Indian business community has said Bangladesh is proving to be a ‘good manufacturing hub’ for many of the international players, including players from India and described the current situation in Bangladesh as a ‘temporary phase’ when the business is to some extent ‘not as great as it used to be earlier’.

The business leaders said they have always treated Bangladesh as their ‘trusted and tested’ partner and from the India side, the sentiment is still positive.

“So, regime change in Bangladesh initially was a wait and watch situation. We always respect the glorious tradition between the two countries,” said Durgesh Buxy, Associate Vice President and Head (International Business) at Crompton Greaves Consumer Electricals Limited, hoping for further momentum once the situation settles down in Bangladesh.

Durgesh Buxy, who brings experience from previous roles at Bajaj Electricals Ltd, Orient Electric and Raymond Limited, made the remarks during an interaction with the delegation of Diplomatic Correspondents Association, Bangladesh (DCAB) at the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Mumbai.

(Strategy and Corporate Projects), TATA Chemicals Limited Rajesh Kamat and General Manager (Internal Business) at Godrej Security Solutions Surojit Banerjee also spoke at the event highlighting India’s success stories with higher growth patterns and how India has become a hub of generating CEOs.

“We have always encouraged trade and that has put many of the Indian entrepreneurs to invest in Bangladesh,” Durgesh said, adding that the Indian viewpoint towards Bangladesh has been, as far as business is concerned, very friendly.

Appreciating the energy, curiosity and warmth during the conversation, the business leader said they definitely feel that Bangladesh and India share much more than just borders.

“Our ties are woven through history, culture, language and above all, shared aspiration for growth and prosperity over the years. And at CII, we strongly believe that such interactions are where real partnership begins through dialogue, understanding and collaboration,” he said.

Durgesh said the CII has always worked to bring together governments, industries and international partners to explore new opportunities.

“And today's exchange is a reflection on the very spirit of building not just business ties, but also trust and understanding - understanding between people, and we do understand and respect the role of media as the fourth state in our country,” he said.

“We look ahead because we feel there is an immense potential between India and Bangladesh to collaborate more deeply,” Durgesh said, highlighting the importance of continuing the dialogue with more exchanges to build an even stronger bridge between Bangladesh and India in the years to come.

Regarding visa issues, he said from the business community, not from the political angle, there was a suggestion to ease out the visa regime - why not there should be an office on the no man's land between the two countries, wherein business delegates from both the country can come, negotiate, come up with their samples, and then price finalisation.

Durgesh said that was one of the suggestions given by the trade facilitating organization like CII and he was definitely a member of that committee which has put forth this particular suggestion. “It was welcome.”

He said there has always been a very clear cut will for the trade supporting body to the Indian government.

The business leaders appreciated the cultural respect that two of the countries are enjoying and acknowledged the fact that Bangladesh is also growing at a very consistent pace, especially in the garment industry.

They said the next thing that could happen and ease 'our relationship between Bangladesh and India is some joint collaboration'.

They said it is time to join hands with each other, respect each other's business interest and the two countries will gain mutually.

The entire business community feels that this is a very temporary phase, and culturally and historically, the two countries enjoy a very good relationship.

They said there are some of the points which are to be taken at a larger level - between the secretarial level talks between the governments of two countries.

“And of course, this is where CII and all other organisations play an instrumental role. So, whatever are the takeaways from such kinds of exchanges, we put it across the industry, CII and take it with the government so that a certain kind of win, win situation can be taken up,” Durgesh said.

Forward-oriented Agenda

Talking about the economic partnership, Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said the commercial partnership between the two countries is a partnership that is mutually beneficial.

“We are working to continue to expand it. And I think we have made very good progress over several years. There may be some different approaches that are being taken in the present phase. I hope that we can look beyond these,” he said during an interaction with the DCAB members at the Ministry of External Affairs.

Misri said they should try and set a ‘future oriented perspective’ for this relationship rather than look at it from the lenses of the past.

The Indian foreign secretary said the world is changing very fast, its impact in the region is being felt, new models and new templates of cooperation are being talked about.

He said the Bangladesh-India relationship offers a possibility of an extremely fruitful and mutually beneficial relationship. “It has been so in the past. There is no reason why it cannot be even more so in the future.”

The Indian FS said they need to look at a forward oriented agenda and narrative for their relationship.

Misri emphasised that it is not only mutually beneficial, but also people centric. “People must be at the center of all of our activities and initiatives, and therefore we should look at greater and more intense economic linkages and connectivity, whether that is physical or financial or commercial or technical or energy related. We already have advances and initiatives in these areas. We should deepen these.”

He said they should look at new areas such as startups and technology, which is changing the face of geopolitics and geoeconomics as they speak. “Areas such as energy and healthcare - these are all areas in which we should intensify our cooperation.”

On both sides, the Indian Foreign Secretary said they need to work on a ‘facilitating environment’ to avoid statements or actions that vitiate the atmosphere.