India-Bangladesh trade can double by 2011: FICCI

August 21st, 2009 Akhaurah (India-Bangladesh Border), - Bangladesh has said it will increase trade and economic activities with India's northeast region and develop infrastructure at the border. Bangladesh Commerce Minister Colonel (retired) Faruk Khan said: "We have decided to increase trade and business with the northeastern region to reduce Bangladesh's trade gap with India.

August 13th, 2009 AGARTALA - Bangladesh will export 400 million bricks to Tripura, with the first consignment reaching the bordering state Aug 20, officials said here Thursday. "To boost the brick trade, the Indian government has removed the 2.5 percent central custom duty from this month while the Tripura government reduced the value-added tax (VAT) to 4 percent from 12.5 percent," said Tripura Commerce and Industry Minister Jitendra Chowdhury.

July 22nd, 2009 DHAKA - Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said that her government wants to reopen the rail links with India for better connectivity and to promote trade, investment and people-to-people contact. The rail link was snapped in 1965.

July 21st, 2009 DHAKA - Shifting emphasis from multilateral to bilateral economic ties. Bangladesh is to revive the Joint Economic Commissions (JECs) with its principal trade partners India and China.

July 20th, 2009 DHAKA - An Indian trade delegation visiting Dhaka has urged Bangladesh to take steps to boost bilateral trade ties between the two countries. The appeal came at a seminar on "Bangladesh-India Economic Relations" at Hotel Sonargaon in Dhaka, reports the Daily Star.

July 5th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Indian companies with interest in the Gulf have witnessed their business in the region decline by 20 percent, an industry lobby said here Sunday. According to Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), strict visa rules in many countries in the Middle East are obstructing easy flow of manpower for project execution.

July 5th, 2009 AGARTALA - Bangladesh's industry bodies want transit facilities for India to help it transport cargo to the northeast region through their country. According to them, transshipment can be done through Chittagong and Mongla international ports and Sherpur and Ashuganj river ports, besides through road and railways.

June 24th, 2009 WASHINGTON - The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) has proposed a five point agenda topped by "deepening of India-US nuclear cooperation" to take their bilateral relations to the next level. "We want the US to engage India across fronts and not just business to business," FICCI president Harsh Pati Singhania said Tuesday proposing the leading Indian trade body's agenda at a seminar on "US-India relations: The Road Ahead" at the East-West Centre here.

June 24th, 2009 WASHINGTON - The Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) will work together to expand the trade relationship between the two countries. Ex-Im Bank Chairman and President Fred P.

April 20th, 2009 AGARTALA - Bangladeshi trade and industry groups have said they would increase trade and economic activities with India's northeast region and urged Dhaka to provide transit facilities to India. 'We have decided to start business and education tourism with the northeastern region,' said Abdul Matlub Ahmad, president of the India-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

April 9th, 2009 LONDON - The recent liberalisation of RBI removing the ban on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) from Bangladesh may lead towards a stable and secure trade relation between India and Bangladesh. India's decision to welcome investment from Bangladesh also, raises an expectation that foreign trade policies of both the countries will get further liberalized.

March 20th, 2009 AGARTALA - The bloody mutiny of Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) in Dhaka last month has knocked off the Indo-Bangladesh border trade by 50 percent, traders here Thursday said. 'The BDR mutiny and reduction of the rate of the Indian rupee against the US dollar have largely affected the Indo-Bangla export-import business during the past few weeks,' said Habul Biswas, spokesman of the Indo-Bangla Desh Trading Organisation.

March 12th, 2009 NEW DELHI - As a result of deteriorating indo-Pak relations post the Mumbai terror attacks, cross-border trade is likely to witness a sixty percent decline in fiscal 2009-10. The trade relatio has hit the new low because Indian exporters are scared from doing business with Pakistani businessmen, a FICCI survey has revealed.

January 29th, 2009 NEW DELHI - India is ready to look at lowering further the number of items in the negative list for trade with least developed countries (LDCs) such as Bangladesh, a senior commerce ministry official said here Friday. 'We have already reduced the negative list from 765 to 480 items.

January 19th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Even as the Rs.513-billion Indian entertainment and media industry is trying to recover from the after-effects of the global economic meltdown, international audit firm KPMG has predicted a double-digit growth rate for it this year. The firm, which has been roped in as the knowledge partner for industry forum Ficci, will come out with its annual report in Ficci Frames, the global convention in Asia on the business of entertainment to be held in Mumbai Feb 17-19.