Bangladesh and Nepal have agreed on the modalities of transit trade to facilitate export and import of Nepalese goods through the Mongla port of Bangladesh. Addressing a press conference on Thursday, at the end of the two day Commerce Secretary Level talks between the two countries in Dhaka Bangladesh Commerce Secretary Ghulam Hussain said that they had finalized the draft for the operating modalities for the transit trade by road and rail routes and the final agreement is likely to be signed early next year. The Bangladesh commerce secretary said the road route for transit would be Banglabandha-Panchagarh-Thakurgaon-Sayedpur-Rangpur-Bogra-Natore-Dasuria-Pakshey-Kushtia-Jhenidah-Jessore–Khulna-Mongla. The Commerce Secretary of Nepal Mr.Purushottam Ojha said that the operationalisation of the transit agreement will benefit both countries. He also emphasised that Nepal is keen on developing the rail corridor on the Rohanpur ‘Singabad route . He said that Nepal could use both Chittagong and Mongla port under the agreement but he however felt that use of Mongla would be more commercially viable as Chiitagong was too far. Besides the transit modalities, the Secretaries also agreed to form a committee to review the list of items for duty reduction to enhance trade between the two countries.Bangladesh has sought duty-free access of 184 products to Nepal while Kathmandu has requested for similar facility to its 148 products. The joint Secretary level committee will meet in December to finalise its recommendations before the next Secretary level talks which is likely to take place in February or March next year.