Bangladesh and Myanmar have entered into talks to encourage bilateral trade by establishing direct banking arrangements between the two countries.

Strengthening bilateral banking transactions under the existing Asian Clearing Union mechanism are also on the agenda.

L/C possibilities

"We expect that establishing direct letter of credit (L/C) relationships between the two countries would be possible," says deputy managing director of the National Credit and Commerce (NCC) Bank, Shamsul Alam.

NCC Bank is one of five banks selected by Bangladesh Bank (BB) to work out the technicalities of strengthening bilateral banking relations between the two countries.

Payment systems

The other banks are Sonali Bank Limited, Janata Bank Limited, AB Bank Limited, and Standard Chartered Bank.

Payments are currently settled between the two countries through bank drafts issued by foreign banks in a third country such as Singapore.

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