Bangladesh's BGMEA requests India to expedite trade through land port

The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) recently requested the Indian government to expedite and facilitate Bangladesh’s export-import trade through the Bangaon-Benapole land port. BGMEA president Faruque Hassan wrote a letter to the Indian high commissioner in Dhaka Vikram Kumar Doraiswami regarding this issue.

"We earnestly request you to kindly take up the issue with concerned authorities of your country and resolve the problem at your earliest to expedite the bilateral trade between India and Bangladesh, which is extremely important for our RMG sector," the letter said.

Faruque said Bangladesh’s apparel exporters are importing a substantial volume of raw material from India and the transit time from India to Bangladesh is critical.

They have been facing a lot of delays in transit of imported goods from India in recent times.

"We are hearing from the Forwarders and Clearing agents in Benapole that the scrutiny/security measures and lack of manpower for export of goods at Indian customs point particularly Bangaon are facing long delays and the transit time is getting very long for the trucks to cross the Bangaon-Benapole boarder," he was quoted as saying by Bangla media reports.

Due to this, Faruque added, many trucks laden import and export goods are stuck at Indian points, which is hampering business with India and affecting the transit time of raw materials for readymade garment factories in Bangladesh