DHAKA, July 16: Dhaka and New Delhi claimed on Wednesday they had made “substantial progress” towards enhancing bilateral cooperation at the 6th Indo-Bangladesh Joint Economic Commission (JEC) meeting that concluded in Dhaka on Tuesday.

Foreign Minister M. Morshed Khan and Indian External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha, at a joint press briefing, put out a positive picture of the talks. But a highly placed source in Bangladesh’s foreign ministry said neither Bangladesh’s major demand for India to lift non- and para-tariff barriers to trade, nor India’s demand for transit-transhipment facilities, made little headway.

However, Yashwant Sinha told the press in Dhaka, “We’ve achieved very, very positive gains at the JEC, we made very substantial progress and we’ll continue to remain engaged to resolve other issues between us.”

His Bangladeshi counterpart echoed the sentiments and said that a new chapter has been added to Indo-Bangladesh relations as the JEC meeting was a culmination of a series of high-level meetings held between the two countries over the last two years.

The Indian minister said Dhaka’s nod to holding negotiations on the free trade agreement (FTA) was the most important outcome of the JEC meet. The two sides agreed to initiate discussions on a bilateral FTA in mid-October, the minutes of the talks said, in conformity with an earlier understanding on the proposed bilateral trading arrangement.

The two neighbours decided to begin a bus service between Dhaka and Agartala, capital of the Indian state of Tripura, in the first week of August. A similar bus service between Dhaka and Kolkata has been running since April 1999.

The two sides also decided to hold the JEC meeting every year, while a standing committee at the foreign secretary-level will meet every six months to discuss pending bilateral issues. The 5th JEC meet was held in New Delhi in 1997, six years ago.

On the thorny issues of transit-transhipment and non-tariff barriers, however, both sides were evasive in their answers at the press briefing. “We’ve discussed every issue including the transit and transhipment issues and we will continue to discuss this,” Sinha said without giving any hint of what progress had been made on the issue.

The Bangladesh foreign minister said, “We’ve discussed the issue, we have not shied away from it and we will continue our discussion.” India has long been demanding transit facility through Bangladesh for transportation of goods and commodities to its north-eastern states and to export through the Chittagong and Mongla ports.

On the issue of non-tariff barriers, Sinha outright denied the charge that India has been imposing these barriers on Bangladeshi exports. “There are certain requirements. Exporters here should be aware of this. Every country has these requirements in certain crucial areas,” the Indian minister said.

He felt that solving this problem required a systematic approach. “That is why India has suggested that both the countries must sit down and prepare a comprehensive list of those non-tariff arrangements so that it can be tackled accordingly,” Sinha said.

Morshed Khan said, “We may not have found resolutions to some issues, but we’re both committed to see to it that the people of this region are not deprived of the benefits of the regional cooperation.”

Sinha, instead, preferred to stress on the proposed FTA. “With the help of FTA we will be moving from a regime of ad-hoc arrangements to a well-structured and durable arrangement”, he said.

“There will be built-in asymmetry in the FTA which will take into consideration the needs and requirements of Bangladesh,” he added.

About Bangladesh’s new list of 118 products asking for duty- and quota-free access to the Indian market in a bid to reduce the existing trade gap of $1 billion in favour of India, Sinha said the matter would be taken up when the two sides open the dialogue on FTA.

The foreign secretary-level standing committee will meet early next year to review the progress of the first round of talks on the FTA in mid-October. Indian External Affairs Minister said that both sides agreed to “a very quick” finalisation of the Bilateral Investment Protection and Promotion Agreement (BIPPA).

Announcing what the Indian minister considered “a series of concessions”, Sinha said Dhaka would get a fresh line of credit for infrastructure projects, a major portion of which would be used to strengthen the railway network in Bangladesh.

Sinha said India has also decided to extend a 200 crore Indian rupees credit line offered earlier to Bangladesh till it is fully exhausted. This credit line has remained partly unutilised even after its expiry. Sinha said that India has also suggested a bilateral agreement on the customs cooperation.

The Bangladesh foreign minister said that India has offered cooperation in information technology and agriculture.