Bangladesh’s Commerce Minister Khandakar Abdul Muktadir and Indian High Commissioner Dinesh Trivedi discussed several issues aimed at further strengthening trade relations between Bangladesh and India.

According to a statement from the Commerce Ministry, the two sides discussed reopening the border haats that have remained closed, making the land ports fully operational and lifting restrictions on the import of yarn through land routes.

The issues were discussed at a meeting between Commerce Minister Khandakar Abdul Muktadir and Indian High Commissioner Dinesh Trivedi at the Secretariat on Monday.

The meeting also covered expanding bilateral trade, removing trade barriers, promoting joint investment and increasing cooperation between businesses of the two countries.

After the meeting, the commerce minister said bilateral trade between Bangladesh and India currently stands at around USD 13 billion. However, trade has slowed somewhat over the past one and a half years due to various obstacles. The meeting focused on identifying these problems and discussing ways to make trade easier and more effective.