Guwahati, Jan. 7: India is working towards signing a memorandum of understanding on wildlife cooperation with Myanmar.

The issue was discussed at a two-day meeting of field directors of tiger reserves in Kaziranga National Park yesterday.

"We are keen on having a memorandum of understanding on wildlife cooperation with Myanmar as there are issues of wildlife trade and the best way is to cooperate with them," B.S. Bonal, member secretary, National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), told The Telegraph. "It is still at an initial stage as clearance will be required from the ministry of external affairs but the issue is on our agenda," he added.

The meeting was attended by chief wildlife wardens of all tiger reserves in the country, top NTCA officials and forest department officials.

The understanding with Myanmar is important as the country has become the primary route for cross-border trade, which was earlier from Nepal. India has already signed MoUs on wildlife cooperation with Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal.

According to investigation done by the Asian Rhino Specialist Group, seizure data supports this view as the Chinese authorities seized three horns, believed to be of rhinos, in Yunnan province in 2010-2011 that involved cross-border trade from Myanmar's Kachin state.

In 2015, four rhino horns were seized in Muse township, Shan State, on the Sino-Myanmar border, the suspected end-use destination. In Manipur, another horn was seized at Khudenthabi checkpoint on the Indo-Myanmar border in 2015. The meeting was attended by Assam forest minister Pramila Rani Brahma on January 5 where she said a special rhino protection force would be put in place. Tiger reserves in Assam are submitting their annual plan of operations online to NTCA.

Bonal said the recent evictions in Manas National Park went off peacefully for which the forest department, Bodoland Territorial Council and the park staff need to be complimented. He asked the authorities to take measures so that encroachers do not come back again.

He said the tiger conservation plan for Kaziranga has still not been cleared.

There were deliberations on good practices and initiatives of different tiger reserves. The meeting decided to augment tiger conservation efforts, have zero tolerance towards poaching, development of real-time tracking tools and increase tiger population with reference to the carrying capacity of forests.