The India-Bangladesh memorandum of understanding (MoU) on garment exports is a very good beginning in business relations between the two countries and offers a big opportunity in bilateral trade, Bangladesh media has said.

"We have been assured that many more items will be allowed into India's market duty-free from 2008," The Daily Star said.

"This is indeed a good opportunity and our exporters must not only look for market diversification within India but also include non-traditional items in the export basket," the newspaper said in an editorial.

The MoU, to be followed up within a month, envisages export of eight million pieces of garments annually by Bangladesh.

"Eight million pieces may seem small to begin with but the recently concluded MoU has the potential for enhancing the quantity in future. Even more, the significant aspect of the understanding is that an item that had so long been in India's sensitive list of import items will at last be de-listed in the case of Bangladesh," said the newspaper.

"We think it is a very good beginning, albeit a modest step towards reducing the huge trade imbalance between Bangladesh and India," it observed.

Tradeindia News Bureau

(Tradeindia Expert)

Tradeindia.com

Tradeindia.com
New Delhi, India