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A seminar on the Role of Connectivity and Visa in Facilitating Trade between Bangladesh and Northeast India will be held today (Sunday) at Guwahati in India to review the status of trade under the current protocol.
The seminar will also make recommendations to improve connectivity through inland water, land and air routes along with the location and procedures for visa issuance for Indian and Bangladeshi traders.
The SouthAsia Enterprise Development Facility (SEDF), a multi-donor facility managed by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, will hold the seminar in collaboration with Bangladesh Enterprise Institute (BEI).
Dhaka University's Department of Management Professor Altaf Jalil will present a keynote paper on 'Connectivity and Visa Issues between Bangladesh and Northeast India' at the seminar while designated commentators from Bangladesh and India will be the discussants.
This seminar is the last in a series organised under the joint SEDF-BEI Project on Facilitation and Promotion of Bilateral Trade.
The Export Promotion Bureau of Bangladesh estimates the trade between Bangladesh and India at over 1.9 billion (190 crore), and a large proportion of it is informal trade which could be brought into the mainstream of economic activities by addressing the bottlenecks on connectivity and visa, among others.
Under the project a number of seminars were held in the past focussing on the key non-tariff barriers involving the two countries which include: harmonisation and classification of goods, differing standards and certification, infrastructure at land customs stations.
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