India and Bangladesh may ink a comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA) in the days to come, Union commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said on Monday.

Speaking at a virtual meet of India-Bangladesh stakeholders, organised by the Indian Chamber of Commerce, he suggested four focus areas, including trade and connectivity, where the two countries can work together.

Mentioning that Bangladesh is India’s biggest trade partner in South East Asia, he said the supply chain between India and Bangladesh did not get interrupted during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Goyal also emphasised on co-operation in the defence sector between the two countries.

India has already offered a line of credit in the defence sector to Bangladesh, he said.

According to him, the potential areas of investment between the two countries are textiles, leather, jute products, active pharmaceutical ingredients, agriculture, renewable energy and electronics, among others.

The minister said both India and Bangladesh can be the pharmacy of the world. They can look at production of vaccines and other medicines jointly, he stated.

Goyal had in November last year said Bangladesh is India's biggest trade partner in South Asia with a volume of over USD 10 billion of trade.

Indo-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce president Abdul Matlub Ahmad said the capacity of handling export-import cargo at land ports in Petrapole in India and Benapole in the neighbouring country will be tripled by adding more lanes on either side.