Indian business industry seeks to hold trade exhibition in Myanmar

Xinhua News: 4July, 2006

Indian business industry circle is seeking to hold trade exhibition in Myanmar by early next year in a bid to promote bilateral trade and economic cooperation between the two countries, a local weekly reported Tuesday.

The exhibition, planned for January 2007, is being initiated by the Indo-Myanmar Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI), the Weekly Eleven News quoted the Myanmar CCI as saying.

According to the Myanmar CCI, a delegation of the Indo-Myanmar CCI visited Yangon recently and discussed the purpose with the representatives of the Myanmar CCI.

Relations between Myanmar and India have been growing in the past few years with cooperation in all sectors, particularly in those of trade and economy, setting a target for their bilateral trade to attain 1 billion U.S. dollars by 2006.

Myanmar stressed the need to open more border trade points, set up special economic zones in border areas and to build more border roads leading to major cities in order in order to boost trade with India.

According to official statistics, Myanmar-India bilateral trade, including the border trade, amounted to 557.68 million U.S. dollars in the fiscal year 2005-06 which ended in March, up 24 percent from 2004-05. Of the total, the border trade accounted for 14.68 million U.S. dollars.

India stands as Myanmar's 4th largest trading partner after Thailand, China and Singapore and also Myanmar's second largest export market after Thailand, absorbing 25 percent of its total exports.

Figures also show that India's investment in Myanmar had reached 35.08 million U.S. dollars as of January this year out of Myanmar's total foreign investment of 7.785 billion U.S. dollars since late 1988.