Normal border trade amount could hit about US$4 billion at the end of
this fiscal year, according to sources at the border trade department.
It is estimated that official trade will increase following the seizure of illegal goods.
Border trade has gone up to US$2 billion from April 1 to the second
week of November in this fiscal year and the total trading amount in the
whole country is more than US$10 billion for the fiscal year.
The Muse border trade centre constitutes about 80 per cent of total
border trade and the highest of all border trade centres. The second is
the Myawady border trade centre. Currently the department is inspecting
illegal trade along the Myanmar-Thailand border trade routes.
“Currently, the border trade is more than US$2 billion. We estimate
that the amount will be about US$4 billion at the end of this fiscal
year if the situation is not changed,” an official from the border trade
department, who didn’t want to be named, said.
China is Myanmar’s biggest trading partner, followed by Thailand.
“We are checking illegal traders with mobile teams and encouraging
them to make licences and to trade officially. For example in previous
years, Myeik and Kawthoung had not imported fuel with licence and now
they imported the fuel with licence due to the restriction on illegal
trade,” he said.
source: Eleven Myanmar
http://www.elevenmyanmar.com/business/1436-normal-border-trade-amount-to-hit-us-4b-due-to-the-seizure-of-illegal-goods
YANGON, Myanmar--Planning for one of the largest
industrial parks in Asia is under way in Myanmar, a country taking steps
to end its military dictatorship, institute democratic reforms and open
its economy.
The park is a flagship project of the Japanese government,
using both public- and private-sector resources, but the initiative has
experienced jerky progress with the project's partner--the government of
Myanmar.
In addition, competition from China and South Korea has from time to time cast a shadow over Japan's plans.
The Thilawa project zone is about an hour's drive from
downtown Yangon, Myanmar's largest city. Fields of grass and rice
paddies stretch as far as the eye can see; at 2,400 hectares in size,
the zone could accommodate 500 Tokyo Dome stadiums. Talk of creating a
gigantic industrial park there surfaced in October 2011.
It began with a personal connection. Hideo Watanabe, chairman
of the Japan Myanmar Association and former postal and
telecommunications minister, had a 20-year acquaintance with Thein Sein,
the Myanmar president. When Watanabe visited Myanmar last year, the
president pressed him for Japan's help in a development project.
The Japanese government spotted valuable opportunities. If a
special economic zone was set up with proper power, water and sewage
systems, it would attract foreign investment, create jobs and foster
support for democratic reforms in Myanmar.
Tsutomu Murasaki, an official in charge of strategic export
negotiations at Japan's trade ministry, mentioned another goal: "To
strengthen the competitiveness of Japanese companies."
Japan's domestic market has been shrinking as the birthrate
declines and the population ages. The government saw Myanmar's
population of 62 million a chance to create production centers with a
cheap work force, which would then channel Southeast Asia's growth
potential to Japan.
In April, Japan's government decided to write off debts of
roughly 300 billion yen ($3.84 billion) from past loans and embark on
new lending to support Myanmar's development. The two countries agreed
to form joint ventures, while Japanese firms would handle construction
of the industrial park.
But then Myanmar threw a whole new element into the mix.
Japan had estimated construction would take 20 years, a figure based on
prior experience with industrial parks; the Burmese government thought
differently.
"We want you to clear the land and build factories by 2015,"
said a prominent Cabinet member. 2015 is when the ruling party is
expected to square off against the opposition, led by Aung San Suu Kyi.
Then a threat arose to split the project. "If Japan can't do
it alone, we'll divide the work four ways and get China and South Korea
involved," suggested one Myanmar official.
Myanmar is justifiably called Asia's last frontier, with its
geopolitically significant location between China and India. Worldwide,
nations are scrambling to invest there.
Aspiring investors include China, which first approached
Myanmar's government with a plan to develop Thilawa; South Korea has
also courted attention, treating Myanmar to a visit by its president,
the first in 29 years.
Irritation mounted on the Japanese side. "We will not issue
any yen loans unless we can lead development," said a senior official at
the trade ministry.
BALANCE SHIFTS
Japan has also been thrown by shifts in the regional
balance. Southeast Asian diplomacy used to be one of Japan's strengths,
and the government would disburse generous amounts of foreign aid to
create closer political partnerships.
But things began to change in the late 1990s. As Japan
struggled with deflation, China grew rapidly and its trade expanded
throughout the region. Beijing strengthened its regional presence with
foreign relations based on an approach termed smile diplomacy.
Meanwhile, South Korea has been exerting influence by riding the
so-called "Korean wave" of popular culture.
And then, with a flourish, Myanmar opened its economy.
"If we can't play an important role when Myanmar, a
pro-Japanese country, is trying to get its economy off the ground, we'll
be thrust to the sidelines of Southeast Asian diplomacy," said a senior
official at the Foreign Ministry.
Japan's government considered the Thilawa development project
the pillar of its assistance to Myanmar, critical to its foreign
relations.
On July 25 in the Myanmar capital of Naypyidaw, Watanabe and
trade ministry official Murasaki were among a Japanese delegation that
met with Tin Naing Thein, national planning and economic development
minister and a key figure behind the Thilawa development project.
According to multiple people present, there then followed
three and a half hours of highly heated discussion, which at times left
the Japanese side's interpreter lost for words.
The minister tried to force his counterparts into accepting Myanmar's new deadline.
"The president wants to complete the project by 2015," he said.
Watanabe shot back: "You're the one who's impeding the project."
The confrontational atmosphere eased the following day. The
Japanese delegates met with President Thein Sein at 10 a.m. This time,
the meeting included Yoshito Sengoku, acting chair of the Democratic
Party of Japan's Policy Research Committee.
"Other countries have talked to us, but we're going to give
the entire project to Japan," the president said. "First, we'd like you
to develop just 400 hectares by 2015."
The Japanese delegates were relieved. It was a fully
satisfactory about-face from the previous day's confrontation with Tin
Naing Thein.
One high-level Myanmar government official explained the
trial like this: "If we had just given everything to Japan from the
outset, the legislature and the international community would have
asked, 'Why only Japan?'"
On July 27, the Japanese government formed a Thilawa
development team comprising representatives of relevant ministries and
agencies.
Among those joining private companies as members of the
project would be the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and
the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC). Thus the public and
private sectors have finally embarked on the project's initial phase.
However, wrinkles could reappear.
"If development fails to go smoothly, the idea of splitting
the project up might resurface," warned one Japanese government source.
A senior executive at a major Japanese trading firm summed it up: "For now, Myanmar is in a position to pick and choose."
FROM WEST TO EAST
As Japan, the United States and Europe suffer from
economic stagnation, money and people continue to flee the quicksands of
places like Greece, the epicenter of the euro crisis. Meanwhile,
capital is flooding into Myanmar, the most promising new star on the
world stage. The center of the global economy is increasingly shifting
from west to east.
The Mingaladon Industrial Park sits on the northern outskirts
of Yangon. Until three years ago, the place was moribund, but by early
2012, all 41 plots of land had been sold to Taiwanese and South Korean
firms. At the time, Japanese companies had held back from investing
because Western sanctions were still in place.
Although latecomers, Japanese firms are now preparing to invest in Myanmar.
Some troublesome issues persist, including the country's
shoddy infrastructure--such as poor roads and electricity supply--and
the results of the upcoming general election could disrupt the country's
political stability.
Even so, many observers are optimistic.
"Reforms are proceeding faster than anyone could have
predicted," said Serge Pun, a leading property tycoon of ethnic Chinese
descent, who expanded his Asian real-estate empire to Myanmar. "This
resembles China when it was embarking on economic reform in the 1990s."
source: The Asahi Shimbun
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/economy/business/AJ201211230009
