A joint BEI-SEDF Northeast India Trade Secretariat has been set up with support from the SouthAsia Enterprise Development Facility (SEDF) at the Bangladesh Enterprise Institute (BEI) to serve as a platform to facilitate and promote trade between Northeast India and Bangladesh.

Key functions of the Joint BEI-SEDF NEI Secretariat are:

1. Serve as an information clearinghouse
2. Provide logistic support to project researchers, advisors, and Core Group members, and
3. Facilitate central co-coordination between the project activities and core group members.

The Secretariat will facilitate information dissemination through a quarterly newsletter, website, and a NEI-Bangladesh resource library. The library will be housed at the SME Knowledge Center at the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industries and will be open to all. The Secretariat will organize regular seminars, workshops and discussion on trade related issues of concern between NEI and Bangladesh.

The Secretariat is headquartered in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The address of the Secretariat is: BEI-SEDF NEI Secretariat, Bangladesh Enterprise Institute, House 20, Road 5, Gulshan 1, Dhaka 1212, Bangladesh. The secretariat can be reached by email at bei@bol-online.com and by phone at +88 02 989 2662-3, or by fax at +88 02 9888583.

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Geographical Proximity: The region is in close geographical proximity with Bangladesh and its only connection with mainland India is through a narrow land corridor, sometimes referred to as the Siliguri Neck or "Chicken's Neck" in the north of Bangladesh. For example, distance from Kolkata to Agartala is about 1680 kms, whereas the distance from Dhaka to Agartala is only 150 kms.

Economic Potential: NEI has a market of 38.5 million people with a purchasing power of 3.5 percent of India. The low domestic production of the region, which is approximately US$4.17 billion, reflects their dependence on the other states of India or other countries for consumer goods. Further, the consumers in North East India are sensitive to high prices because of their life style and buying capacity. The industrial base in Bangladesh offers high quality reasonably priced consumer products and can cater to the needs of the people of NEI.

Lower Transportation Cost:Bangladesh is connected with most of the parts of NEI through road network. As North East India (NEI) is located far from the rest of India, transporting goods between NEI and other regions takes longer than transporting goods between Bangladesh and NEI. For example, delivery time between Kolkata and NEI may often range between 7 and 10 days, while it requires 1.5 to 2 days to transport goods to NEI from any corner of Bangladesh. The cost of transportation of a truck of goods between Kolkata and Agartala may range between Tk. 35,000-40,000 ($35-$50) while the transportation cost between Dhaka and Agartala ranges between Tk. 2,000-3,000 ($600-$700).

Socio-cultural Cohesiveness: The people of two regions share some common cultural heritage. Many people from both sides can communicate easily. For example, in Tripura, more than 90 percent people can speak Bangla. There are also similarities in the lifestyles of people in the two countries.

Economic Benefits: North East India enjoys the lowest sales tax in India, which is currently 8%. A number of goods exported to and imported from India enjoy duty concessions under South Asian Preferential Trade Agreement (SAPTA). The Indian government has recently announced duty concession on 90 items imported from Bangladesh. A detailed list of such items is provided here.

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Ambassador Farooq Sobhan
Team Leader

Mr. Sayed Alamgir Farrouk Chowdhury
Project Advisor

Ambassador M. Faruque Mohammed
Project Advisor

Ambassador C.M. Shafi Sami
Project Advisor

Mr. Zahid Hossain
Editor, Newsletter

Mr. M.H.Khaleque
Project Coordinator

Dr. Altaf Jalil
Project Consultant

Mr. Iftekar Ahmed
Project Manager

Mr. Shahab Enam Khan
Project Associate

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Mr. Anil Sinha
General Manager

Dr. Marlon Lezama
Program Manager

Mr. M Rehan Rashid
Financial Markets Specialist

Mr. Sushanta Kumar Pal
Business Development Officer

Dr. Riffat Zaman
Economist

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