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BIMSTEC trade can grow with the implementation of Free Trade Agreement: Official

Updated: Sep 24, 2018 10:19:14am
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BIMSTEC trade can grow with the implementation of Free Trade Agreement: Official

New Delhi, Sep 24 (KNN) The implementation of Free Trade Agreement can help intra-BIMSTEC trade grow up to USD 240 billion from the current estimated USD 40 billion, said M Shahidul Islam, Secretary-General of BIMSTEC.

The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is a regional economic bloc comprising seven member states lying in the littoral and adjacent areas of the Bay of Bengal constituting a contiguous regional unity. 

Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand is the group that was formed in 1997.

Addressing a workshop titled BIMSTEC at 20: Priorities and Prospects, Shahidul Islam said, "That is the potential and it would be much easier to go to that potential," citing a think tank's report that intra-BIMSTEC trade can grow up to USD 240 billion from the current estimated USD 40 billion. 

India has given its opinion on the revised FTA whose draft was ready in 2015 but has been revisited on call from some member countries, he said.

Islam said that there were plans that the agreements would be signed next year. 

He also said, "We will be very happy if we can finalize the goods and trade as well as the supporting agreements on customs cooperation next year."

BIMSTEC connectivity master plan will be finalized this year Islam mentioned.

According to him, "Once it (connectivity plan) is approved by the member states, we hope to have a formal launch, most probably, in New Delhi as India is the lead country for connectivity."

Adding to which he said that the Delhi launch of the connectivity master plan will also give a visibility to the world. 

The Secretary-General also said that the automatic linking of the BIMSTEC connectivity plan with that of the ASEAN Connectivity Plan 2025 would expand reach of BIMSTEC members across the South East Asian region. 

The workshop was organised by the Institute of South Asian Studies, a think tank of the National University of Singapore, as well as Consortium of South Asian Think Tanks and Konrad Adenauer Stiftung. 

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