Bangladesh has requested India to reconsider anti-dumping and anti-circumvention duties imposed on jute and jute cloth imports from the country.
Bangladesh commerce minister Tipu Munshi, who attended an India-Bangladesh Digital Conference on Agriculture Sector, organised by CII, said the government has closed all government-owned jute mills.
“We (India and Bangladesh) have a long history of trade cooperation. Such detrimental measures dampened confidence of business and affected trade,” he said.
Responding to her request, Commerce & Industry Minister Piyush Goyal assured his Bangladeshi counterpart that India would steps to address the issue by creation of adequate buffer stocks and increasing the area of cultivation of products such as onion and potatoes.
Munshi said, “Issuance of certificate of origin for preferential duty is guided by the ROO (rules of origin) of the agreement and the designated issuing authority of the export country issues it. The second check of origin is not consistent with the provisions of the agreement and has started affecting trade negatively.”
Goyal said both the countries can set high benchmarks on how to capture a larger global share in textiles. “We both have apparel and textile exports together aggregating $67 billion. We should aspire to expand that five-fold so that we can provide jobs, increase earnings from international trade and support the development of economies of both countries,” he said.