India, Bangladesh to expand road, rail links

Thursday, 22 May 2003, 19:30 IST
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NEW DELHI: India will establish better road and railway links with Bangladesh to boost bilateral trade. The necessary infrastructure for customs and to handle export goods along the rail and road links leading to Bangladesh would be completed before the start of monsoon in the middle of next month, the finance ministry said Wednesday. The decision was taken at a meeting between Finance Minister Jaswant Singh and visiting Bangladesh Minister of Finance and Planning M. Saifur Rahman. For the first phase of the developmental work, four Land Customs Stations (LCS) have been identified in the northeastern region of India. These are at Petrapole in West Bengal, Dauki in Meghalaya, Sutarkandi in Assam and Agartala in Tripura. The LCS are intended to facilitate better handling and storage for perishables exported from India. India has also decided to extend the validity period for the 2 billion line-of-credit to enable Bangladesh to avail of the balance credit of 260 million, the finance ministry stated. "The ambit of commodities for which the credit can be utilised has also been widened and the amortisation plan rescheduled," the statement added. Both the ministers have agreed to address the issue of non-tariff barriers to boost trade.
Source: IANS