Under such an arrangement, Bangladesh and India could be in a win-win situation, both sides benefiting in the field of trade and commerce," Mr. Ali said.

Under entre-pot trade arrangement, a trader who imports certain goods from any country can re-export the same to the same country or another one, by keeping a 5.0 per cent margin without opening the consignment and also without changing quality, quantity and size of it.

This entre-pot trade can be done against back-to-back letters of credit (LC) provided by the buyers through "import permit on a returnable basis", obtained from the office of the Chief Controller of Imports and Exports (CCIE) in Bangladesh.

In the case of re-export, the ports of import and export are different and consignments can be transported to the port of export against a 100 per cent bank guarantee equivalent to the amount of duties and taxes that would be returnable on execution of the export order.

Consignments under entre-pot trade are not allowed to be taken out of port boundary, without special authorization.

Under re-export, importers are allowed to change quality and size of consignments in re-processing and re-packing for, at least, 10 per cent value addition, before re-exporting.

This can be done after payment of admissible duty and taxes under 100 per cent duty drawback arrangement, bank guarantee and under the bonded warehouse system against the export LCs, provided by buyers through "import permit on returnable basis" from the office of the CCIE in Bangladesh.

Source: thefinancialexpress-bd.com

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Infrastructure dev needed for transit trade: Muhith

United States news of Bangladesh. Dhaka

The Finance Minister, AMA Muhith, said on Wednesday that infrastructure in the transport sector must be developed before the start of cross-border business and trade in the region.

' We have serious problems in our waterways, roads and railways. We should according to India, go Nepal and Bhutan, but it seems not possible now because of a lack of facilities in infrastructure. These need to be developed, "he said."

The Finance Minister said at the opening session of "public private dialogue for the improvement of trade facilitation in South Asia" held in a local hotel.

The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and industry in cooperation with the International Finance Corporation and UKaid organized a full-day dialogue.

FBCCI President AK Azad the welcome delivered during Anil Sharma, head of the IFC advisory services in South Asia, an overview of the objectives which were public private dialogue.

As chief guest said, Muhith, that infrastructures developed prior to the start transit economy and trade, and until should be fixed.

He said that many works to be done to enhance trade in the region, and it must also a move to Myanmar, China and Thailand.

The Finance Minister said that unless investment and trade go together, there will be no development.

It is worth mentioning that growth and trade developed relationship of these South Asian countries, he said that growth should be facilitated by investment and trade.

Muhith said, that in the region, good alignment in standardised rules of origin, customs standard and handling and Office discipline. "Otherwise, will trade is frustrated."

He informed that the work in progress are to improve the quality control of the Bangladesh standards and testing institutions to better access to the neighbouring countries.

In his welcome speech, President FBCCI AK Azad, said that despite the geographical proximity of intraregional trade of the country's only about 5% it is although much opportunity available.

"More regional connectivity by road, air and waterways, enables industrial economies to take advantage of."

He said that it captured while markets for Bangladesh in northeastern of India, it still is untapped. If trade and boost up, it opens a larger market.

Azad calls the SAARC Governments committed to company liberal facilitation services, investment, energy cooperation and connection, were friendly trade policy with a focus on integration with regional trade, to speed up infrastructure for regional connections and promote socio-economic uplift of the South Asian countries.

FBCCI Director MA Momen said more effectively Bangladesh and improved facilitating trading system for the effective integration of South Asian countries must play a central role.

It is important to note that in the last 20 years from the South Asian countries, we doubled the $100 billion, while exports of East Asia rose 10 times in the same period, he said.

The workshop is part of a series of IFC-led initiatives in South Asia on effective trade partnerships between public and private stakeholders in Eastern and northeastern India, Nepal and Bangladesh help to identify areas where reform efforts have maximum effect on cross-border projects in the private sector.

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| Source: newagebd.com

Dhaka, Berlin agree to expand bilateral trade

 
German Chancellor Angela Merkel speaking with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina while reviewing an honour guard during a welcoming ceremony at the chancellery in Berlin Tuesday. ? AFP BERLIN, Oct 25 (BSS): Bangladesh and Germany today agreed to further explore bilateral trade and cooperation in the areas of sustainable development, climate change, health and social safety programme.

The two countries also agreed to strengthen their present excellent bilateral relations and work together on various regional and international issues of common interests for mutual benefits of their people.

The agreement was reached at talks between Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and German Chancellor Dr Angela Markel at the official residence of the Chancellor here.

In a joint press briefing after the talks, Hasina and Markel said they held a very frank, in-depth and fruitful discussion on various issues relating to mutual interests and regional and international issues of common concern.

Markel said Germany has very good relations with Bangladesh. She appreciated Hasina's role in building regional cooperation and connectivity in South Asia, particularly among India, Pakistan, and Myanmar.

Hasina said, "I'm returning home happily with many promises from a great leader and renewed commitment for supporting my people and working together for bilateral, regional and international cooperation."

"The visit is a milestone in our existing relations," she observed.

As the Bangladesh Prime Minister arrived at the Chancellery, Markel received her.

Hasina was accorded a red carpet reception as a smartly turned out contingent of German Army given her a guard of honour. National anthems of both the countries were played at that time.

The Prime Minister introduced her cabinet colleagues Foreign Minister Dr Dipu Moni and Health Minister Dr AFM Ruhal Haque to the German Chancellor.

Hasina, who arrived on a five-day official visit to Berlin to attend World Health Summit, availed of the opportunity to meet with the Chancellor of Germany, one of the largest trading partners and an important development partner of Bangladesh.

In their discussion, the leaders reciprocated their admirations for each other and shared their concerns and visions over various regional and global affairs including fighting terrorism and climate change.

Hasina called for continuing the existing German economic cooperation with Bangladesh and enhancing German support in sustainable development projects.

Source: thefinancialexpress-bd.com

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Greater South Asian coop in trade, connectivity, energy, food stressed

With the fear of a double-dip recession casting a shadow over the global economy, South Asian nations must fend for themselves by stepping up regional efforts in trade, connectivity, energy and food security, a forum was told Sunday.

Top officials and experts at the two-day long Fourth South Asia Economic Summit (SAES IV) said the eight nations that make up the SAARC should also strike close ties with Central Asia to tap into the latter's rich energy reserve.

They also called upon the governments in the region to issue visas more liberally, as increased contact among the peoples is key to foster ties and boost trade and business between the eight nations.

Private think-tank Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) organised the SAES IV on 'Global Recovery, New Risks and Sustainable Growth: Repositioning South Asia' at a city hotel. Sunday was the closing day of the forum.

Member of CPD Board of Trustees and former finance minister M Syeduzzaman presided over the plenary session titled "Towards an Inclusive Growth in South Asia: Role of Regional Cooperation".

Chief guest Muhammad Faruk Khan, the Bangladeshi commerce minister, said the SA nations have failed to exploit the region's rich trade potentials owing to distrust sown by the politicians.

But in the wake of a sputtering global growth, the South Asian countries must set aside differences and bump up intra-regional economic ties to transform the region into a global growth engine.

"I believe close cooperation in economic and trade areas in SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) will help boost the momentum of growth that we already witnessed," the minister said.

"There are ample reasons to make us optimistic in this regard. Our region (South Asia) is bestowed with tremendous untapped potential, and together we can explore and make the best use of it for our mutual benefit," he added.

He said that South Asia lived up to its growth potential in the last decade and the "prevailing scenario suggests that the region would continue to remain so in near future".

He regretted that the politicians had used trade to settle scores between the nations.

"Over the period trade has been used as political weapon denying the benefit to our common people. We need to get out of this unhealthy practice. We should keep trade and economic cooperation above politics," the minister said.

He hoped SAES IV will provide useful inputs for development of SAARC vision in the area of trade and economic cooperation.

Senior Adviser Minister for Economic Affairs to the President of Afghanistan Dr Sham L Bathija laid emphasis on people to people contacts in South Asia, which is home to one-fourth of global human population.

The visiting minister strongly backed issuing multiple visas for businessmen to make sure the entrepreneurs can move freely exploring new avenues of growth in the region.

He said as a landlocked country -Afghanistan- could be benefited if broad-based regional connectivity in South Asia is established.

Executive Director of Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka (IPS) Dr Saman Kelegama said regional cooperation is necessary to alleviate poverty and improve quality of people's lives.

Bangladesh Bank (BB) Governor Dr Atiur Rahman said warming bilateral relations between Bangladesh and India has played a crucial role in fostering recent cooperation in a raft of sectors.

"Good bilateral ties help build sound base for fruitful multilateral co-operation in the region," the governor said.

M Syeduzzaman said the governments of South Asia must take actions for reducing poverty and inclusive growth.

"Ensuring political justice, regional connectivity, cooperation on energy and power, employment generation in rural non-firm sectors are needed in South Asia," Mr. Syeduzzaman said

In addition, concerted efforts are a must for facing the fallouts of climate change in order to increase farm production for food security in South Asia, he said.

Director General (DG) of National Council for Applied Economic Research (NCAER) of India Dr Shekhar Shah, Chairman of Druk Holding and Investments and former minister for trade and industries of Bhutan Dr Lyonpo Om Pradhan and Research Fellow of Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) and former adviser to the Planning Commission of Pakistan Dr Vaqar Ahmed also spoke.

Source: thefinancialexpress-bd.com

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International trade fair starts today

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The Dhaka international trade fair, a greatest annual traffic eventuality of a country, is currently starting to proceed (Saturday) to showcase a far reaching operation of internal as well as unfamiliar products.

The Carlyle minister, Sheikh Hasina, will establish a 16th month-long DITF in a belligerent diagonally opposite to a Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in Sher-e-Bangla Nagar.

Jan any year a Ministry of Commerce as well as export promotion Bureau mutually organize a a utterly in which satisfactory couple from home of companies of a as well as abroad participate.

Three novelties have been featured in this year's fair: a pavilion temperament a pretension 'A small time with Bangabandhu', 5,200 block feet of landscaping only outward a satisfactory ground as well as display a satisfactory live upon large screens by online video in thirteen spots in Dhaka as well as 10 spots in critical districts opposite a country.

The Bangladeshi exhibitors will showcase a country's trade products to visitors from abroad.

The far reaching operation of products which have been starting to be displayed embody woven panoply as well as knitwear, jute as well as jute products, solidified foods, tanned hide as well as tanned hide goods, footwear, handicrafts, agro-based products, light engineering products, ceramic tableware textiles as well as weave products, domicile appliances, pharmaceuticals, containing alkaline products, machinery, equipments as well as materials for cultivation as well as gardening, cosmetics, dairy products as well as equipment, electrical as well as electronic items, foodstuff as well as groceries, present as well as newness items, furniture, structure materials, sports goods, spotless ware, toys, stationeries, watches, clocks as well as jewellery.

' All a basic work has been finished for land a satisfactory successfully' claimed custom apportion Faruk Khan whilst addressing a press lecture upon Friday.

He pronounced which a reply from both internal as well as abroad entrepreneurs has been improved this year than a prior year. The series of visitors to a satisfactory additionally be aloft will this year, he hoped.

He pronounced which a satisfactory has a sum of 486 pavilions as well as stalls, together with 32 from thirteen unfamiliar countries.

He pronounced which a DITF 2011, which will finish upon 31 January, would embrace some more mark trade orders from unfamiliar buyers than in alternate years. The mark orders to DIFT 2010 were value TK 22.86 crore, crore in DITF-2009 TK 19.91 as well as in DITF 2008 TK 2.06 crore.

He pronounced which a DITF-2011 would have 5 special pavilions, 5 premier pavilions, 4 premier mini-pavilions, 62 ubiquitous pavilions, 54 mini general pavilions, 35 premier stalls as well as 321 stalls.

Besides, a satisfactory will have twenty-two kiosks dispensing drinks, 4 mom as well as caring centres kid, twelve restaurants as well as 5 ice cream outlets.

The unfamiliar countries which have been participating have been Pakistan, India, China, Iran, South Korea, Thailand, USA, Turkey, Singapore, Japan, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Malaysia as well as a United Arab Emirates.

Pakistan has 10 of a unfamiliar pavilions as well as stalls, India 5, China, Iran, South Korea, USA, Turkey as well as Singapore dual each Thailand Japan, KSA, Malaysia as well as UAE each a single.

The satisfactory will sojourn open from 10 am compartment 10 pm. Visitors will have to compensate an entrance price of TK fifteen any time they go to a fair.

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International trade fair 2011 launched in Dhaka

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International trade fair 2011 biggest fair today with great started in Bangladesh manner.  Honorable prime minister Sheikh Hasina Begum inaugurated the fair today in Dhaka. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today called upon all concerned to take necessary steps in further consolidating Bangladesh's position in regional and international trade by boosting export, ensuring quality and creating new destinations of Bangladeshi products.

The Prime Minister made the call while inaugurating the month long 16th Dhaka international trade fair (DITF), 2011 products of both domestic organised in the capital for showcasing and marketing home and abroad.

Launching the function at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC) here, she said her present business centered government will continue its allout efforts so that Bangladesh can raise its contributions to the world trade, export and investment.

DHAKA, Jan 1 (BSS), photo: TDS

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