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Thai-Myanmar border trade resumes a



                           Thai-Myanmar border trade resumes amid fanfare
                           08:44 a.m. Sep 16, 1998 Eastern

                           MAE SOT, Thailand, Sept 16 (Reuters) - Trade
across the rugged border between
                           Thailand and Myanmar resumed on Wednesday with
the U.S. dollar as the medium of
                           exchange, a key demand of Yangon's when it shut
down trade nearly a year ago.

                           About 1,000 Myanmar people, including ethnic
Karen, Mon and Pa-O, lined the streets of
                           this Thai border town dressed in their colourful
traditional costumes and waving small
                           Thai and Myanmar flags while dancing to music
during a ceremony marking the occasion.

                           The bridge across the Moei River, which separates
Mae Sot in western Thailand from
                           eastern Myanmar's Miyawadi town, was reopened to
formally signal the resumption of
                           what was once a flourishing border trade.

                           Myanmar had closed off border trade last November
to halt rampant smuggling and bring
                           the trade under control, upsetting traders and
businessmen on both sides. Myanmar was
                           also demanding that trade be conducted in U.S.
dollars to bring more hard currency into
                           Myanmar's crumbling economy.

                           The reopening came a day earlier than planned.
Last week, Myanmar's Commerce Minister
                           Major General Kyaw Than reached an agreement with
his Thai counterpart in Bangkok to
                           reopen border trade on September 17.

                           ``But the Myanmar side moved it to September 16
in order to honour Thai army chief
                           General Chetta (Thanajaro) who is now on a visit
in Yangon,'' a Thai army source told
                           Reuters.

                           Chetta, who is retiring from his post next month
and is known to have close ties with the
                           Myanmar military government, arrived in Yangon
for a two-day visit on Wednesday to bid
                           farewell to his counterparts there.

                           ``I hope the Myanmar-Thai border trade will make
steady progress along with the relations
                           between our two countries,'' Colonel Min Hla
Aung, director-general of the border trade
                           division of of Myanmar's Commerce Ministry, said
at the reopening ceremony.

                           Border trade peaked in the past at 300 million
baht ($7.4 million) per month but plummeted
                           to about 70 million baht a month after the formal
closure, a trader said.

                           The Thai governor of western Tak province, Hukhan
Thomornsakdi, said he was delighted
                           with changes in Myanmar policy governing the
trade.

                           ``The Myanmar side has agreed to seriously
consider relaxing rules on some export items
                           including cattle and wooden products,'' he told
reporters.

                           The value of cattle smuggled from Myanmar has
been estimated by local traders at about
                           one billion baht annually.

                           (US$1 - 40.7 baht)