Akhaurah (India-Bangladesh Border), Aug 21 - Bangladesh has in principle agreed to provide transit facilities to India but in return has demanded a corridor through West Bengal to carry out bilateral trade with Nepal and Bhutan.

Bangladesh Commerce Minister Colonel (retired) Faruk Khan said: 'India already enjoys maritime transit with Bangladesh, and we can hold bilateral talks to resolve the long pending road and rail transit issue.'

'Providing transit facilities to India is not a big problem, it can be resolved through mutual talks. However, India should provide a corridor to Bangladesh through West Bengal to conduct bilateral trade with Nepal and Bhutan,' Khan told reporters Thursday after a function held to mark the export of the first consignment of bricks from Bangladesh to northeastern India.

The bricks export started Thursday through the Akhaurah land port, 150 km east of Dhaka and just 5 km west of Tripura capital Agartala.

Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dipu Moni will visit New Delhi Sep 8 and hold talks with her Indian counterpart S.M. Krishna and Prime minister Manmohan Singh to resolve bilateral issues.

Referring to Bangladeshi opposition parties' resistance to providing transit facilities to India, Khan said: 'As Bangladesh is a democratic country, different opinion may emerge, but Bangladesh government would consider its people's interest first and shall not ignore friendly country's request too.'

Tripura Commerce and Industry Minister Jitendra Chowdhury said: 'If Dhaka provides transit facilities to India and allows the use of Chittagong international port and other ports in Bangladesh, commodities and machinery can be transported to the northeast from various parts of India and abroad, saving huge time and money.'

Agartala is 1,650 km from Kolkata and 2,637 km from New Delhi via Guwahati, whereas the distance between the Tripura capital and Kolkata via Bangladesh is about 350 km.

Tripura and other northeastern states are surrounded by Bangladesh, Myanmar, Bhutan and China and the only land route access to these states from within India is through Assam.