Secretary-level meeting between the Shipping Ministries of Bangladesh and India has started at Inter Continental Hotel in Dhaka.
Secretary of Bangladesh Shipping Ministry Abdus Samad and his Indian counterpart Gopal Krishna led the meeting on behalf of their respective sides, a press release of Bangladesh Ministry of Shipping said on Wednesday, reports BSS.
The under-construction Matarbari deep-sea port, Bangladesh and Dhamra port on the shore of the Bay of Bengal in the Indian state of Odisha are expected to be declared as “Port of Call” - an intermediate stop for a ship on a scheduled journey for cargo transportation or taking on supplies or fuel.
There are 12 ports of call between the two countries, including Bangladesh’s Mongla port and India’s Karimganj seaport.
The last secretary-level meeting between the two countries was held in 2018 in New Delhi, which decided that the North-Eastern states of India were permitted to use Bangladeshi ports - paving the way for cargo vessel movement between Kolkata and Dhaka and open multi-modal trade opportunities between the neighbours.