India seeks expansion of border trade with Myanmar
The Hindu, India
India seeks expansion of border trade with Myanmar
Special Correspondent
14 October 2008
NEW DELHI: India would seek to expand border trade by opening more trading points along the 1,600-km border it shares with Myanmar during the two-day talks to be held at Mandalay in that country beginning Tuesday. The Minister of State for Commerce and Power, Jairam Ramesh, will lead a high level delegation to Myanmar for the crucial talks.
At present, Moreh in Manipur is the only operational trade centre on the border. India will propose two additional such centres - Avangkhu in Nagaland and Zowkhathar in Mizoram which is also a long-standing demand of these two States. However, Mr. Jairam Ramesh said border trade centres in Arunachal Pradesh were not under discussion because of security and other considerations on the Indian side.
In addition, he said India would propose an expansion of items to be traded with a view to moving towards normal free trade soon at these centres.
India is also expected to reiterate its offer to include Myanmar in the duty free tariff preference scheme announced by it for LDCs (least developed countries). The details of the financing mechanism to facilitate expanded bilateral trade will also be firmed up during the Mandalay talks. Union Bank of India had already signed an agreement with the Foreign Trade Bank of Myanmar for establishing such a mechanism.
BIMSTEC summit
Myanmar will be the beneficiary of the FTA (Free Trade Agreement) with ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) to be signed by India and ASEAN in Bangkok on December 18. Myanmar is also a member of BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Multisectoral Economic Cooperation) Agreement involving Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal, India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand.
India is hosting the BIMSTEC summit in New Delhi in mid-November. India’s exports to Myanmar in 2007-08 amounted to about $185 million, while its imports from Myanmar were valued at around $810 million, mostly comprising pulses. On October 16, the Myanmar Prime Minister and Mr. Jairam Ramesh will inaugurate a centre for enhancement of IT skills established at Yangon with $2 million Indian assistance.
