High commissioner of the Maldives to Bangladesh Shiuneen Rasheed on Thursday said that India鈥檚 withdrawal of the transshipment facility for Bangladesh鈥檚 export cargo to third countries would not affect trade with her country located in the Indian Ocean.
鈥業 won鈥檛 comment on India鈥檚 decision. However, it would not affect our trade with Bangladesh since we have Colombo as an alternative route,鈥� said the diplomat while talking to reporters after an event at the Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies in the capital Dhaka.
Bangladesh mainly exports apparel items, beverages and pharmaceutical products to the Maldives having no direct shipping link between the two South Asian countries.
In her lecture on 鈥楩rom Male to Dhaka: Strengthening Bangladesh-Maldives Bilateral Cooperation鈥�, the envoy underlined the need for the revival of SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation), the top platform for regional cooperation in South Asia, which has remained non-functional since the postponement of a summit in 2016 amid India-Pakistan rivalries.
鈥楾he Maldives is committed to the revival of SAARC. All other members should equally be committed to the revival of SAARC for regional integration,鈥� said Shiuneen at the event.
She also said that her government was committed to protecting rights of the migrant workers and their welfare as about one lakh Bangladeshis were working in the Maldives, an archipelagic state with a population of only five lakh.
Shiuneen said that authorities in her country had launched biometric registration, set to be completed by April 30, for all of its population and migrant workers staying in the country.
Once the biometric registration is completed, the authorities would make decisions on their steps for those who had become undocumented there, she added.
Expatriates鈥� welfare ministry senior secretary Neyamat Ullah Bhuiyan spoke as special guest at the event chaired by BIISS chairman AFM Gousal Azam Sarker.
The secretary said that about half of the total migrant workers from Bangladesh in the Maldives had become undocumented and were often exposed to exploitation.
On Tuesday, the Department of Revenue under the Indian Ministry of Finance issued a circular rescinding the transhipment facility for Bangladesh鈥檚 export cargo to third countries with immediate effect.
India on June 29, 2020 had permitted the movement of Bangladeshi export cargo in containers or closed-body trucks via Indian ports and airports.
In Tuesday鈥檚 circular, India said that although the facility was now withdrawn, cargo already in transit would be allowed to exit India in accordance with the procedures outlined in the June 29, 2020 circular.
India has officially withdrawn the transshipment facility previously extended to Bangladesh for exporting goods to third countries via Indian territory, according to a statement from India鈥檚 Ministry of External Affairs.
Bangladeshi exporters have expressed concerns over India鈥檚 decision, saying that in international trade, opportunities, options, and flexibility matter more than the volume of goods.
