“Connectivity and Trade
Facilitation in the BBIN Sub-region of the Indo-Pacific”
organised at a hotel in the city today.
With support of the U.S. Department of State and in
partnership with Unnayan Shamannay, Bangladesh, Bhutan Media
and Communications Institute and Nepal Economic Forum, CUTS
International - a global public policy research and advocacy
group - organised this regional policy dialogue with the
objective of what needs to be done for positioning the BBIN
MVA for its effective implementation. The implementation of
the BBIN MVA is expected to commence from the beginning of
2020.
Atiur Rahman, Chairman, Unnayan Shamannay, while chairing the
opening, said that “Bangladesh has always been in favour of
open regionalism and the present political equations among the
governments of these countries are conducive towards an
effective implementation of the BBIN MVA”.
Pete Gauthier, Private Enterprise Officer at the Economic
Growth Office of the U.S. Agency for International
Development, Bangladesh mentioned that any sub-regional
cooperation should always look at how to create a win-win
situation for all stakeholders involved and hence should aim
at growing the pie instead of splitting it.
Speakers at the dialogue iterated that while the framework
agreement for this initiative was signed in June, 2015 but the
same is yet to be implemented owing to a number of challenges
pertaining to infrastructure deficit, differences in
regulations and trust deficit among its signatories. Coupled
with them, cumbersome paperwork involved in doing border
clearance is causing traffic congestion at border posts.
Selima Ahmed, Hon’ble Member of Parliament of Bangladesh and
President, Bangladesh Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry
emphasised on the need for developing women friendly policies
and infrastructure to encourage more women to participate in
trade once the BBIN MVA comes into effect.
According to Mohammad Razzaque, Research Director of the
Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh, “There should be
clarity among the policy-makers on why a policy has been
framed. There is no point improving border infrastructure if
countries keep resorting to various trade restrictive
measures”.
To avoid congestion at border crossings, the importance of
multi-modal connectivity was discussed and the need for
setting up Inland Container Depots, use of railways, waterways
and airways as alternate modes of transportation were
highlighted during the discussions. Most importantly, the
participants were of the opinion that reviving existing rail
and inland waterways would be much better investment
alternatives than that in land ports which have already
reached and/or exceeded their cargo and passenger handling
capacity.
More than 40 participants comprising government officials,
policy experts, civil society representatives and media
personnel participated in this day-long deliberation. They
also underlined that digital connectivity including the use of
new technologies such as blockchains should be effectively
used to develop an online trade facilitation platform and
appropriate risk management system to facilitate faster cargo
clearance at border crossings.
More details about the project can be accessed at: http://www.cuts-international.org/bbinmva/index.htm
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For more information, please
contact:
Bipul Chatterjee, bc@cus.org ; +91-98292-85921
Arnab Ganguly, arg@cuts.org
; +88-014073-89517