The Chief Minister, who was speaking at a Stakeholder Consultation on Indo-Bangla Trade at Prajna Bhavan here on Sunday, said the basic physical infrastructure including better connectivity needs to be improved to facilitate better facilities to the industrialists.
Urging trade players to raise their voice for opening of waterway and air connectivity between Dhaka and the North East, the Chief Minister said that initiatives should be mulled immediately to connect Tripura’s river Gomati with Meghna in Bangladesh.
“Time has also come to connect Guwahati and Agartala with Dhaka by air service to boost trade and industries”, he said.
The Chief Minister ridiculed the ‘obsolete’ rail connectivity in Agartala. “We are putting pressure on the Centre to convert the metre gauge into broad gauge up to Agartala”, he said.
The Chief Minister recalled his meeting with Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in Delhi in January. “The Bangladesh Prime Minister was extremely positive during the meeting”, he said.
“Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had also responded positively in reply to a letter written by me recently wherein he mentioned the issues related to Tripura which were discussed with the Bangladesh Prime Minister during the SAARC meet meet in Thimpu, capital of Bhutan”, he said.
State Industries and Commerce Minister Jitendra Chowdhury, in his speech laid stress on removing imbalance in bilateral trade. The volume of bilateral trade between India and Bangladesh which was Rs 4.12 crore has increased to Rs 140 crore in the last financial year but the State’s share was only 0.75 per cent.
The Consumer Unity and Trust Society, an international research based policy advocacy, networking and capacity building organisation staged the Indo-Bangla meet.