DHAKA: Bangladesh yesterday demanded duty-free access of 56 items to Nepal to boost bilateral trade, at the third commerce-secretary level meeting that began in Dhaka yesterday. Bangladesh has sought the benefit for the products that have export potential, said Monoj Kumar Roy, additional secretary to the commerce ministry, who was also a member of the Bangladesh delegation at the meeting.
The products include fish, potato chips, wafers, construction materials, refrigerators, lead acid battery, garments, plastic goods, cement, tobacco, tomato sauce and biscuits. Roy, speaking to The Daily Star after the meeting at the secretariat in Dhaka, also said Nepal demanded duty-free import of machine-processed writing papers, but Bangladesh agreed to export handmade papers to Nepal. On the other hand, Bangladesh offered duty-free benefits to 108 products of Nepal, Roy said.
The commerce ministry of Bangladesh has been preparing the modalities on how to allow the duty-benefit to Nepal and on how many products, said Roy. Nepal’s demands were placed at the second commerce-secretary level meeting in Nepal in 2012, he added.
