To boost trade with Bangladesh, the Indian government has already set up two ICPs in Tripura, in Agartala and Sonamura, two Border Haats (markets) in western and southern Tripura and proposed to set up several such markets along the borders with other northeastern states.

Meanwhile, a 10-member team of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) led by B. Sinha, a member of CII North East Council, met the High Commissioner and discussed various trade and economic issues. A CII release said that the delegation raised the issue of the high import duty imposed on tea by Bangladesh.

“CII requested relaxation on the import duty on tea which is 80 per cent now, so that the Tripura tea industry can take advantage. CII also requested port restrictions to be removed for processed rubber goods from Tripura. Tripura is the second largest producer of rubber and produces rubber thread which can be exported through the Agatala ICP if the port restrictions are removed,” the release added.

The Bangladesh High Commissioner spoke about the potential Tripura has in tourism and has mentioned about the need to market it in Bangladesh to attract more tourists.

Members from the Tripura Institute of Technology and the ICFAI University also told the envoy about the possibilities of tie-up with the technical institutes in Bangladesh for their international linkage programmes. Since Tripura is one of the pioneers in bamboo innovation in recent times, the CII mentioned that the state is equipped to train artisans from Bangladesh on bamboo.