The revision is aimed at facilitating the South Asian neighbours in using all their road, rail and sea routes for bilateral trade, said commerce ministry sources.

This the third meeting of the joint working group has three other specific topics on its agenda -- duty-free access of goods, elimination of non-tariff barriers and signing a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA), the sources said.

They said the meeting is also expected to amend the section eight of the agreement signed in 1980 in line with a proposal of Bangladesh to erase the 'shipper and consignor preference for shipment'.

Dhaka had proposed to New Delhi to drop the section of the agreement, which has not been revised since 2001.

In the meeting MVPC Shastry, joint secretary of India's commerce department, will lead a 13-strong Indian delegation while his Bangladeshi counterpart Ilias Ahmed a 10-member Bangladeshi team.

According to sources, the Bangladeshi side is expected to emphasise eliminating non-tariff barriers and India to push for striking the bilateral FTA.

"Dhaka will attach priority to removing non-tariff barriers to export of its goods like food items, agro products, readymade garments, Hilsha fish and Jamdani sari while New Delhi may ask to withdraw barriers to export commodities like potato, poultry products, yarn and sugar," a ministry high official said.

Dhaka also will table a list of 61 products seeking duty-free access for them to India.

Two Indian ministers in recent talks with the commerce minister and the foreign secretary of Bangladesh have promised to offer duty-free entry of some Bangladeshi products to Indian market.

Dhaka is likely to press New Delhi to upgrade facilities and open bank branches at its land ports to smoothen trade, the official said.

Sources said the meeting may form a joint team to facilitate bilateral trade and commerce. Currently the bilateral trade is heavily tilted in favour of India. It enjoyed a $1 billion trade surplus in fiscal year 2003-04.

NON-TARIFF BARRIERS
Bangladeshi exporters currently need to obtain certificate of quality from the Indian bureau of standards to export cement, condensed milk, electrical appliances, dry cell batteries and mineral water. They also have to register with the bureau, the process of which is unnecessarily complicated and time-consuming, exporters complained.

They alleged the system is intended to discourage import of those items from Bangladesh.

Quarantine requirements for exporting jute products are another major non-tariff barrier, they said.

According to the commerce ministry, despite huge demands for Bangladeshi poultry and dairy products, exporters failed to get hold of the Indian market due to a mandatory requirement of sanitary import permit.

Besides, exporters said, labelling requirement for jute bags and mandatory registration for pharmaceutical products and chemical tests for leather and leather products have also been major deterrents to export those to India.