The Cabinet on Monday approved ‘Addendum to the Protocol on Inland Water Transit and Trade’ under which 470 kms of rivers will be dredged with joint financing of Bangladesh and India.
According to the deal, India will provide 80 percent of the dredging cost, while Bangladesh 20 percent.The approval came at the Cabinet meeting held at the Bangladesh Secretariat with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.
Briefing reporters after the meeting, Cabinet Secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam said the Cabinet approved the protocol with a retrospective effect.The Cabinet Secretary said the rivers will be dredged from Jakiganj of Sylhet to Ashuganj and Sirajganj of Bangladesh to Doikhawa of India.
Besides, the Cabinet in principle approved the draft of ‘Bangladesh Tariff Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2018’ bringing some minor changes to the existing 1992 law.In the proposed law, Bangladesh Tariff Commission has been renamed as Bangladesh Trade and Tariff Commission, the Cabinet Secretary said.
The word ‘Trade’ was included in the name of the Commission as trade is now the most important matter, he said adding that the representatives from the business community supported the inclusion of trade in the Commission’s name. At the meeting, the Cabinet was informed about the three deals signed at Bangladesh-India Shipping Secretary-level meeting held on October 24-26.
The three deals are ‘Agreement on the use of Chattogram and Mongla Port for Movement of Goods to and from India’; ‘Standard Operating Procedure of MoU on Passenger and Cruise Services on the Coastal and Protocol Route’; and ‘Addendum to the Protocol on Inland Water Transit and Trade’.At the outset of the cabinet meeting, Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology Minister Mustafa Jabbar handed over the ownership document ‘Transfer of Title of Bangabandhu Satellite-1’ to the Prime Minister.
On November 9, the French company ‘Thales Alenia Space’ handed over the Transfer of Title of Bangabandhu Satellite-1 after completion of required tests. The satellite was launched into the orbit on May 12 last from Florida, USA.At the meeting, two international awards received from the ASOCIO Digital Summit 2018, Japan were handed over to the Prime Minister.
In the recent ASOCIO (Asian-Oceanian Computing Industry Organisation) Digital Summit 2018 held in Japan, Bangladesh Communication Satellite Company Limited (BCSCL) got the award under outstanding ICT company award category and Development of National ICT Infra-Network for Bangladesh Government project (Info Sarker-3) of Bangladesh Computer Council under the ICT Division got digital government award.
Besides, another award Bangladesh received for child labour elimination was handed over to the Prime Minister.Austria’s ruling party, ‘Austrian Social Democratic’, honoured state minister for labour and employment Mujibul Haque (Chunnu) with the global award 2018 of Child Labour Elimination and Improvement of Workers’ Situation.
source: UNB
