The third border 'haat' or market along the India-Bangladesh frontier was inaugurated today to boost local trade and people-to-people contacts.
Bangladeshi Commerce Minister Tofaile Ahmed and his Indian counterpart Nirmala Sitharaman jointly opened the plaque of the border haat at Srinagar of Tripura Purba Madhugram of Bangladesh's north-eastern Feni district, commerce ministry spokesman said here.
"This is the third India-Bangladesh Border Haat. The other two are at Kalaichar (India)- Baliamari (Bangladesh) and at Balat (India) - Dolora (Bangladesh) on the Meghalaya - Bangladesh border," an Indian official said.
The construction of the fourth such facility was underway at Tripura's Kamlasagar, bordering Bangladesh's Tarapur Kashba in Brahmanbaria district.
Trading at the 'haat' would initially take place once a week among the people living within 5 km radius of the border who would sell and buy locally produced goods and crops, officials said.
25 local traders-producers each from India and Bangladesh would be allowed to sell their wares and products in the 'border haat', they said.
No local taxes would be imposed on the items to be sold in the haats and currencies of both the countries would be allowed to run the trading.
Tripura's chief minister Manik Sarkar and Indian high commissioner in Dhaka Pankaj Saran among others joined the opening ceremony of the trading centre, which is about 140 km south of Agartala.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Border Haats and Border Trade along the India-Bangladesh border was signed on October 23, 2010.
The MOU enables traders in border communities of both India and Bangladesh to trade in local produce and allowed each trader to transact business worth USD 100 per day.
During a January 2010 visit of Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to New Delhi the two neighbours decided to set up 'border haats' to boost local trade and people-to-people contact.
India and Bangladesh, as neighbours, share 2,979km of land border and 1,116km of riverine boundaries.
