India, Bhutan Ink 10-Year Trade Pact
Shaveta Bansal - All Headline News Staff Writer New Delhi, India (AHN) - India's Commerce Ministry on Friday announced that it signed a new ten-year agreement with Bhutan that gives the Himalayan nation four more entry and exit points. The pact also simplifies procedures for import and export between the two countries. Indian Trade Minister Kamal Nath and Bhutan's Minister for Trade, Industry and Power Lyonpo Yeshey Zimba inked the new agreement, which replaces a previous Agreement on Trade and Commerce signed in 1995and which expired in March. The protocol to the new agreement provides for four more entry and exit points, for Bhutanese goods including the port cities of Mumbai in the west and Chennai in the south, on top of 12 existing entry points. The other two are land routes, namely Phulbari and Dawki. According to the official release, the new pact also allows movement of goods from one part of Bhutan to another through Indian territory by giving a transit declaration in a prescribed form. The neighboring countries also signed two hydro-electric power deals, with energy-starved India pledging to import a minimum of 5000 megawatts from hydro power-rich Bhutan by 2020. A Bhutanese statement reads, "It is expected to boost the economic growth of Bhutan while helping augment electricity supply in India." The agreements were signed during the six-day visit of Bhutan's monarch, Jigme Singye Wangchuck, to |
