Bangladesh and India see a huge prospect in enhancing bilateral trade, especially in the ready-made garments (RMG) and textile sectors through collaboration between the governments and business interactions between the traders of both countries, the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) said Saturday.

"With a growing middle-class population, India is a great potential market for Bangladesh's RMG exports and we have witnessed significant growth in recent times. Bangladesh is also a promising market for Indian cotton, man-made fibres, dyes, chemicals and other raw materials," BGMEA President Faruque Hassan said.

He had a meeting with a delegation of India's Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council (TEXPROCIL) in Dhaka.

The delegation led by TEXPROCIL Chairman Sunil Patwari paid the visit to Faruque Hassan to discuss challenges and opportunities to pave the way to more trade between the two neighbouring countries.

Chairs of BGMEA Standing Committee on Trade Fair Kamal Uddin, Standing Committee on Cash Incentive Humayun Kabir Salim; TEXPROCIL Executive Director Siddhartha Rajagopal and Joint Director Murali Balkrishna were also present at the meeting.

At the meeting, Faruque stressed the need for facilitating more business interactions between the apparel and textile exporters of Bangladesh and India to explore opportunities.

He also called on the governments to remove trade barriers and build adequate infrastructure and transport facilities at land ports to accommodate increased transportation demand.

Faruque thanked the Bangladesh government for allowing apparel exporters to import yarns from India in partial shipment through Benapole, Bhomra, Sonamasjid and Banglabandha land ports.

Earlier, RMG exporters could import yarn through the Benapole land port under the bonded warehouse facility, not in partial shipment.