Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Historic opportunity to be part of new future


  • onus of taking India-Bangladesh relations to a higher plane lies on India
  • It was in this spirit India announced a line of credit of $1 billion for upgrading Bangladesh’s infrastructure last year
  • It has also decided to establish “border haats”
  • setting up of the “border haats” marks a big stride forward towards connecting the population of the two countries
  • two governments must take measures to help develop economic activities in the border areas by giving legitimacy to the “border trade”
IMPORTANCE OF INFORMAL TRADE
  • informal trade reflects to a large measure the historical links existing between the populations on both sides of the border, and the advantages of such links, which were interrupted when political boundaries were redrawn, need to be harnessed.
  • Recognition of informal trade will result in greater people-to-people contact.
  • It could bring with it greater sense of ownership among the people in the border areas
TRADE IMBALANCE
  • not only have India’s imports from Bangladesh remained at a relatively low level, these low volumes of imports have also contributed to the large and growing trade imbalance
  • India’s merchandise trade surplus with its neighbour has increased from about $2.7 billion in 2007-08 to over $3.1 billion in 2010-11

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