Dhaka, Bangladesh (CU)_ According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, over the next five years, India and Bangladesh are expected to sign a comprehensive economic partnership agreement which will secure Bangladesh’s trade rights. The EIU said, “Over the next five years, we expect the two countries to sign a comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA), which will preserve trade privileges for Bangladesh once it graduates from the UN’s least developed country status in 2026.”
The prime goal of the relations between India and Bangladesh for the next five years have been explained by the Economist Intelligence Unit. This comes just days prior to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Bangladesh on March 26th for the golden jubilee Independence Day celebrations, which will be his first international trip in the past 15 months. According to EIU, the CEPA agreement would be broader than the conventional bilateral free trade agreement, covering non-trade barriers, e-commerce, services investment, and border trade facilitation.
EIU said that the visit of PM Modi to Bangladesh will enhance the existing warm relations between the two countries. It said, “Although no major agreements are expected to be signed, we view Mr Modi’s visit as a significant show of the continuation of warm ties between the two neighbors, despite some tense undercurrents recently”.
According to the report, the resolution of the Teesta River water-sharing dispute, which is being opposed by the state administration of the Indian state of West Bengal, will be determined by the state’s forthcoming legislative elections on March 27th – April 29th. EIU said, “We expect the outcome of the state elections to be close between the incumbent All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Mr Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), with the former retaining a much-weakened mandate on balance”.
