Dhaka: Indian Cabinet on Wednesday approved signing of the Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal (BBIN) Motor Vehicle Agreement for the Regulation of Passenger, Personal and Cargo Vehicular Traffic amongst BBIN.

The agreement will be signed on 15 June at the BBIN Transport Minister’s meeting in Thimpu, Bhutan, according to Press Information Bureau of India.

Signing of the BBIN agreement will promote safe, economical efficient and environmentally sound road transport in the sub-region and further help each country in creating an institutional mechanism for regional integration, it said on Wednesday.

BBIN countries will be benefited by mutual cross border movement of passenger and goods for overall economic development of the region.

The people of the four countries will benefit through seamless movement of goods and passenger across borders.

Each Party will bear its own costs arising from implementation of this agreement.

A meeting of Secretaries of Transport of the BBIN countries was organized by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highway (MoRTH) in February 2015 to discuss and finalize the text of the draft BBIN Motor Vehicles Agreement, which is similar to the SAARC Motor Vehicle Agreement (MVA) draft with minor changes.

The Union Cabinet had approved a proposal to sign the SAARC MVA during the SAARC Summit in Kathmandu in November 2014.

But, it could not be signed due to reservations of Pakistan. The SAARC declaration at the Kathmandu Summit in November 2014 also encouraged Member States to initiate regional and sub-regional measures to enhance connectivity.

Accordingly, it was considered appropriate that a sub-regional Motor Vehicle Agreement among Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal (BBIN) may be pursued.