Dhaka gets positive response from Delhi on quota for rice, wheat: Tipu Munshi

Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi said India has responded positively to providing annual quota facilities to Bangladesh for importing seven commodities including rice, wheat and onion in fixed amount.

"Bangladesh sent a proposal earlier to import these daily commodities in fixed amount from India annually. However, India said that Bangladesh does not import the quantity of products from India as mentioned in the proposal," Tipu Munshi said in a press briefing on Tuesday.

The minister said both countries will discuss and finalise the matter within the next couple of months.

"India has been requested not to maintain the anti-dumping duty imposed in 2017 on jute products exported from Bangladesh.

"Besides, the objectives of the proposed Bangladesh-India Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) were discussed in the meeting," said Tipu.

"There was a discussion regarding whether or not India and Bangladesh could do a currency swap in import and export," the minister said, adding that the matter is still in the initial stage because the benefits Bangladesh will reap will have to be considered first.

Tipu Munshi said India's commerce minister has assured to positively consider the issues presented by Bangladesh.

The Ministry of Commerce asked for a quota of 45 lakh tonnes of wheat, 20 lakh tonnes of rice, 7 lakh tonnes of onions, 15 lakh tonnes of sugar, 1.25 lakh tonnes of ginger, 30,000 tonnes of lentils and 10,000 tonnes of garlic, ministry officials said.

In its national budget in March, India had announced the export quotas for various consumer goods to Nepal and Bhutan.

Dhaka expects that it would add the same quota privileges for Bangladesh in the next financial year.