The motor vehicle agreement– pivot for regional trade integration-among Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal (BBIN) has remained unimplemented for the last seven years.
In a media briefing on the current status of the multi-modal connectivity in the BBIN sub-region organized in a joint effort of Nepal Economic Forum and CUTS (Consumer Unity and Trust Society) International, the concern of not being able to implement the agreement were discussed by the participants.
Research Fellow of the Nepal Economic Forum, Sugam Nanda Bajracharya informed that the BBIN Motor Vehicle Agreement was signed in June 2015 to enable seamless movement of cargo and passenger vehicles among the BBIN sub-region. He said that in this proceeding, Bangladesh, India and Nepal ratified the agreement while Bhutan withheld its ratification citing environmental concerns.
Beed Consultant Raju Tuladhar said that though Nepal is ready to implement this crucial agreement there still exists some trade issues with its concern which are yet to be sorted out.
CUTS International’s Fellow Suresh P Singh said that the crucial agreement was to increase trade and connectivity in the sub-region. He said that this issue needs to be raised in the public forum to disseminate the essence of this agreement. He said that the issues and problems if any for the materialization of the agreement can be sorted out by sitting all the stakeholders together.
Source : TRN,
