Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)– Commerce secretaries of Bangladesh and Nepal will meet next week in Kathmandu to remove obstacles and facilitate trade between the two countries, officials said.
The meeting, to be held on July 29-30, will discuss expansion of trade between the two counties, bilateral trade preferences, transport connectivity and transit issues, harmonisation of Sanitary and Phyto-Sanitary Measures (SPS), and Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), they added.
The two countries will also review the progress on entry of Nepalese truck to Bangladesh land port. Now the Nepalese truck can enter up to 200 meter from zero point inside Bangladesh after signing of standard operating procedure.
The full fledged operation of Kakarbhita-Panitanki-Phulbari- Banglabandha corridor will also be discussed in the meeting. Officials said that works is going on for the necessary infrastructure development of the corridor to start full fledged operation of the corridor.
The meeting will also discuss rail connectivity through using Rohonpur-Singbad railway link for transit traffic of Nepalese trade.
Bangladesh has sent a draft agreement to Nepal for starting direct bus service between Dhaka and Kathmandu. Nepal is yet to respond on this issue which will also be discussed in the meeting.
Bangladesh mainly exports pharmaceuticals, garments, plastics, handicrafts, raw materials, chemicals, fabrics and textile materials, jute products, electric and electronic items to Nepal.
The two way trade always remained in favour of the Himalayan Kingdom.
The last commerce secretary level meeting was held in Dhaka on July 14-15 in 2010.
 
BBN/SSR/AD-25July12-11:00 am (BST)