Foreign Trade Between Bangladesh, Tripura Increased By 158 Percent; Claims Tripura's Commerce Secretary

Foreign Trade Between Bangladesh, Tripura Increased By 158 Percent; Claims Tripura’s Commerce Secretary – Abhishek Chandra

17th August 2022

Abhijit Nath, NET Correspondent, Tripura

Agartala, August 17, 2022 : The foreign trade between Bangladesh and Tripura has increased by 158 percent in the last four years while the trade was Rs 390.68 crore in 2017-18 during the Leftist regime and now, it has increased to Rs 1,008.40 crore in 2021-22 fiscal year, said Industries and Commerce secretary Abhishek Chandra on Tuesday.

“Trade with Bangladesh is mainly through 8 land customs stations, 1 integrated check post in the state. Also, commercial relations have been established with Bangladesh through 2 border huts in Srinagar and Kamalasagar”, he added.

Citing the amount of money disbursed in last four years, Chandra said “Loan of Rs 251 crore have been given to 3,926 people through different banks under the Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Program (PMEGP) while 8,303 people have been given loans of Rs 229 crore 35 lakh under Swabalamban scheme.”

This detailed information has been shared during a review meeting of the Industries and Commerce department chaired by the Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha at the Civil Secretariat here in Agartala city. The Prime Minister Gati Shakti project was also discussed in the review meeting.

Addressing the meeting, Dr Saha said “The natural resources of the state have bright potential to build a self-reliant Tripura. In this case, the Department of Industry and Commerce should increase the speed of work. Besides, with the aim of increasing the income of the state, importance should also be given to the export of goods produced in the state.”

Saha said there is a lot of scope to make the state an economic hub. For this reason, maximum importance should be given to the development of industry in the state. The Department of Industries and Commerce should work with a positive attitude in taking the state forward economically through the development of industries. In order to increase the earning opportunities, the department should also give importance to the export of the products produced in the state abroad.

While discussing the Prime Minister Gati Shakti master plan in the review meeting, Abhishek Chandra said that the Prime Minister Gati Shakti national master plan was launched on October 13, 2021 for the development of integrated infrastructure in various economic regions of the country. Implementation of infrastructure and communication related projects of various states is monitored digitally. For this, infrastructure and communication related projects of various states need to be uploaded on the BISAG-N portal.

The State Department of Industries and Commerce will act as the nodal office for the implementation of the Prime Minister’s Act. The Secretary of the Department of Industry and Commerce said that the department has prepared and sent the outline of 8 projects for the financial year 2022-23 to the Prime Minister Gati Shakti. Out of this, Rs 35 crores have been allocated for 4 projects on priority basis.