Water transport protocol with Dhaka soon: Myanmar envoy

Myanmar and Bangladesh are going to sign an Inland Water Transport Protocol agreement next month, which will help boosting Dhaka-Yangon trade, newly appointed ambassador of Myanmar to Bangladesh U Min Lwin said in Dhaka Saturday.

'A joint shipping committee, which was formed earlier by the Bangladesh side, will visit Myanmar in July to find out options and standard of the planned river protocol agreement and examine the charges for plying vessels in the river routes. I hope the agreement will be signed during the visit,' Lwin told a seminar at a hotel in the city.

Bangladesh-Myanmar Chamber of Commerce and industry organised the seminar on 'Perspective of Bangladesh Myanmar Relationship in the Field of Trade and Commerce, Regional Cooperation and Connectivity'.

The commerce minister, Faruk Khan, spoke at the seminar as the chief guest while the BMCCI president, KB Ahmed, gave the welcome speech. Acting president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry Jashim Uddin and president of Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry  Amjad Khan Chowdhury also addressed it, among others.

Lwin said 25 non-conventional Bangladeshi ships would be able to transport goods through the Myanmar rivers under the planned agreement while the same number of Myanmar ships would be plying the Bangladesh rivers.

'We are now at the final stage of signing a river transport protocol agreement with Myanmar. This will be Bangladesh's second river protocol agreement after India,' M Alauddin, joint secretary of the ministry, told the news agency earlier.

Dhaka exported goods and commodities worth $9.17 million to Yangon in 2008- 09, while its import during the period was $66.65 million, according to Export Promotion Bureau.

Source: New Age

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