Bangladesh will impose transit fees on Indian vehicles crossing the territory of the country as per the rules of the World Trade Organisation.
Finance Minister AMA Muhith came up with the disclosure just after a meeting with French Ambassador Sophie Aubert at his secretariat office yesterday.
Referring to the WTO rules, the minister categorically said: “It is up to the host country to fix the rate of transit facilities on the basis of infrastructure cost.”
The government formed a committee under Bangladesh Tariff Commission soon after India requested Bangladesh to allow transit facilities as per modalities adopted in 2010. The committee submitted a report on the transit fees, but it has not been made public yet.
Regarding the commission’s report on transit to Indian motor vehicles, Muhith acknowledged that the report had come in but said “its calculations were absurd.”
Both Dhaka and New Delhi agreed on the issues of larger transit mechanism during the recent visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Bangladesh on June 6-7.
In response to a question, Muhith said: “The Chittagong port is already being used as transit point while the government is developing the Mongla port.”