Indian envoy Riva Ganguly Das meets Bangladesh Minister Tipu Munshi, discusses ways to boost trade relations   

"HC Smt. Riva Ganguly Das (@rivagdas) met H.E. Mr. Tipu Munshi, MP, Hon'ble Minister of Commerce on 03 Sep 2020 to discuss meaures to boost #IndiaBangladesh trade relations," Indian High Commission tweeted.

Meanwhile, a small vessel anchored at Sonamura Jetty in Sepahijala district today with 50 MT cement from Dhaka as the trial run of Sonamura-Daukandi route, which connects Tripura with the National Waterways of India through Bangladesh for the first time, concluded in the presence of Chief Minister of Tripura Biplab Kumar Deb.

The 90 km waterway has been explored as an alternative route to bring small consignments from Bangladesh and other parts of India.

The Tripura government has explored the option of waterways though it was expensive and time taking.

 "First Vessel with consignment started its trial run today from Munshiganj, Bangladesh for Sonamura port, Tripura. With the successful run, Indo-Bangla waterways will open up new avenues for economic development in both the countries where Tripura will play an important role," Chief Minister Biplab Deb had tweeted on September 3.

The vessel faced trouble in movement and was stuck up since morning at Indo-Bangla water border due to higher elevation of river bed in Tripura side.

According to reports, after a few hours of travel by road the consignment was loaded in the vessel Thursday at Munshiganj of Bangladesh and set sail on River Meghna and it took 60 hours to reach Sonamura.

Usually, consignments loaded in Dhaka or elsewhere enter Tripura within six hours through land custom stations at Akhaura in Agartala and Srimantapur in Sonamura.

 The Chief Minister of Tripura was keen on opening the waterways as an alternative route of transportation and after a long persuasion, Bangladesh government had agreed to conduct a trial run, but since it is not cost effective and time taking, regular trade through waterways would not be possible, said a senior official of Land Port authority of India here today.

The floating jetty set up on the Gomati river at Sonamura to Daukandi (Bangladesh) is one of the two new protocol routes added with the signing of the 2nd addendum to Protocol for Inland Water Trade & Transit (PIWTT) in May 2020 between the India and Bangladesh.