Transhipment facility: FINER hails Bangla gesture

GUWAHATI, August 4: The Federation of Industries and Commerce of North Eastern Region (FINER) has hailed the Bangladesh government's decision to allow transhipment of Indian goods through its territory. FINER president SK Jain said the Indian business community had been demanding the facility for long. Bangladesh's grant of transhipment facilities to India is a major step towards creating a regime of free movement of goods within South Asia - one of the prerequisites for the South Asia Free Trade Agreement, proposed by India under the aegis of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). Nepal already has transhipment agreements with India and Bangladesh, he said. The transit facility would provide easy access to other parts of India and will make both Bangladesh and the north-eastern region an epicentre of economic activities in the next century, he said.