India and Myanmar Agreed to Set 3 Billion US Dollars as Trade Target

India and Myanmar on 27 September 2011 agreed to set a 3 billion US dollars as trade target. The trade target will be achieved by 2015. At present, the bilatral trade between India and Myanmar is 1.5 billion US dollars. This was decided at a fourth meeting of joint trade commission which was attended by the Union Commerce Minister, Anand Sharma and the Myanmar’s Minister of Commerce, U. Win Myint.

India and Myanmar also agreed to build a Land Custom Station at India-Myanmar Border (Mizoram) to facilitate the movement of vehicles and goods entering and leaving Mizoram. Both nations noted that the border trade point at Moreh on the Indian side and Tamu on the Myanmar side had huge potential for normal trade.

It should be noted that one third of India’s imports of pulses and one-fifth of India’s imports of timber are from Myanmar. At present, pulses and wood products accounts for 97.5 percent of Myanmar’s total exports to India while pharmaceuticals and buffalo meat accounted for 45 percent of India’s total exports to Myanmar.

India and Myanmar implemented the India-ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Free Trade Agreement (FTA) on 1 September 2010. India had also implemented the Duty Free Tariff Preference (DFTP) scheme for Myanmar in January 2009, under which Myanmar would gain market access for 94 per cent of India’s products at zero duty. India and Myanmar have also increased the list of items for border trade from 22 to 40.