India looking to advance the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with Bangladesh

What is the news?

India’s Commerce and Industry Minister has said that India was looking to advance a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement(CEPA) with Bangladesh.

Note: CEPA is a kind of comprehensive free trade pact under which two trading partners significantly reduce or eliminate customs duties on the maximum number of goods traded between them. They also liberalise norms to facilitate trade in services and boost investments.

India-Bangladesh Trade Relations

Trade: Bangladesh is India’s biggest trade partner in South Asia.The bilateral trade between the countries stood at USD 10.8 billion in 2020-21 as against USD 9.5 billion in 2019-20.

– Major exports from India to Bangladesh include cotton, cereals, fuel, vehicle parts and machinery and mechanical appliances.

India’s Assistance to Bangladesh:Vaccine Maitree reaffirmed India’s friendship with Bangladesh with over one crore vaccines being supplied from India. 

– India has also extended three lines of credit for $8 bn to Bangladesh, the largest concessional credit given by India to any single country

– India is developing two Indian Economic Zones at Mirsarai and Mongla in Bangladesh. 

What are the four focus areas for strengthening the India-Bangladesh relationship?

Uninterrupted Supply chain: Despite COVID-19, India-Bangladesh maintained an uninterrupted supply chain. But this connectivity needs to be improved further to expand our bilateral trade.

Push to Joint Production of Defence Equipment: India-Bangladesh defence cooperation has not progressed, though India offered USD 500 mn line of credit. 

Explore potential areas of investments like Textiles, Jute products, Leather & Footwear, APIs for Pharmaceuticals, Medical Equipment, Digital Health, Agribusiness, Electronics and Renewable Energy.

India and Bangladesh can become ‘Pharmacy of the world: During COVID-19, vaccines produced in India, created a niche for themselves as safe vaccines.Time has now come for joint manufacturing of vaccines and other medicines.

Source: This post is based on the article “India looking to advance the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with Bangladesh” published in PIB on 8th Mar 2022.