Agartala, Sept 11 (TIWN) India-Bangladesh trade and investment by Indian companies in Bangladesh are rising as New Delhi attached highest priority to develop border infrastructure, India’s High Commissioner to Bangladesh Pankaj Saran said here Wednesday.

He told journalists at the Akhaurah India-Bangladesh checkpost, near here : “In the last fiscal (2012-13) Bangladesh had exported goods to India valued at 562 million dollars. This is highest ever volume of exports to India since creation of Bangladesh in 1971.”

“Not only the trades between the two countries increasing adequately, more and more Indian companies have shown keen interest to invest in various segments and joint sector ventures in Bangladesh,” Saran said.

The Indian envoy to Bangladesh said that the Indian government has given highest priority to develop various infrastructures along the 4096 km long India-Bangladesh border with West Bengal, Tripura, Assam, Meghalaya and Mizoram.

He said that the Dhaka and New Delhi has been on the jobs to make more simplify the travel documents including visas of various types so that the people of the two countries travel each other’s state more freely and easily and more in numbers.

“India-Bangladesh relations moving in right direction,” the Indian envoy said adding that the two neighbours wants to maintain peace in both the countries.

For the benefit of the people of both sides of the borders, Saran said that the two countries have started setting up of “border haats” (markets) along the India-Bangladesh border.

“Two ‘border haats’ were set up along the Meghalaya border in 2011 on a pilot basis and these are now operational. The Meghalaya government has demnded to set up 22 more such border markets. Several such “border haats” would also be set up in Tripura and other bordering states.

He said : “These (“border haats”) would boost local trade and people-to-people contacts between the two countries.”

Saran came here as part of the 18-member high level inter-ministerial Indian team led by India’s border management secretary Gouri Kumar to supervise the on going works of the Integrated Check Post (ICP) at Akhaurah, two km west of the heart of Agartala city.

The estimated cost of Akhaurah ICP project, fourth in the series, was Rs.73.50 crore and the project was expected to be completed by first part of November.

The setting up of 13 internationally standard ICPs along India’s border with Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Nepal is a major initiative, which the central government has taken as part of an 11th Plan scheme with an initial outlay of Rs.635 crore.

According to an official of the Indian government, the ICPs are envisaged to overcome the infrastructural bottlenecks at the various entry and exit points on the land borders of India. They are expected to provide facilities for the effective and efficient discharge of sovereign functions such as security, immigration, customs, quarantine while also providing support facilities for smooth cross-border movement of people, goods and transport.

He said that a Land Ports Authority of India (LPAI) has been constituted in September 2010 and adequate administrative powers have been vested on it on the lines of similar bodies like the Airports Authority of India.

The inter-ministerial team would visit the under construction ICP at the Petrapole-Banepole check post in West Bengal.

LPAI chairman Y.S.Shahrawat and senior officials of ministries of external, home affairs, railways, foreign trade, road transport and highways, immigration and Border Security Force (BSF) were also included in the official team.