Delhi agrees to Dhaka plea on trade talks

India has agreed to discuss the proposed duty-free access for 25 categories of Bangladeshi items without linking them to other issues in Dhaka later this month.

The Indo-Bangladesh trade talks, earlier scheduled to begin on December 26, were deferred at India's request at the eleventh hour.

Foreign Minister Morshed Khan who had bilateral talks with his Indian counterpart, Jaswant Singh, in Kathmandu told reporters here yesterday that Bangladesh had asked that the duty-free access issue be discussed separately from other issues as a confidence-building measure.

"The Indian side agreed to do that. Let's see the progress at the next Secretary-level trade meeting which is planned for the third week of this month," Khan said.

The foreign minister said there had been free and candid discussions on all bilateral irritants with Jaswant Singh and both sides agreed to resolve those through negotiations.

Trade officials here said India preferred to talk about several trade issues, but Bangladesh would like to stick to specific issues, mainly duty-free access for its 25-category products.

The balance of trade between the two countries has always been in favour of India. Bangladesh suffered a trade deficit of $149.59 million in 1990-91 that rose to $771.25 million in 1999-2000.

During the decade, Bangladesh's exports to India rose to only $65 million in 1999-2000 from $31 million in 1990-91 while its imports shot up to $836.13 million in 1999-2000 from $180.65 million in 1990-91.