Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal are expected to sign a motor vehicle agreement in June to start seamless transit of passenger, cargo and personal vehicle between the countries later this year.

Diplomatic sources said transport ministers of the four Saarc nations, also known as BBIN, are likely to meet in Thimphu, Bhutan to ink the deal, which now awaits cabinet approvals.

Talking to The Daily Star on Thursday, a senior official of the Roads and Highways Division said the Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges had almost completed the “internal procedure” for the deal's approval.

The agreement is likely to be placed in a cabinet meeting at the end of this month or early May for the final approval, he said.

The official also said the foreign ministry had already given its opinion in favour of signing the four-nation agreement which has the provision for the other Saarc nations to join the framework.

Foreign ministry officials said the transport secretaries along with senior officials of BBIN at a meeting in Kolkata on February 2 and 3 had finalised the draft agreement.

Once implemented, the deal will allow vehicles to ply designated routes in the four countries and reduce cost and time of unloading and loading of people and goods at the borders, making cross-border trade more efficient.

Diplomatic sources said the initiative would help transform transport corridors linking the four countries into economic corridors and increase people-to-people contact.

This sub-regional move is an initiative parallel to the proposed Saarc Motor Vehicles Agreement and will be open also to other neighbouring countries, according to the sources.

The agreement was expected to be signed at the 18th Saarc Summit held in November last year in Kathmandu, but it got stuck due to opposition by Pakistan.

Saarc leaders on November 27, last year had agreed to hold the meeting of the transport ministers within next three months to ink the deal.

Meanwhile, Nepal, chair of Saarc, has convened a three-day meeting on June 22-24 in Kathmandu to finalise the Agreement for the Regulation of Passenger and Cargo Vehicular Traffic amongst the member states, said the sources.

The transport ministers' meeting on June 24 would be preceded by Saarc Inter Governmental Group Meeting on June 22 and Saarc Transport Secretaries' Meeting on June 23.

It is expected that the eight member countries of Saarc would be able to finalise the negotiations and detailed operating procedures and protocols before the June 24 meeting.