NIPCO signs joint declaration with Myanmar
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India, Myanmar vow to enhance bilateral trade
India and Myanmar have agreed to expand and diversify bilateral trade to one billion U.S. dollars by 2006, the Indian Ministry of Commerce and Industry said in a statement Friday.
Xinhua General News Service: 12 May, 2006
New Delhi: India and Myanmar have agreed to expand and diversify bilateral trade to one billion U.S. dollars by 2006, the Indian Ministry of Commerce and Industry said in a statement Friday.
The second meeting of the India-Myanmar Joint Trade Committee (JTC) concluded here Thursday night and it was co-chaired by Indian Minister of Commerce and Industry Kamal Nath and Myanmar Commerce Minister Tin Naing Thein.
India is ranked as the second most important market for Myanmar exports and the seventh most important source of its imports in the fiscal year of 2004-05, the statement said.
Although bilateral trade has significantly increased to over 500 million U.S. dollars in 2004-05, it was still short of the target set by the two sides at the first meeting of the JTC held in Yangon in 2003, said Nath in the statement.
"We need to study the obstacles that stand in the way of bilateral trade, whether they relate to banking, transport or other infrastructure related problems," Nath said.
The two countries are working together in the areas of agriculture, telecommunications, oil and gas sectors and increasing business-to-business interactions in the private sector, he noted.
India is seeking to open another post, the Pangsau Pass, along the border with Myanmar as an additional facility for border trade.
"Our bilateral border trade agreement inked in 1994 provides framework facilities by which trade is being carried out through the designated border points of Moreh-Tamu and now Zowkhathar-Rhi since January 2004. We now hope to add another border trading point at Pangsau Pass," Nath said.
The Indian government also urged to broaden the commodities basket from the present limited list of 22 commodities.
The two sides emphasized the natural complementarities of the two economies and noted that after Myanmar's entry into the ASEAN and BIMST-EC, new avenues had opened for greater cooperation on a bilateral and regional/multilateral basis, the statement said.