BBIN stands for Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal Motor Vehicle Act It is an Unprecedented step that aims at shared prosperity in South Asia. Meant to facilitate movement of commercial vehicles across the borders of B-B-I-N
The main objective of the agreement is to provide seamless people-to-people contact and enhance economic interaction by facilitating cross border movement of people and goods.
As per the agreement, member countries would allow vehicles registered in the other countries to enter their territory under certain terms and conditions. Customs and tariffs will be decided by the respective countries and these would be finalised at bilateral and trilateral forums.
This will further help each country in creating an institutional mechanism for regional integration. It was an alternative proposed by the government after Pakistan rejected the Motor Vehicle Agreement (MVA) at the SAARC summit in Kathmandu in 2014.
Bhutan recently announced that it is unable to proceed with the Motor Vehicles Agreement with Bangladesh, India and Nepal. The main concern expressed by Bhutanese citizen groups and politicians is over increased vehicular and air pollution. After Bhutan’s decision, India, Nepal and Bangladesh will have to decide whether to wait for Bhutan to reconsider or to press ahead with a truncated ‘BIN’ arrangement.