BBIN passenger vehicle movement promoting cross border participation and economic benefits regains momentum - (15 Jan 2018)

Motor Vehicles

As a landmark step, Bangladesh, India and Nepal have agreed on the operating procedures for passenger vehicle movement in the sub-region under the Bangladesh-Bhutan-India-Nepal (BBIN) Motor Vehicles Agreement (MVA) which was signed in the month of June 2015. The same will soon complete the internal approval processes for signing of the passenger protocol. The participating countries have also agreed to conduct more trial runs for cargo vehicles under the said agreement. In this regard, a High-level meeting of officials of three countries was held in Bangaluru earlier this month for discussing the implementation of the Motor Vehicle Agreement. The meeting was convened and chaired by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) of the Government of India and the meeting was also attended by official delegation from Bhutan as observers.

The countries were ad idem for agreement considering the importance of closer regional economic cooperation and integration through enhanced regional connectivity through road transport in the participating countries and recognizing the need for promoting cross-border road transportation for increased intra-regional and inter-regional trade. All the four countries were convinced that, the finalization and implementation of a Motor Vehicles Agreement between and among the countries would help serve these ends and the same is in conformity with the envisaged activities of the SASEC Trade Facilitation Strategic Framework, which was endorsed by the participating countries in the month of March 2014.

The said landmark Agreement has been signed by the Transport Ministers of the Bangladesh, Bhutan India and Nepal on 15th June 2015 at Thimphu, Bhutan. The Trial runs for cargo vehicles as per the said Motor vehicle agreement were being conducted along the Kolkata-Dhaka-Agartala and Delhi-Kolkata-Dhaka routes in the past and were successful in establishing the Agreement's economic benefits. The three countries i.e. Bangladesh, India, and Nepal have already ratified the said Agreement and have agreed to start implementation of the Agreement among the three signatory countries. However, the Bhutan shall join after it ratifies the said Agreement.

The said BBIN Motor Vehicle Agreement is supported by the Asian Development Bank which is providing technical, advisory, and financial support to the said initiative as part of its assistance to the South Asia Sub regional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) program. Once it gets fully operational, the said agreement shall provide the seamless flow of passenger and cargo traffic in the region and will further promote more cross border participation among the countries.

Tags : AGREEMENT PASSENGER VEHICLE CROSS BORDER