Both the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FBCCI) and the Bharat Chamber of Commerce (BCC) are keen to strengthen Business to Business (B2B) relations and commercial activities between Bangladesh and India.
The leaders of FBCCI and BCC had a discussion regarding this during a meeting held on Tuesday at the FBCCI office in the capital.
The visiting delegation of the Bharat Chamber of Commerce (BCC) was led by its president NG Khaitan, said a press release here.
Speaking on the occasion, FBCCI President Md Jashim Uddin said: "ASEAN, North American countries, and other alliances have made significant progress by strengthening regional trade. But, SAARC countries are still lagging behind.
The G2G (Government to Government) relationship between Bangladesh-India has come a long way and getting stronger day by day. Now we have to take more initiative to strengthen the relationship between B2B (Business to Business)."
Jashim said: "Bangladesh has now emphasized on Agro mechanization and Food Processing. As India is one of the leading countries in the Agro Machinery manufacturing sector, Indian Agro Machinery manufacturers should set up factories in Bangladesh to grab the market."
BCC President Khaitan praised Bangladesh's development and said that India has always been a friendly country to Bangladesh.
He said, "We share the same culture and language, so there is a huge market for us to work on. The connectivity with the people of west Bengal and with the people of Bangladesh, should only not be based on trade, commerce, and industry, but also there should be more facilities where people should come and visit Bangladesh and India respectively."
As for Indian people, Khaitan said they want to come and enjoy Bangladesh, Bangladeshi Culture, fish, sea beaches, etc. "Same thing we want from Bangladeshi people. We want them to visit our places, the Himalayas, and so on."
"The 21st century belongs to Africa and the Asia Pacific region. So, we have to connect ourselves more and more. We can do that by interacting more," he added.
The BCC President also said that Bangladesh is very strong in garments, Cement, and other industries while just like Bangladesh, India is also a self-sustained and self-sufficient country.
"When both neighbors are self-sustained and self-sufficient, why shouldn't we interact more? Why shouldn't we have more connection with each other?" he added.
FBCCI Vice-President M A Momen, Md. Amin Helaly, Director Priti Chakraborty, President of Bangladesh Chamber of Industries (BCI) and FBCCI Director Anwar Ul Alam Chowdhury, Senior Vice-President of BCC Naresh Pachisia were present, among others, at the meeting.
After the courtesy meeting, a B2B meeting was held between businessmen of both countries. The FBCCI organised the B2B meeting.