Bangladesh’s Formal and Informal Agricultural Trade with SAARC Countries Emerging Trends and Policy Challenges

Bangladesh’s agricultural trade with SAARC countries, through formal channels, accounts for only about 2.4 per cent of its global trade. However, formal trade movements do not reveal the actual picture concerning bilateral trade since a significant part of the agricultural trade takes place through informal channels. This paper has attempted to (a) analyse Bangladesh’s agricultural trade pattern, trends and scale with SAARC countries, (b) highlight the related trade and non-trade barriers, (c) identify the concerns of transboundary plant and animal diseases originating from the high informal agricultural trade and, (d) come up with suggestions towards deepening Bangladesh agricultural trade with the SAARC countries. The paper recommends that strengthening port capacity and customs facilities, harmonising customs rules and regulations, cross-border data sharing, pursuing strategic trade liberalisation policies for agricultural trade items and undertaking innovative border initiatives such as border haats could help reduce informal trade in agricultural goods.