The cabinet has approved a proposal for development of all land ports of the country under the agreement of Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific (ESCAP).
The approval came from a regular meeting of the cabinet held at the secretariat with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair, reports BSS.
The aim of the proposal is to develop all the land ports up to the level of international standard as part of establishing s with Asian Highway Network and Trans-Asia Railway Network.
The proposal named 'Intergovernmental Agreement on Dry Ports' is an instrument prepared by UN ESCAP, Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan said.
Musharraf said Akhawara, Bibir Bazar, Hili, SonaMasjid, Bangla Band, Bilonia, Tamabil, Benapole, Bhumari, Teknaf, Bhomra and Ramgarh land ports will come under the agreement.
In a meeting of the Asian transport ministers in 2009, ESCAP agreed to develop all land ports of the region connecting Asian Highway Network and Trans Asia Railway Network.
In view of this, ESCAP approved the draft of the agreement in 2013.
Musharaf Hossain said, 15 countries of the Asian region have signed the agreement during the period from November 4 to 8, 2013 in Bangkok.
However, Bangladesh could not sign the agreement due to lack of necessary preparations.
Now Bangladesh will sign the agreement at the UN headquarters, he said.
The agreement would strengthen regional connectivity and cooperation and it would also be easy to get cooperation from the international community to develop the ports, he said.
According to the ESCAP guideline, the infrastructure, warehousing facilities, transshipment, and inspection system, customs-control procedure, institutional and regulatory framework would be developed to facilitate smooth functioning of the dry ports.