NEW DELHI, July 12 � Former Union Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar today urged Bangladesh businessmen to shift their focus to North Eastern States.
Aiyar, who is leading a business delegation to the neighbouring country said under the Vision 2020 programme the North Eastern State have access to Rs 20 lakh crore, but the region needs managerial, technical and technological support to implement the programme.
Aiyar suggested Bangladesh could get a good share of the fund by assisting the NER in executing the programme.
He observed that by allowing the port and transit facilities, Bangladesh could reduce its annual trade gap with India by around $ 4 billion.
The visit of the Indian trade delegation being hosted by Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) is aimed to deliberate on issues of transit, port facilities, tariff and technical and non-technical cooperation.
The business leaders agreed on joint efforts to address those areas for reciprocal benefit. The members of trade delegation from India also discussed about the avenues for increasing bilateral trade and investment.
The FBCCI President A K Azad said the trade volume with India would increase substantially, if Indian authorities rightly address the tariff and para-tariff issues.
He called for active cooperation to remove all barriers to improve bilateral trade and business between the two neighbours.
The business team from India arrived in Dhaka on Saturday aiming to improve trade between the landlocked Indian region and Bangladesh.
