March 10: The fifth secretary-level commerce meeting between Nepal and Bangladesh has agreed to waive customs duty on 20 different goods produced by each country.

The meeting held last week in Dhaka reached an understanding that both the countries will not impose customs duty on certain goods produced within the two countries, according to the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies. However, the two countries have not finalized the products that will benefit from customs duty waiver.

Nepal has submitted a list of goods including threads, ginger, tea, coffee, shoes, cement, clinker and dairy products to Bangladesh for customs duty waiver.

 Likewise, Bangladesh has also submitted a list of its products like machineries, industrial equipment and juice for tax waiver.

Nepal had imposed a ban on energy drinks from Bangladesh since the start of the last fiscal year. Bangladesh had been requesting Nepal to lift the ban since then.

According to the ministry, the two countries will study the list and then take the decision on customs duty waiver. The two countries will sign an agreement after studying the list, according to Secretary Baikuntha Aryal.

“Both countries have their own interests to promote the home-grown products. We have presented our views. We have made it certain that our products will get easy access to Bangladeshi market,” he said.