Dhaka, September 19:

The India-Bangladesh memorandum of understanding (MoU) on garment exports is a very good beginning in bu-siness relations between two countries and offers a big opportunity in bilateral tra-de, a Dhaka daily reported.

“We have been assured that many more items will be allowed into India’s market duty-free from 2008,” The Daily Star reported. “This is indeed a good opportunity and our exporters must not only look for market diversification within India but also include non-traditional ite-ms in the export basket,” the newspaper wrote.

The MoU, to be followed up within a month, envisages export of eight million pieces of garments annually by Bangladesh. “Eight milli-on pieces may seem small to begin with but the recently concluded MoU has the potential for enhancing quantity in future. Even more, the significant aspect of the understanding is that an item that had so long been in India’s sensitive list of import items will at last be de-listed in the case of Bangladesh,” reported the newspaper.

“We think it is a very good beginning, albeit a modest step towards reducing huge trade imbalance,” it wrote.