Dhaka, February 20:

India will remove tariff and non-tariff barriers from Bangladeshi goods and import two million pieces of readymade garments duty free as a friendly gesture to its eastern neighbour.

India will also remove restrictions from the import of cosmetics from Bangladesh and make the Sealdah-Joydevpur passenger train service operational to strengthen communications, Indian external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee announced.

India will neither withdraw waters from the Tipaimukh dam, nor any of the common rivers unilaterally, calming Bangladeshi anxieties on the issue, Mukherjee said as he wound up his seven-hour visit. Both Dhaka and New Delhi agreed to take steps to place bilateral relations on an ‘irreversible higher trajectory’. Mukherjee was in Dhaka to invite Bangladesh to the 14th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Summit in New Delhi on April 3-4.