Bangladesh has agreed to grant transit facility to Bhutan for carrying goods through its territory by furnishing customs guarantee instead of a bank guarantee.
Trade officials have said the decision would enable the two countries to sign a bilateral transit deal afresh.
The previous agreement expired some 18 years back.
Finalising a draft trade deal and its related protocol by a joint working group was delayed for months for a discord over the guarantee issue.
Bhutan remained stuck to a customs guarantee as what it said providing a bank guarantee would add an extra cost to its traders for transiting goods through Bangladesh.
Early this year, the Himalayan kingdom sent an explanatory letter to Dhaka arguing that its goods, while transiting through India, only furnish a customs guarantee.
Similarly, Thimphu seeks to furnish a letter of guarantee to be issued by its customs department in the event of signing a transit deal with Dhaka.
On the other hand, Dhaka sought a bank guarantee equivalent to taxes and duties to be applicable in case of any consignment is offloaded here instead of sending those abroad.
Bhutan wants to sign a transit deal to carry its overseas trade using the seaports of Bangladesh.
A senior official of commerce ministry acknowledged that bank guarantee for each consignment would add some extra cost to Bhutanese traders.
This would rather raise the cost of doing business of the traders (of the landlocked nation), he observed.
The official said since neighbouring India does not demand a bank guarantee, Bhutan expects an identical facility from Bangladesh.
"The National Board of Revenue (NBR) informally gave its consent to a customs guarantee for Bhutan's transit trade through Bangladesh."
The joint working group will finalise the draft document of transit deal soon, the official said.
According to sources, the foreign office consultation between the two states would be held in Dhaka soon.
The issue of transit might be discussed at that time.
Another official told the FE that New Delhi has a transit deal with Dhaka for carrying goods to its northeastern states using Bangladesh territory.
But bank guarantee has not been made mandatory for transit of Indian goods through Bangladesh, he said.
The previous Dhaka-Thimphu transit deal was signed in 1980 and it expired in 2000.
