The Bangladesh government has agreed to designate new ‘ports of call’ for use by Bhutanese traders from Aricha, Chilmari, Sirajganj, Mongla, Chattogram and Payra Port. This decision was announced during the meeting between the Bhutanese and Bangladeshi delegation in Dhaka. These ports of call will be formalised upon the signing of the revised standard operating procedure (SOP) between the two countries.
The new provisions were agreed upon when the Bhutanese delegation met with the Ministry of Shipping and related stakeholders in continuation to the second Joint Technical Committee (JTC) meeting to amend the SOP for the memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the Use of Inland Waterways between Bangladesh and Bhutan. The Bangladesh government also agreed to consider Bahadurabad as an extended port of call for Chilmari. Currently extended port of call at Bahaduradad has no custom services but the exporters can still facilitate loading and unloading after completing customs formalities at Chilmari.
