Padmesh Prabhune

To foster mutual maritime relations, three high-level talks were recently held between the Governments of India and Bangladesh at Dhaka.

The meetings include 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, concluded successfully in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Major Decisions at High Level Shipping Talks

i) Easing of visa issuance, shore-leave facility and repatriation for seafarers.

ii) Land route at LCS Radhikapur and Hodibari to extend trade and connectivity.

iii) Bangladesh to extend IBP route and declare Safardighi as new port of call under PIWT&T.

iv) Common Automatic Identification System on the IBP route for better vessel navigation and tracking.

v) Inclusion of Payra sea port in the ACMP for movement of goods between the two countries.
The 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.

From Indian side 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, with his counterpart Mr. Md. Mostafa Kamal, Senior Secretary, Ministry of Shipping from Bangladesh, (whereas the delegation for the 22nd Standing Committee Meeting on PIWT&T was led by Shri Sanjay Bandopadhyaya, Chairman, IWAI, from India with his counterpart Sheikh Md. Sharif Uddin, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Shipping, from Bangladesh.

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.

At the ‘Shipping Secretary level talk’ 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.

At the ‘Standing Committee meeting on 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.

Also at the ‘Inter-Governmental Committee meeting 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.

India and Bangladesh both share 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 by 170% to 5.4 MMTPA.

Marex Media