May 04, 2018: On the third day of his visit to New Delhi, Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb today attended meeting on the Act East Policy organised by the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India. The meeting was chaired by Union Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj and Chief Ministers of Assam, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Manipur, Deputy Chairman NITI Aayog, Minister of State for External Affairs,, various high level officials from MEA, Ministry of DONER, Chief Secretaries of North Eastern States etc were also present in the meeting.
Detailed discussion on various issues took place on the various issues related to the Act East Policy in connection with all the North Eastern States of India. Chief Minister of Tripura raised several issues in this meeting including one about removal of Port Restriction imposed by Bangladesh so as to improve the export in Tripura to Bangladesh- During 2016, total volume of trade between Tripura and Bangladesh was Rs. 304. 83 Crore. Export from Tripura was only Rs. 4.60 Crore. Thus, there is severe trade deficit being faced by Tripura due to Port Restrictions imposed by Bangladesh on the items exported from Tripura. Biplab requested Ministry of External Affairs to take appropriate measures to remove trade restrictions on 27 number of items from Tripura to Bangladesh so as to improve the trade of Tripura with Bangladesh and to reduce the trade deficit significantly.
The Chief Minister also spoke about Operationalization of Chittagong port-Chittagong Port is only 75 Km from Sabroom (South Tripura). the Chief Minister requested MEA to take initiative to operationalise Chittagong port and resolve various issues related to customs formalities, motor vehicle permits, transit arrangements etc with Bangladesh for the said purpose.
Regarding implementation of BBIN (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal) Motor Vehicle AgreementBiplab Deb requested MEA to take up initiatives for implementation of BBIN Motor Vehicle Agreement for free movement of vehicles from Agartala to Kolkata via Dhaka, movement of cargo vehicles from Agartala to Ashuganj, Belonia to Chittagong and Sabroom- Chittagong.
Regarding setting up of Border Haats he said, already two Border Haats at Kamalasagar in Sipahijala District and Srinagar in South Tripura District are functioning. He requested MEA to obtain NOC from Bangladesh Government to setup two more Haats at Kamalpur, Dhalai District and Ragna (Palbasti), North Tripura.
He mentioned about shifting of IBB(Indo-Bangladesh Border) fencing in Manughat LCSIt is necessary to shift IBB fencing towards zero line at Manughat LCS so as to allow development of Integrated Check Post/Land Custom Stations within 150 yards of zero line. The Chief Minister requested MEA to take up the matter with Bangladesh on urgent basis.
Regarding promotion of investment from Bangladesh to Tripura, Biplab Deb said, at present there has been no any significant investment from Bangladesh investors into Tripura or other parts of North East. He requested to MEA to persuade the matter with Bangladesh Government so as to promote investors from Bangladesh to invest in Tripura and other parts of the North Eastern States which will improve bilateral trade between the two countries benefitting the North Eastern Region.
On Creation of infrastructure in the counterpart Land Customs Stations(LCS) of Bangladesh, Deb said, it has been noticed that Bangladesh is not taking up all the necessary measures for activating LCS in Bangladesh due to which bilateral trade between Bangladesh and Tripura is hampering. He requested MEA to seek feasibility of financing the LCS in Bangladesh through bilateral assistance.
