The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) is organising a high-powered CEOs Mission to Bangladesh from July 20-22. The 14-member delegation is led by Mr Adi B Godrej, President, CII and Chairman, Godrej Group. This is in pursuance of CII's continuing endeavours to enhance and strengthen bi-lateral relations and trade ties between India and Bangladesh.

During the visit, the CEOs are likely to meet with Her Excellency Sheikh Hasina, Prime Minister of Bangladesh for wide-ranging discussions and proposals. The mission members are also slated to meet Mr Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, Minister for Finance, Mr Dilip Barua, Minister for Industries, and Mr Ghulam Muhammed Quader, Minister for Commerce. Additionally, meetings are fixed with Advisor, Economic Affairs, and Chairman, Board of Investment, besides interactions with chambers of commerce such as IBCCI, Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

According to the CII press release, trade between India and Bangladesh has expanded to $4.3 billion, doubling in recent years. Cotton, edible vegetables, automobiles, iron and steel, mineral fuels, cereals, organic chemicals are the principal items that India exports to Bangladesh. Principal items imported from Bangladesh are paper yarn and woven fabrics, fish, cement, copper and copper related products, inorganic chemicals, raw hides and fertilizers.

However, the trade balance is skewed in favour of India. For a more sustainable bilateral exchange, Bangladesh needs to diversify its exports to India. CII believes that investments from Indian industry could help bridge the gap. Many Indian companies have already invested in Bangladesh. CII sees opportunities for investment across sectors such as Agri Business, Air-conditioning and Refrigeration, Automobiles, Education, FMCG, Healthcare, Infrastructure, Power, etc

In the last two years, the Prime Ministers of the two countries have met several times and stressed trade and investment ties. The CII delegation will be taking up some tariff and non-tariff barriers to bilateral trade as well as customs cooperation, visa issues, and finance during their interactions with senior Bangladesh leaders.

B2B or Business to Business meetings between the visiting delegation and Bangladesh businessmen envisages the signing of business deals that will give a further impetus to bilateral trade.

The delegates in the CII CEOs mission include Mr Shekhar Datta , Past President Chairman and Director, Confederation of Indian Industry and CII Bangladesh Committee & Wockhardt Ltd, Mr Antony Lobo, Special Director - International Operations, Ashok Leyland, Mr Suneel M Advani, Executive Vice Chairman, Blue Star Ltd, Mr Rajiv Kumar Jain, CEO - Bangladesh Project, CEAT Limited, Mr Vinayak Chatterjee, Chairman, CII Urbanisation and Future Cities Council & Chairman, Feedback Infrastructure Services (P) Ltd, Ms Rumjhum Chatterjee, Managing Director, Feedback Infrastructure Services (P) Ltd, Mr M K Jalan, Chairman, Keventer Agro Ltd., Mr Ajai Lal, Chief Business Officer - Individual Learning Solutions - IT ( International), NIIT Limited, Mr Syamal Gupta, Special Advisor, Tata International Ltd., Mr M S Unnikrishnan, Managing Director , Thermax Limited, Mr Rakesh Sharma, President (International Business), Bajaj Auto Ltd, Mr Shubh Shrivastava, Chief of Global Business Development, TATA Power, and Mr Ajay Bakshi, CEO, Max Healthcare.