CUTS International, with support from US Department of State, and in collaboration with BCC&I and PDP Group organised a half - day event on "Awareness Generation and Capacity Building Workshop" as a part of the project titled "Creating an Enabling and Inclusive policy and Political Economy Discourse for Trade, Transport and Transit Facilitation in and among Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal (BBIN) - Facilitating implementation and stakeholder buy-in in the BBIN Sub-region" on 12th December 2018, Durgapur, West Bengal.

With the motive to generate momentum and promote deliberations towards an effective operationalisation of the Bangladesh-Bhutan-India-Nepal Motor Vehicles Agreement (BBIN-MVA), CUTS conducted a study that aims to create an enabling environment and inclusive policy discourse, to facilitate trade, transport and transit connectivity in and among the BBIN group of countries. In this regard, the capacity building workshop aimed to discuss the research findings, gather insights from various stakeholder groups and articulate specific and prioritised solutions to further enhance the regional connectivity and cooperation.

Pramod Srivastava, Director and CEO, PDP Group mentioned that at present India has about 76 ICDs and through a recent notification by CBIC, the containers are allowed to go to any destination in Bangladesh and Nepal. He mentioned that according to the exporters, who are exporting through the ICD (at Durgapur) to Bangladesh via Petrapole, their export volumes have increased by 30 - 35 percent and there has been a corresponding decrease in the time required to export. He highlighted that lack of insurance is the biggest issue in Indo-Bangladesh trade. If anything happens to the cargo or the driver in the other country, there is no mechanism to tackle the situation. A transit agreement between India- Bangladesh, similar to Indo-Nepal transit Treaty, was suggested by him. He flagged that the Central Government have increased the axel weight so that the trucks can carry more cargo, but the West Bengal Government has not issued any notification to that end. He suggested, doing the same at the earliest so that trucks coming from states who have already implemented the policy do not face any problem while entering West Bengal.

Amit Roy, President, Durgapur Small Industries Association mentioned that not much export takes place from Durgapur but there lies number of products those are exportable. Even people from Kolkata or nearby states export their products from Durgapur. In this context, he emphasized the need for building capacities of the various SME units in the district and motivate them to export directly to Bangladesh through the ICD.

Debasish Chattopadhyay, SDDMO Durgapur, O/O SDM Durgapur, advocated organizing more such awareness generation meeting at different trade hubs and critical nodes involving all kind of stakeholders and government officials.