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Thai-Myanmar border trade resumes a
- Subject: Thai-Myanmar border trade resumes a
- From: tinkyi@xxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 16 Sep 1998 17:56:00
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)