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Bangladesh signs transhipment deal with India

BSS, Dhaka
Bangladesh yesterday signed an agreement to finalise a transhipment deal with India to allow Indian goods to be transported to its northeastern Tripura state through Bangladesh territory, officials said.
"I have just signed the agreement declaring our Ashuganj as a new port of call," Shipping Secretary Abdul Mannan Hawladar told the news agency. It will transport Indian heavy consignments for their Palatana Power Project inTripura, he added.
He said with the deal, in line with an earlier decision taken during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's India tour in January, the
northern Ashuganj would be the second transhipment point and fifth port of call in Bangladesh.
New Delhi in a reciprocal step, Hawladar said, already declared Shilghat as the port of call on the Indian side.
The Indian government sent the signed-up agreement last week to be countersigned by Dhaka to make it a deal. The shipping ministry will now send the document back to New Delhi, said one the officials.
He said New Delhi had been seeking to let them use Ashuganj, 49 kilometres oft the Tripura border, as a transhipment point since 1980s.
Earlier reports said the shipping ministry has already formulated a Tk 2.5 billion project to make Ashuganj well equipped to handle the heavy Indian cargoes. The project is expected to complete by 2013.
Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority officials said preparations were underway to transform Ashuganj into a modem port and renovate the 49-kilometre road from the port to Tripura border, with New Delhi bearing the cost.
The officials said Bangladesh decided to consider its decision as "test case" to allow New Delhi to use its territory, responding to the long Indian request for transit. Dhaka will then move with other proposals of various modes.
Dhaka agreed to allow Ashuganj as a new port of call during Foreign Minister Dipu Moni's tour of New Delhi ahead of the premier's visit.
Dhaka University Professor Imtiaz Ahmed said New Delhi crucially requires Bangladesh's cooperation to develop its northeastern region.
" So, we should try to cash in on India's compulsion. We should think about long-term funding to establish regional connectivity, not merely India connectivity."