He spoke on the special and very close relations between Bangladesh and India, fondly remembering his visit to Meghalaya and Assam last year.
Addressing a webinar, he shared the interest of business community of India to have more connectivity, especially through the waterways.
High Commission of India (HCI), Dhaka in collaboration with India-Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce & Industry (IBCCI) jointly organised the webinar to discuss “Connectivity for Growth, Prosperity and Development.”
More than 150 industry leaders attended the webinar.
Indian High Commissioner Riva Ganguly Das said connectivity has been an important focus of Bangladesh and India's mutually beneficial bilateral relation.
She said India has opened its huge markets to Bangladesh under SAFTA since 2011 wherein, Bangladesh exporters are provided duty-free and quota-free market access for 100 percent tariff lines except alcohol and tobacoo.
High Commissioner Riva said Bangladesh exports registered a significant growth of 42.91 percent in the FY 2018-19.
She highlighted that both the governments have commissioned a joint study for a bilateral Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement which is likely to be completed this year.
The early green shoots of economic recovery are visible both in India and Bangladesh and having more consultative dialogue between the business community, chambers and think tanks, will further facilitate quick recovery and allow them to explore new business opportunities, she said.
President of Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industries Sheikh Fazle Fahim said that enhanced multimodal connectivity in the region will complement the bilateral value chain initiative (BVCI).
He put forward the idea of transshipment of Bangladesh EXIM cargo from Indian ports including third country EXIM cargo could benefit in terms of cost and time savings.
Fahim said bilateral connectivity should look beyond bilateral trade to include the global trade and value chains.
He hoped that air bubble arrangements between India and Bangladesh will help in restoring and further accelerating the B2B dialogue.
President of India-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce Abdul Matlub Ahmed moderated the webinar and highlighted that world over connectivity has played an influential role in shaping regional development.
The change in the world economic scenario and shifting of global value chains has made Bangladesh and India as great investment destinations, he said.
IBCCI President also announced IBCCI Media Awards starting from year 2020 onwards, to be given for the best performance amongst IBCCI members.
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Nihad Kabir, President of Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mahbubul Alam, President of Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Dr. Pramyesh Basall, Commercial Representative to High Commission of India and Nurul Alam, Member Finance from BIWTA also participated as guest speakers at the webinar.
They highlighted that with the economy returning back to normal, these new arteries of trade will help in tapping vast market potential for sustained economic growth.