On 15-11-2015, India and Bangladesh signed the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to operationalize the “Agreement on Coastal Shipping”. The objective behind the signing of SOP is to pave the way to promote coastal shipping between the two countries and enhance bilateral trade by bringing down the cost of transportation of EXIM cargo. The provisions of SOP stimulate that India and Bangladesh shall render same treatment to the other country’s vessels as it would have done to its national vessels used in international sea transportation. The two countries also agreed upon the use of vessels of River Sea Vessel (RSV) category for Indo-Bangladesh coastal shipping.
-Ministry of Shipping