AGARTALA/AIZAWL, April 21 (IANS): Bangladesh has been keen to further increase its trade and economic activities with India’s northeastern states and its Commerce minister Tipu Munshi will visit Mizoram on Friday to supervise the infrastructure along the border, officials said on Wednesday.
Munshi recently visited Tripura and discussed increasing trade with Tripura chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb. He also attended the function of laying the foundation stone for Kamalpur (India)-Kurmaghat (in his country’s Moulvibazar district) ‘Border Haat’.
A Bangladesh government official on Wednesday said in Agartala that the Bangladesh minister, after visiting Mizoram, would soon visit other north-eastern states including Assam and Meghalaya to discuss with the ministers and officials of these states to further boost trade.
The Bangladesh trade volume with the northeastern states is much higher than India.
An official in Aizawl said that the Bangladesh minister during his four day stay in Mizoram would visit Integrated Check Post (ICP) in Lunglei district’s Kawrpuichhuah and proposed ‘Border Haat’ (market) site in Silsuri in Mamit district. Munshi would be accompanied by Mizoram Commerce and Industry minister R. Lalthangliana, who during his visit to Dhaka in March last year held a meeting with Munshi and discussed boosting of trades and economic activities.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh state minister of Shipping Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury during his visit to Assam last week said that waterways of his country could be utilised for transportation between Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Bhutan.
Bangladesh Information and Broadcasting minister Dr Hasan Mahmud recently in Guwahati said that his government has given thrust to improve trade and business with India through waterways, railways and airways and to further strengthen people-to-people contact between the two countries.
