Bangladesh PM calls for operationalising BBIN Motor Vehicle agreement with India and Nepal

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has called for early operationalisation of the BBIN (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal) Motor Vehicles Agreement (MVA) between India, Bangladesh and Nepal if Bhutan needs more time to consider it.

She made this statement in Azerbaijan after meeting the Prime Minister of Nepal on the sidelines of the NAM summit at Baku. Briefing the media in Baku last night, Foreign Secretary of Bangladesh Md Shahidul Haque said that Nepal agreed to the proposal of Sheikh Hasina.

During the visit of PM Hasina to India early this month, the joint statement issued by both the countries had called for early operationalisation of BBIN Motor Vehicles Agreement between the member countries who are willing and ready or to work towards a bilateral India-Bangladesh Motor Vehicles agreement.

The Motor Vehicle Agreement between BBIN member states was signed in 2015 but it has not yet been operationalised as the upper house of Bhutan did not ratify it. It has some reservations about its environmental impact owing to increased traffic of heavy-duty vehicles.

The MVA is a landmark framework agreement to facilitate the seamless flow of passenger, personal and cargo vehicular traffic among the BBIN countries. It has the potential for supply chain integration between the member states benefitting all.