India and Myanmar on Tuesday decided to double the bilateral trade to $3 billion by 2015 by ensuring greater cooperation in sectors such as oil and gas, infrastructure, agricultural products and pharmaceuticals. Both neighbours also vowed to increase two-way trade through the land route by strengthening the necessary infrastructure.
India and Myanmar have implemented the India-Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Free Trade Agreement (FTA) since September 1 last year. 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 expanded the list of items for border trade from 22 to 40.
India said that businesses of both sides merited encouragement so as to use DFTP and Asean FTA channels to diversify trade. “Outsourcing of manufacturing and sourcing of raw materials can also boost trade,” pointed out Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma.
The minister said construction of the Kaladan Multimodal Transit Transport Project comprising waterway and roadway components would transform the trade between the country’s Northeast and the rest of the world.
The project costing $120 million is expected to be completed by 2013. The aim is to create a direct trade corridor between Indian ports on the eastern side and Sittwe Port in Myanmar and then through riverine transport and by road to Mizoram, thereby providing an alternate route for transport of goods to Northeast India.
In the last fiscal, pulses and wooden products accounted for 97.5 per cent of Myanmar’s export to India, while it imported mainly buffalo meat and pharmaceuticals.
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Both sides have also issued notifications for upgrading the border trade to normal trade at Moreh in India and Tamu in Myanmar. In the meeting both the ministers decided to open another border trade point connecting Zowkhatar in Mizoram to Rhi in Myanmar.
There had been talks to look at some more potential trading points from Pangsau Pass (in Arunachal Pradesh) and Avangkhung (in Nagaland).