In New Delhi
Minakshi Seth
Phone: +91 11 4111 1058
Email: MSeth@ifc.org


Guwahati, March 17, 2006—SouthAsia Enterprise Development Facility (SEDF) a multi-donor facility managed by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group in collaboration with Bangladesh Enterprise Institute (BEI) will hold a seminar on the role of Connectivity and Visa in facilitating trade between Bangladesh and Northeast India on March 19th, 2006, at Guwahati, India. Professor Altaf Jalil from Dhaka University, Department of Management, will present a keynote paper on ‘Connectivity and Visa Issues between Bangladesh and Northeast India.’ The keynote presentation will be commented upon by designated commentators from Bangladesh and India.  The participants in the seminar will include eminent persons from both countries including Mr. D.N. Srivastava, Minister Economic and Commerce, High Commission of India.

The seminar will review the status of trade under the current protocol and will make recommendations to improve connectivity through inland water, land and air routes along with the location and procedures for visa issuance for Indian and Bangladeshi traders.  This seminar is the last in a series organized under the joint SEDF-BEI project on Facilitation and Promotion of bilateral Trade.

Export Promotion Bureau of Bangladesh estimates the trade between Bangladesh and India to be over $1.9 billion and a large proportion of it is informal trade which could be brought to the mainstream of economic activities by addressing the bottlenecks on connectivity and visa, among others. The project has organized a number of seminars in the past focusing on the key non-tariff barriers between the two countries, which include:  harmonization and classification of goods, differing standards and certification, infrastructure at land customs stations.

SouthAsia Enterprise Development Facility (SEDF) is a multi-donor facility managed by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group. Launched in 2002, SEDF is based in Dhaka, Bangladesh and focuses on the need of the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, North East India and Sri Lanka. The objective of SEDF is to reduce poverty through SME development.

SEDF is one of the eleven regional Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) facilities of IFC. SEDF designs and undertakes interventions to identify and help overcome key obstacles SMEs face in business development and operations.  SEDF focuses on three core areas, which include access to finance, sector development, and business enabling environment (BEE).  SEDF works towards promoting an overall macro-conducive environment for the growth of SMEs through a focus on trade facilitation, simplification of business regulatory procedures and capacity building of business membership organizations, with a focus on gender and environmental and social compliance.

About IFC

The mission of IFC is to promote sustainable private sector investment in developing and transition countries, helping to reduce poverty and improve people’s lives. IFC finances private sector investments in the developing world, mobilizes capital in the international financial markets, helps clients improve social and environmental sustainability, and provides technical assistance and advice to governments and businesses. From its founding in 1956 through FY05, IFC has committed more than $49 billion of its own funds and arranged $24 billion in syndications for 3,319 companies in 140 developing countries. IFC’s worldwide committed portfolio as of FY05 was $19.3 billion for its own account and $5.3 billion held for participants in loan syndications.