ID :
45726
Sun, 02/15/2009 - 21:20
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Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/45726
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India, Bangla set to renew water transit pact
Dhaka, Feb 15 (PTI) India and Bangladesh are set to renew
an existing inland water transit and trade pact, incorporating
a new port of call in Ashuganj for easy transport of Indian
goods from Kolkata to Agartala through this country.
"We are planning to renew the existing water transit
facilities between the two countries," a Foreign Ministry
official said Sunday, confirming a report carried by the New
Age newspaper in this regard.
The bilateral Protocol on Inland Water Transit and Trade
was last renewed in May 2008 while it is scheduled to expire
next month.
Official sources said Bangladesh is expected to allow
India to use the central Ashuganj port in exchange of getting
identical facilities in another port in India while the issue
was discussed in bilateral talks between External Affairs
Minister Pranab Mukherjee and his counterpart Dipu Moni during
the Indian leader's recent visit here.
Under the protocol, both the countries allow transit for
cargo through eight routes, counting both ways. Ashuganj is
expected to be included as the ninth port of call.
The inland water transit protocol was first signed in
1980 under the bilateral trade agreement which provides for
making mutually beneficial arrangements for the use of the two
countries' waterways for commerce, maintaining the river
routes within their territories in a navigable condition.
The New Age report came three days after Commerce
Minister Mohammad Faruk Khan said Dhaka would not make any
hurry in signing a land transit deal with New Delhi but hinted
that the two countries could reach an agreement on the issue
after general elections in India.
Bangladesh's new government of Prime Minister Sheikh
Hasina signed a proposed Bilateral Investment Development and
Protection Agreement and renewed a 1980 trade agreement with
India, apparently paving ways for signing of a transit deal.
New Delhi has long been pursuing the land transit issue
as the 1980 deal said "the two governments agreed to make
mutually beneficial agreements for the use of their water
ways, roadways, railways for commerce between the two
countries for passage of goods between places in one country
through the territory of the other's."
But several rightwing groups and parties here had earlier
waged an 'anti-transit' campaign while the leaders of the new
government and financial analysts said the issue should be
considered from the perspective of mutual benefit. PTI AR
DEP
NNNN
an existing inland water transit and trade pact, incorporating
a new port of call in Ashuganj for easy transport of Indian
goods from Kolkata to Agartala through this country.
"We are planning to renew the existing water transit
facilities between the two countries," a Foreign Ministry
official said Sunday, confirming a report carried by the New
Age newspaper in this regard.
The bilateral Protocol on Inland Water Transit and Trade
was last renewed in May 2008 while it is scheduled to expire
next month.
Official sources said Bangladesh is expected to allow
India to use the central Ashuganj port in exchange of getting
identical facilities in another port in India while the issue
was discussed in bilateral talks between External Affairs
Minister Pranab Mukherjee and his counterpart Dipu Moni during
the Indian leader's recent visit here.
Under the protocol, both the countries allow transit for
cargo through eight routes, counting both ways. Ashuganj is
expected to be included as the ninth port of call.
The inland water transit protocol was first signed in
1980 under the bilateral trade agreement which provides for
making mutually beneficial arrangements for the use of the two
countries' waterways for commerce, maintaining the river
routes within their territories in a navigable condition.
The New Age report came three days after Commerce
Minister Mohammad Faruk Khan said Dhaka would not make any
hurry in signing a land transit deal with New Delhi but hinted
that the two countries could reach an agreement on the issue
after general elections in India.
Bangladesh's new government of Prime Minister Sheikh
Hasina signed a proposed Bilateral Investment Development and
Protection Agreement and renewed a 1980 trade agreement with
India, apparently paving ways for signing of a transit deal.
New Delhi has long been pursuing the land transit issue
as the 1980 deal said "the two governments agreed to make
mutually beneficial agreements for the use of their water
ways, roadways, railways for commerce between the two
countries for passage of goods between places in one country
through the territory of the other's."
But several rightwing groups and parties here had earlier
waged an 'anti-transit' campaign while the leaders of the new
government and financial analysts said the issue should be
considered from the perspective of mutual benefit. PTI AR
DEP
NNNN
