A task force has been set up by the Confederation of Indian Industry and the India-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry to study investment prospects in India and Bangladesh and to increase trade between the two countries.
CII principal advisor Sushanta Sen said that a 10-member task force would submit its report and recommendations to the prime ministers of the two countries in the next six months.
Sen said the trade between the two countries, currently valued at USD three billion, could be doubled by next year if proper infrastructure was put in place.
"Earlier, Bangladeshi investors had no scope to invest in India, but the ban has been lifted and the Bangladesh government is seriously considering lifting the restrictions imposed on its companies to invest in India," IBCCI's President Abdul Matlub Ahmed said.
Bangladesh foreign minister Dipu Moni, while addressing a business conference here on Wednesday organised by CII and IBCCI said that it would allow South Asian countries to access Chittagong port and restore the pre-Partition communication map.
The minister, who left for Bangladesh yesterday, told reporters that China would also build a road from its Kunming province to Chittagong port through Myanmar for access to the Chittagong port.