The Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal Motor Vehicles Agreement (BBIN MVA) would boost the economy of these countries, according to experts who attended a seminar in Dhaka.
Strongly supporting the BBIN MVA at the seminar this week, the experts reiterated that while the framework agreement for this initiative was signed in June 2015, it is still to be implemented.
The delay in implementation has been caused by a number of challenges like lack of adequate infrastructure, differences in regulations and trust deficit among its signatories.
“While the BBIN MVA will directly and indirectly benefit the economies of these countries, there is an imperative to look beyond the agenda of building roads and simple exchange of traffic rights,” CUTS international executive director Bipul Chatterjee told Northeast Now.
“It should be enabled with appropriate regulatory, financial and digital connectivity among individuals, businesses and government if we are to unlock the true potential of their economic integration with each other,” he said.
Chatterjee said cumbersome paperwork involved in doing border clearance is also causing traffic congestion at border posts.
Transport ministers of the countries signed the agreement in Thimphu, Bhutan on June 15, 2015 for seamless flow of passenger and cargo traffic in the region.
It was hailed as a milestone in regional connectivity in South Asia.