Bangladesh today said India should look at removing all trade barriers to help increase exports by the neighbouring country.

“I have just met the Indian Commerce Secretary S R Rao and Revenue Secretary Sumit Bose. I have urged them to remove all tariff and non-tariff barriers on Bangladeshi exports.. ,” Bangladesh Commerce Secretary Mahbub Ahmed said.

Although India had granted duty-free access for Bangladeshi goods into the country, exports had not risen to expected levels because of various barriers.

While the two-way trade volume between India and Bangladesh stood at $5 billion, the latter’s exports was only at $563 million.

“Indian investors should also go to Bangladesh to set up units and export to advanced countries taking advantage of the duty-free and quota-free access,” Ahmed said at an interaction organised by Indian Chamber of Commerce here.

Regarding Hilsa fish exports to India, he said there was no ban as such. “There is a ban on export of white frozen fish and Hilsa automatically falls in this category,” he said.

India is a big market for items like readymade garments, leather products and jute, he said.

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