July 22 - Despite the repeated disturbances in vehicular movement and Terai unrest, Nepal enjoyed a trade surplus with Bangladesh through the Mechi customs during the fiscal year 2006\07.

Statistics of Mechi customs show that the country recorded a surplus in trade worth Rs 299.8 million during the year. In 2005/06, Nepal had suffered a trade deficit of Rs 0.57 with Bangladesh.

Moreover, officials said that bilateral trade of the country with Bangladesh via the Fulbari-Banglaband transit route reached Rs 755.1 million in the fiscal year.

Customs data show that Nepal exported goods worth Rs 527.41 million to Bangladesh and imported merchandize worth Rs 227.6 million during the period.

“It is encouraging to realize Nepal enjoying a sound volume of trade surplus with Bangladesh, which has put economic development at a high priority,” Vijaya Dalmiya, president of Mechi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) said.

Talking to the Post, he said that the entrepreneurs in the country should put in more effort to widen the bilateral trade bracket in the days to come.

Sewantak Pokharel, a customs officer, attributed the rise in the volume of export to increased exports of yellow lentils to Bangladesh during the period.

Beside lentil, Nepal also exported peas, leather, infant food, animal feed, wooden furniture, flour, herbal medicines, seed, plastic bottles, lids and caps of bottles, tyres for four-wheelers and machinery parts, among others.

On the other hand, the country imported glass, raw cotton and garment along with sugar, soft drinks, medicine, vitamin, woolen carpet, chocolate and biscuits from Bangladesh.

“Bilateral trade has caught the upward trend, but the lack of physical infrastructure along the Banglabanda transit point still continues to gnaw traders,” said Bimal Acharya, a customs agent.

Bumpy roads leading to Banglabanda from Fulbari along with the compulsion to load and unload goods in the open air have mainly deterred bilateral trade over the past ten years.

Nepali trucks do not have access to well-equipped Bangladeshi go-downs, located just half a kilometer on the other side of the border.

“We are also subjected to ill-treatment and hassled by the Indian Border Security Force (BSF),” complained another customs agent.