Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed yesterday urged his Indian counterpart to withdraw ban on jute import from Bangladesh and additional tax on cotton import.
He made the call at a meeting with Indian Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman at the latter’s office in New Delhi, said a press release.
Bangladesh commerce minister went to India to participate in the South Asia Economic Conclave held in the Indian capital.
During the meeting, Tofail Ahmed urged Sitharaman to enhance trade facilities for Bangladesh to reduce trade gap, which is now largely in favour of India.
He also sought support on the LDC package to be placed at the 10th ministerial conference of World Trade Organisation. The conference will take place on December 15-18 in Nairobi, Kenyan capital. In response, Sitharaman gave a positive nod.
Recently, the Office of the Jute Commissioner of India issued a notice, cancelling earlier registrations of raw jute and jute products importers.
According to the notice, importers have to have a no-objection certificate from the authorities concerned for every consignment. It also sought detailed information of the buyers.
According to Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), Bangladesh earned $868.5m exporting raw jute and jute goods in the last fiscal year, of which about $100m came from India.