Ms Dipu Moni made the call during a meeting with Indian Commerce Minister Anand Sharma at Hotel Soragaon this evening.
She also requested to remove quota on export of garments to India.
Mr Sharma informed her of Indian government’s decision to raise the yearly quota of export of garments from Bangladesh to India to ten million pieces. He also informed her of removal of additional and countervailing duties on all jute products exported from Bangladesh to India.
While discussing connectivity issues, both the Ministers emphasised on early implementation of the decisions of the joint communiqué.
Ms Moin told the Indian Minister about the recent initiatives by the Bangladesh government to formulate a comprehensive transit policy which will facilitate use of ports of Bangladesh by India, Nepal and Bhutan.
The meeting discussed issues related to fees concerning transit through Bangladesh. She said the two countries will accrue benefit from the transit arrangements.
Mr Sharma thanked the Bangladesh government for facilitating transportation of over dimensional cargoes (ODC) for Palatana power plant in Tripura through the territory of Bangladesh.
Referring to the visit of Indian Finance Minister to Dhaka in August last year when he had said that India has agreed to provide transit for Bangladesh to Nepal and Bhutan, Dipu Moni called for early implementation of this decision so that Bangladeshi cargo and passenger vehicle are allowed access to Nepal and Bhutan through the Indian territory.
She underlined the importance of removal of tariff and non-tariff barriers to reduce the trade gap between the two countries.
Expressing satisfaction at the accreditation of BSTI with National Accreditation Board of India (NABL) both the Ministers stated that the products accredited can now be exported to India without any requirement of certificate from Indian Labs.