KOLKATA, Nov 1 - India is set to sign a motor transport agreement with Myanmar and Thailand for seamless movement of cargo among these countries next year.
�The agreement, the protocol for which is being finalised, will be signed by the last week of March or the first week of April, 2016,� Union Road Transport and Highways Secretary Vijay Chibber said after flagging off the trial-run of a cargo vehicle under the Bangladesh-Bhutan-India-Nepal (BBIN) sub-regional initiative for uninterrupted cargo movement.
The agreement was earlier scheduled to be signed by December this year.
�The delay has been attributed to elections in Myanmar, which we have been told will take three months to be completed,� Chibber said.
Once the election process in Myanmar is over, the landmark agreement among the three countries would be signed, he said.
The agreement would be signed in Myanmar, Chibber said, adding �there is growing convergence among all these countries for opening up roads to every country�s benefit.�
The signing of the India-Myanmar-Thailand (IMT) agreement on the lines of the BBIN initiative, which will throw open seamless movement of cargo, passenger and private vehicles would give a huge boost to economic activities among these countries in the region, he said.
Meanwhile, a trial run of cargo transport between Kolkata and Agartala through Dhaka, reducing the distance by nearly two-thirds, was flagged off today as part of the BBIN
sub-regional initiative for
uninterrupted cargo movement.
�We consider this as a major event as mutual benefits for all the participating countries will be huge,� Union Transport Secretary Vijay Chibber said after flagging off a cargo truck from Nabanna, the West Bengal State secretariat here.
�The distance between Kolkata and Agartala in Tripura will be reduced from 1,550 km to 640 km and will be further reduced by another 150 km after completion of construction of a bridge in Bangladesh,� he said.
�Mutual benefit for all the people of these countries will be huge. This is seen in Europe; there is no reason why our people cannot have such facilities,� he said.
The BBIN Motor Vehicles Agreement would mean that there would not be any requirement of transhipment of cargo at international borders between the countries and vehicles of each country would run uninterrupted through these countries through designated corridors.
�After the protocol is signed and regular cargo movement is started, huge economic benefits would augur on the people of the participating countries in this sub-regional initiative,� Chibber said.
He said that electronic seals would be used in these cargo vehicles and as such would not require physical verification of cargo at international borders, thus reducing time of movement. � PTI