The two-day summit between shipping secretaries from Bangladesh and India commenced today at the Intercontinental Hotel in Dhaka.

On the initial day, discussions revolved around the standing committee of the Protocol on Inland Water Transit and Trade (PIWTT) and an intergovernmental committee, as per an official statement.

Leading their respective teams were Sheikh Md Sharif Uddin, additional shipping secretary of Bangladesh, and Sanjay Bandopadhyay, chairman of India’s Inland Waterways Authority. India brought forth nine key topics for the intergovernmental committee session.

These points encompassed considerations such as adding Sabroom via Ramgarh as an extra route under the Agreement for the use of Chattogram and Mongla Ports (ACMP), expediting vessel berthing, cost reduction in cargo movement along the ACMP trade route, and permitting bulk cargo movement to Bangladesh via India Bangladesh Protocol Route, among others.

To operationalize the ACMP for cargo movement between India and Bangladesh, four successful trial runs were conducted by December of the previous year.

Bangladesh has a 31-member delegation comprising representatives from pertinent ministries and agencies attending the meetings, while a 21-member delegation represents India.