The BBIN motor vehicles deal is not through yet as Bhutan has temporarily opted out of it. But that did not stop Bangladesh, Nepal and India from testing the waters of a three-country passenger bus service deal.
On April 24 a passenger bus began a trial run from Dhaka in Bangladesh to the Nepalese capital city of Kathmandu. The bus travelled through the Siliguri corridor in West Bengal this morning and entered Nepal through the Panitanki (WestBengal)-Kakarvitta (Nepal) border, carrying delegates from the three countries.
The Sashstra Seema Bal (SSB), guarding the Indian border with Nepal, felicitated the delegates from the three countries participating in the trial run at the Panitanki border. According to a press release issued by SSB, the chairman of the Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation, Farid Ahmed Bhuiyan, expressed the hope that the bus service would help increase people-to-people contact and sub-regional economic integration.