The minister for commerce, Tofail Ahmed, urged the Indian government on 21 January to withdraw the anti-dumping duty imposed on jute imported from Bangladesh, reports UNB.
‘India should consider the issue with sympathy,’ he said when speaking as the chief guest at a discussion meeting, organized by Bangladesh-India Friendship Association, on ‘Unity in Diversity in India’ at the Institution of Diploma Engineers, Bangladesh (IDEB) in the city.
Bangladesh exports goods worth only US$ 600 million to India against Indian export of US$ 6 billion goods to Bangladesh. Among the goods, jute is not very significant and there will be not harm to a big country like India, if it withdraws anti-dumping tax on Bangladeshi jute goods, said Tofail Ahmed.
Bangladesh is giving duty-free and quota-free facilities to all Indian goods, except tobacco and wine, but India is taking 12.50 per cent countervailing taxes from goods exported from Bangladesh, the commerce minister said, adding that, India imposed US$ 329 anti-dumping tax on the export of jute goods.
Bangladesh will hold discussions on the issue in the open forum, he said. He also requested to the India envoy to convey the matter to his government.
Referring to the contribution of India during the Liberation War, Tofail Ahmed said India is a close friend and its cooperation could never be forgotten. All bilateral problems between the two countries have been resolved through discussions, he added.
BIFA president AK Azad Chowdhury presided over the meeting, where Indian high commissioner Harsh Vardhan Shringla, Dhaka University Teachers Association president ASM Maksud Kamal, Ekattor Television chief editor and managing director Mozammel Huq Babu and BIFA secretary general Subir Kushari also spoke among others.
India imposed anti-dumping duty on Bangladesh’s jute goods after considering the final findings of the Directorate General of Anti-Dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD) as these imports are undercutting and stemming the prices of the domestic industry. India’s finance ministry notified the duty on 5th January 2017.
