Saarc member states have agreed with the texts of regional agreements on railways and motor vehicles to improve connectivity in the region.
“We have agreed on the texts of the instruments with some minor modifications,” Joint Secretary of the Communications Ministry Md Jamal Uddin Ahmed told the Dhaka Tribune.
Bangladesh sent three senior officials, including Jamal, to New Delhi to attend the fifth Saarc Intergovernmental Group on Transport held on Tuesday.
The officials discussed transport corridor and the issue how to implement the recommendations put forward by Saarc Regional Multimodal Transport Study.
The meeting approved the finalised texts of the agreements which would be placed before the next meeting of Saarc communications ministers.
It would be a big boost for connectivity if both the agreements come into being, Jamal said. “The text of the railway agreement is final and approved by the transport group.”
Bangladesh proposed some fine-tuning in the text of the railway agreement and all of them were endorsed by other members of the group, he added.
Citing an example, he said Bangladesh proposed a change in arbitration clause and it was endorsed.
Earlier, the clause was that the arbitration would be dealt with by the Saarc Secretariat and it would be binding, but now it is agreed that the member countries can resolve the disputes through alternative mechanism.
Another official of the Communications Ministry said the motor vehicle agreement was agreed by all members, but Pakistan said it would give its view on a particular clause in due course of time.
It was proposed in the motor vehicle agreement how private cars, commercially-run buses, ambulances, commercial cargoes could move across the region.
The draft text also stipulated that drivers must have special driving licences, cars must have certain fitness level and there must be a regional insurance coverage for any accident. Only the customs issue would be dealt with by respective taxation offices of the countries.
About the proposal for running a demonstration container train from Bangladesh to Afghanistan through India, Nepal and Pakistan, the official said Dhaka had no objection in principle, but it was facing some technical problems.
“In the meeting, India and Nepal gave their consent to the trial run of the container train,” he said.
About the proposal on India Ocean Cargo and Ferry Service, he said the meeting stressed on completion of Asian Development Study for the proposal as soon as possible.
Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Afghanistan are the members of Saarc.
