India assures B'desh of cooperation in ensuring barrier-free trade: Minister

New Delhi, Dec 23 (IANS) India has assured Bangladesh of cooperation in ensuring barrier-free trade.Accordingly, the assurance was conveyed by Minister of Railways, Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs and Food & Public Distribution Piyush Goyal.Addressing India-Bangladesh Digital Conference on Agriculture Sector, he said that we have offered duty-free market access to Bangladesh in many products, including, agri-exports.The minister said that together we can aspire for a better and brighter future for people of both the countries, particularly for the farmers of both countries to benefit from economic prosperity."Our ties have witnessed an upswing in the last 6 years," he said."We have scaled up trade and economic engagement, besides implementing a number of connectivity & infrastructure projects."Goyal said that with over 50 per cent of the population in both the countries involved in the agriculture sector, it has huge socio-economic dimension."We are delighted that Bangladesh has now become self-sufficient in food, and the goal is to modernise agriculture. This is an area where we both should work with greater synergies and collaboration. Agriculture can have game-changing potential between our two countries. Bilateral cooperation in this sector can pave the way to overcome the current economic challenges," he added."Agriculture sector has huge socio-economic dimensions. Being the prominent sector of the economy, bilateral cooperation in this sector can pave the way to overcome the current economic challenges our countries are facing."
--IANS rv/sn