Bilateral coordinations under way to be able to reopen Myanmar-India border gates
The three trading camps in Myanmar-India border are:
Tamu Trading Camps; Reed Trading Camps; and Thani Talang Camp.
Tamu Camp suspended Thandada Camp and Gate Nos 1 and 2 on 10-03-2020 by the India side because of outbreak of Covid 19 while Myanmar side suspended Gate 1 beginning from 10th April of the same year up to next year.
Myanmar side reopened Gate 1 on 1st April in 2021 with the permission of Covid Prevention, Control and Cure Central Committee. However, Thandada Gate and Gate 2, which are border immigration gates of Tamu- Moray are still closed.
Co-ordinations are being made via diplomatic channel to enable reopening of Tamu Border Gate, which is the major trading route, it is learnt.
The volume of Myanmar-India border trade via Tamu Gate is normally high, accounting for more Thani USD 90 million. However, during the outbreak of Covid, the baluëm of trade amounted to USD 40 million or so, and
that of 2021-2022 mini budget accounted for USD 5.811 million whereas during 2022-2023 fiscal, the value amounted to 3.697 million up to end of May, according to the statistics of the Ministry of Commerce.
Myanmar exports agricultural products likèn betel nuts, pepper,
beans and pulses and garlic inter alia while India’s export to Myanmar is only 10 per cent of Myanmar’s export, it is learnt. The imported goods are: motorbikes and spare parts, cotton, wheat, chemical fertilizer and plastic raw materuals.
The location of Reed Trading Camp is vulnerable to attacks by armed organizations within the region, and so, the Camp was temporarily closed in consideration of the life threatening danger of the staff of the Camp starting from 23-11-2021.
Normally, the value of trade at Reed Camp amouts to USD 100 million, but it was USD 50 million during the outbreak of Covid while it accounted for USD 2 million during the mini budget period.
At 12:30 pm on 09-11-2021, there exchanged fire of heavy weapons and small arms beween the Myanmar military and the other organizations at Thani Talang Camp. As a consequence, the trading Camp was reduced into ashes. Since then, the Camp has been closed till now.
