Shipping Secretary Level Talks concludes with path breaking decisions in Dhaka

Three high-level talks held betweenGovernment of India and Government of Bangladesh at Dhaka including Shipping Secretary Level Talks (SSLT), 22nd Meeting of Standing Committee (SCM) under Protocol on Inland Water Transit & Trade (PIWT&T)and 3rd Meeting of Inter-Governmental Committee (IGC) on use of Chattogram and Mongla Ports for to-and-fro movement of goods, successfully concluded in Dhaka, Bangladesh.The delegation for the Shipping Secretary Level Talks and the 3rd Inter-Governmental Committee meeting was led by Shri T.K. Ramachandran, Secretary, Ministry of Ports, Shipping & Waterways, from Indian side and Mr. Md. Mostafa Kamal, Senior Secretary, Ministry of Shipping from Bangladesh.

The delegation for the Shipping Secretary Level Talks and the 3rd Inter-Governmental Committee meeting was led by Shri T.K. Ramachandran, Secretary, Ministry of Ports, Shipping & Waterways, from Indian side and Mr. Md. Mostafa Kamal, Senior Secretary, Ministry of Shipping from Bangladesh.

Both the neighboring countries shared the water routes and coastal routes for transportation of the cargo and passengers on Indo-Bangladesh Protocol Route and Coastal routes. These routes are important since they provide alternate connectivity to the North Eastern Region of India through Bangladesh. Cargo handled by IBP route in the Indian side has increased to 170%. Earlier it was 2 MMTPA in 2014-15 which is now 5.4 MMTPA. A number of decisions were taken during these three meetings to resolve the trade issues and to promote Inland Water Transport and Coastal Shipping between the two countries.

Meetings were held on 19th and 20th December, 2023 and the agreed Minutes of the Meetings were signed on the same day, i.e., on 20th December, 2023.

Issues like easing visa issuance, shore-leave facility and repatriation for seafarers were deliberated upon. It was agreed to declare land route at LCS Radhikapur (Birol) and Hodibari (Chilahati) to extend trade and connectivity. Besides, inclusion of Dhamra Port as Port of Call under Coastal Shipping Agreement was considered. Bangladesh agreed on using Pangaon container terminal for interim period for transhipment of containers until Ashuganj Inland Container Terminal is fully operational. A location for drop-in centre for Bangladesh shall be identified in the next four months near Kolkata. A team from Bangladesh will look into ways to ascertain technical feasibility and commercial viability of third-party EXIM trade for the benefit of both countries. Bangladesh agreed to extend IBP route and declare Safardighi as new port of call under PIWT&T. Both sides agreed to form a technical team immediately to study inclusion of Chandpur-Chittagong stretch as IBP route under PIWT&T

Bangladesh agreed to form a joint committee to implement a common Automatic Identification System (AIS) on the IBP route for better vessel navigation and tracking. Bangladesh agreed to include Mongla-Jamtola stretch for passenger and cruise vessels to visit Sunderbans area in Bangladesh. It has also been agreed that the Bangladesh side will submit a proposal for development of IBP routes 5 &6 and 9 & 10 on 80:20 sharing basis which shall be examined by the Indian side to consider for implementation.  

Both sides agreed to examine inclusion of Payra sea port in the ACMP for movement of goods between the two countries and Sabroom via Ramgarh and vice versa as additional route under ACMP subject to availability of necessary port, customs and related facilities. Besides, issues like faster berthing of vessels/barges using ACMP trade routes were also deliberated upon