BANGKOK, Nov 28 (Bernama) - Thailand's neighbouring Myanmar will serve
as a gateway to South Asia in the near future once physical connectivity
within mainland Southeast Asia is fully available, Thai News Agency
(TNA) reported.
During an economic seminar here, Akkasiri Buranasiri, director of
Neighbouring Countries Economic Development Cooperation Agency stressed
the importance of Myanmar as a gateway to the South Asian market
comprising India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and
Maldives.
"South Asia has a population of 1.6 billion people, two times larger
than the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean)," said
Akkasiri.
The idea of developing physical connectivity in mainland Southeast Asia
was first raised in 1993 as part of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS)
development initiative.
Under this initiatvie, networks of land links are to be created and
further developed into economic corridors connecting Southeast Asia with
China and India and now expanding to cover Myanmar.
Olarn Chaiprawat, president of Thailand Trade Representatives and
advisor to Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, said at the seminar
that Myanmar also appears to be ready to serve as "garden" to Thailand's
Kitchen to the World policy, thanks to the country's abundant resources
such as seafood, rice, palm and rubber products.
Thailand could also expand investment projects into Myanmar in the food
processing industry to ship processed food products to both West and
South Asia, said Olarn.
The Thai government has focused on enhancing cooperation with Myanmar
and South Asian countries through government-level exchanges of business
visits.
source: Bernama
http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v6/newsindex.php?id=712241
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