(Top) Manipur commerce and industries minister Th. Debendra along with ministerial colleagues and trade officials on the Indian side of the Indo-Myanmar border bridge at Moreh and (above) Debendra in front of a trade warehouse. Pictures by Eastern Projections

A two-day workshop at Manipur’s Moreh recently sought to widen the scope for border trade with Myanmar through land customs at the township. At the end of the workshop-cum-awareness programme, both sides agreed to make all locally available commodities, barring some restricted items, tradable.

Only 22 items were listed when the border was opened formally on April 12, 1995 jointly by Union commerce minister P. Chidambaram and Myanmarese trade and commerce minister Lt Gen. Tunkyi.

It was agreed during the workshop that barring prohibited items, trade should be open to all commodities, including third country products, an official source in Imphal said.

The workshop was organised by the Manipur commerce and industries department with funds from the Union ministries of commerce and industry. It was held at the newly inaugurated trade convention hall near border gate no 1. Some 28 delegates from Myanmar and 35 from India took part in the deliberations.

The Myanmarese team comprised officials from the border trade department, Myanmar Economic Bank (MEB), the revenue department, Border Immigration Control Force and members of the Tamu Chamber of Commerce. The team was led by May Muang Muang.

The Indian team included officials from customs, the Reserve Bank of India, the United Bank of India, Manipur government and members of trade unions including the Northeast Federation on International Trade (Nefit).

Resource persons from both sides not only reviewed the border trade, but also discussed scope and prospects of such trade in the near future. The introduction of a letter of credit system, a new Exim policy, exchange control regulations, export potential of the Northeast and even organic farming came up for discussion.

It is for the first time that the Union commerce and industry ministries extended financial help to the Manipur government to organise such a seminar since border trade was formally opened. This was disclosed by officer on special duty L. Dwijamani.

The Myanmarese delegation found a presentation by Bidyut Kumar Baruah, regional manager, Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), Guwahati on organic farming quite interesting.

The two-day workshop was the outcome of the first meeting of the Myanmar-India joint trade committee held at Yangon on July 14 and 15. The committee, headed jointly by Brig Gen. Pyl Sone and Arun Jaitley, both commerce ministers, deliberated on wide-ranging issues of bilateral interest.

Based on the meeting, another ground-level officials’ meet was held at Moreh in August this year to prepare the ground for implementation of the agreements arrived at the Yangon meet.

The meet finalised 37 items for export by India and 30 Myanmarese items for import by India. The Moreh workshop was to give finishing touches to the preparations for further expanding the scope of border trade.

The August meet at Moreh agreed that the border trade policy needed immediate revision. In accordance with the Indo-Myanmar border trade agreement, barter trade transactions shall take place only by way of head load or non-motorised transport system. It was proposed that it should be revised as early as possible. Operations of letter of credit from the Myanmar Economic Bank and the United Bank of India were also discussed by officials.

Nefit president R.C. Agrawal raised a recent news item that Myanmar plans to replace the US dollar with the euro for foreign trade after US sanctions banned use of its currency for trade with the country.

The official instruction was issued to government departments on August 10 and made public on Friday. All government departments will use the euro in international transactions while private enterprises can also use currencies such as Japanese yen and Singapore dollar in trade deals, he said.

But the Myanmar Economic Bank officials had no knowledge of the news. They sought some time to finalise the system, which can be taken up at the next ground-level official meet at Tamu (Myanmar) on November 25, Agrawal said.

Another important objective of the workshop was to create awareness amongst the traders who hold export-import licences on the finer points of border trade. At the end of the workshop, members of the trading community participating in the discussion expressed satisfaction. “It was a good and meaningful discussion. This would benefit traders on both sides a lot,” Agrawal said after the meeting.

It was the first visit to Moreh for Agrawal, whose association has branches in different parts of the region, including one at Moreh. He said most of the trading community at Moreh, who were now carrying on the export-import activities, did not know much about border trade.

“There are at least six trade associations at Moreh. Infighting is plaguing these associations and this is not beneficial for border trade. Tamu, the counterpart of Moreh, has only one chamber of commerce. The members coming to take part in the deliberations told me that they did not know which group they should carry on the trade with. Not many of the traders at Moreh were also coming forward for discussions with the Tamu Chamber of Commerce people,” Agrawal said.

An official source here said 90 per cent of the goods crossing the border towards India everyday are illegal items. “It is estimated that goods worth Rs 1 crore are crossing the border everyday and 90 per cent of these are illegal,” the official said. With the opening up of more commodities for border trade, officials on both sides are now hoping to legalise the business. The traders will now have to pay customs duties. The meeting, however, ended without solving the main problem of operation of letter of credit system, Agrawal said.

Agrawal invited members of the Myanmarese delegation to Shillong where a one-day workshop will be held on organic farming and certification on October 31. The Myanmar traders also wanted the facility to visit Guwahati and other Buddhist pilgrimages. Agrawal promised to take this up with the government.