Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of Bangladesh has signed an agreement for $21 million in soft loans to help goods move more smoothly in and out of Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Nepal, by overhauling time-consuming, costly, and often opaque customs procedures that are inhibiting intraregional trade.
The project will help the three countries, all members of the South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) program, adopt an international customs administration protocol, upgrade existing automated customs management systems, and establish web-based electronic trade portals. 
These measures will give importers and exporters accurate information timely. India, which is also a SASEC member, is not included in the program as it is funding its own trade facilitation reforms and is significantly ahead of its neighbors.
Md. Abul Kalam Azad, Secretary, Economic Relations Division (ERD) and M. Teresa Kho, Country Director of ADB’s Bangladesh Resident Mission, signed the agreement for the SASEC Trade facilitation Project on behalf of Bangladesh and ADB respectively, at a ceremony at ERD, Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, Dhaka on Sunday.
Despite healthy growth, South Asia’s low levels of intraregional trade make it one of the least integrated regions in the world. Of the total regional trade, intraregional trade is only 6.0 per cent in South Asia against 55 per cent in East Asia. 
Processing and export delivery times are more than 30 per cent slower than in East Asia and the Pacific, while administrative fees and storage and handling costs are 43 per cent more expensive. Weak logistics systems, poor infrastructure and a lack of cross border transit agreements are other impediments to trade which is nearly all land based.
Informal trading has sprung up to avoid excessive documentation and goods inspections, resulting in sizeable government revenue losses. The introduction of international customs practices, streamlined management systems including the planned establishment of “single window” systems to simplify transactions and web-based information for traders, will make cross border trade more efficient, cost-effective, transparent, and secure.
The project, which targets a 7.5 per cent rise in intraregional trade volumes by 2018, will complement SASEC cross-border transport projects to improve connectivity, and planned investments in projects across the transport, trade facilitation and energy sectors.
The SASEC was set up in 2001 as an initiative of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, and Nepal. It aims to promote domestic and regional prosperity through stronger transport links and increased trade and cooperation across sectors ranging from energy, tourism, the private sector and the environment. ADB acts as Secretariat for SASEC.
The National Board of Revenue will execute the project scheduled to be completed in 2015. 
 
BBN/SSR/AD-21Jan13-7:31 am (BST)