"We are nearly close to finalise revision of the trade agreement. Some points are yet to be resolved which might be okayed tomorrow [today]," Wasiuddin Ahmed, Bangladesh commercial councillor to India, told reporters after the first day of the meeting yesterday.

The Bangladesh team emphasised the development of different land ports on the Indian side, improvement of banking facilities and recognition of Bangladeshi laboratories by the Indian authority. The Indian team, on the other hand, argued for allowing export of yarn and sugar through land ports and resolving the payment problems.

Bangladesh requested India to develop facilities at the Benapole, Fulbari, Banglabandha, Sutarkanti and Akhaura land ports on the Indian sides in order to help bolster trade and commerce between the two countries.

Both the teams agreed on developing the land ports and decided to hand over the responsibility to the joint working group of the customs.

"They assured us to work to develop the banking facilities in the seven northeastern states of India. Currently only 16 bank branches are active in the region for cross-border transactions which is not adequate for export and import," Elias Ahmed, head of the Bangladesh team, told newsmen.

He said the two teams have discussed some functional problems, including pre-shipment inspection, standard and testing, and product-to-product non-tariff barriers.

He said it was decided that a joint team comprising officials of the Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI) and Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) will be formed to scrutinise the ten Bangladeshi testing laboratories to recognise them for certification.

India assured Bangladesh that a technical expert team will visit Dhaka soon to assess the capabilities of these laboratories, Ahmed added.

The Indian team argued for withdrawal of requirement of certification from Khamarbari for the imported poultry products from India and withdrawal of the ban on import of one-day old chicken from India.

The meeting decided that the agriculture ministry of both the countries will sit to solve the issue in the future.

It was also decided that a special meeting will be convened in October next for resolving the imminent problem of payment against letter of credit (LC). Both the teams raised the issue of some banks in both the countries dilly-dallying for payment against LC.

MVPC Sastry and Elias Ahmed, joint secretaries of the commerce ministries of the two countries, are leading the two teams.

Bilateral trade is currently tilted heavily in favour of India, which enjoyed a $1 billion trade surplus in 2003-2004, sources said.