Bangladesh’s 10‑member delegation, headed by Ayesha Akhter, arrived in New Delhi on 8 October 2024 to press India to lift a series of land‑port trade restrictions that have hampered Bangladeshi exports.
The restrictions, imposed by India’s Directorate General of Foreign Trade in May 2025, barred Bangladeshi goods from entering India via land ports, except for the Nhava Sheva and Kolkata seaports. The move was a reciprocal response to Bangladesh’s own limitations on Indian yarn and rice.
Bangladesh now seeks to remove not only the land‑port bans but also anti‑dumping duties on jute and PET film, while securing continued tariff preferences after the country’s exit from the least developed country list.
India has not yet ruled on the requests but has signalled a willingness to revive closed border “hats” and integrated check posts that were shut during the interim regime of Muhammad Yunus.
In a separate development, a barge carrying 540 metric tons of methanol departed the Bogibeel Terminal in Dibrugarh for Dhaka last week, illustrating the ongoing push to improve multimodal trade routes such as the Akhaura‑Agartala rail link.
Both sides agreed to revisit the restrictions at the next Bangladesh‑India Joint Working Group session, hoping to restore smoother trade flows across the two countries.