India, Bangladesh open second integrated check post for border trade at Petrapole

India and Bangladesh today opened an integrated check post at the Petrapole-Benapole land border crossing for India-Bangladesh trade, a point through which more than 50 per cent of bilateral trade passes through.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina today jointly inaugurated the Petrapole Integrated Check Post through video-conferencing. Chief minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee, also participated from Kolkata in the video-conference.

Petrapole-Benapole is an important land border crossing for India-Bangladesh trade. Trade worth more than Rs15,000 crore takes place through the Petrapole ICP, which is more than all the other Indian land ports and land customs stations put together. Approximately 1.5 million people and 150,000 trucks cross Petrapole-Benapole every year.

The Petrapole ICP will provide better facilities for effective and efficient discharge of functions such as security, immigration, customs, quarantine, etc while also providing support facilities for smooth cross-border movement of persons, goods and transport.

Petrapole ICP will be the second ICP on the India-Bangladesh border after the Agartala ICP at the Agartala (India)-Akhaura (Bangladesh) land border. It will also be the biggest land port in South Asia.

It is expected that the capacity will double with the commissioning of the Petrapole ICP and the local business community will benefit immensely from reduced transaction time and costs.

The commissioning of the Petrapole ICP will also serve to foster greater economic integration and connectivity between India and Bangladesh.