Piyush Goyal assures Bangladesh barrier-free trade; urges greater collaboration on farmers

Union Minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday promised Bangladesh complete cooperation in ensuring barrier-free trade between the two nations. He made a strong pitch that together they should work with 'greater synergies and collaboration' for the agriculture sector. His assurance, made in his address at the India-Bangladesh Digital Conference on Agriculture Sector, comes days after the two countries celebrated 50 years of the 1971 India-Pakistan war which led to the creation of Bangladesh from the erstwhile East Pakistan.

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Piyush Goyal assures Bangladesh of barrier-free trade

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India has offered tariff-free market access to Bangladesh in many products, including, agri-exports. Goyal said. "Our ties have witnessed an upswing in the last 6 years. We have scaled up trade and economic engagement, besides implementing a number of connectivity and infrastructure projects."

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'We should work with greater synergies and collaboration to modernize agriculture'

The Commerce Minister also specified that the goal is to modernize agriculture and this is an area in which both the countries should work with greater synergies and collaboration as agriculture can have game-changing potential between them. Bilateral cooperation in this sector can pave the way to overcome the current economic challenges, he continued, adding that the agriculture sector has huge socio-economic dimensions. Being the prominent sector of the economy, bilateral cooperation in this sector can pave the way to overcome the current economic challenges both the nations are facing, he put forth.

On December 17, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a virtual summit with his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina, where the two leaders discussed a host of bilateral issues, including ways to strengthen ties in the post-pandemic era. Bangladesh had come into being after India had defeated Pakistan in the 1971 war, now 50 years ago. PM Modi has accepted the invitation from PM Hasina to join the celebrations on the occasion of 50th anniversary of Bangladesh’s Independence and 50 years of Bangladesh-India diplomatic relations in March 2021, which is likely to be his first foreign visit since the imposition of the first Covid lockdown in March earlier this year.

(With inputs from ANI)

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