Myanmar, India sign trade deal

Myanmar, India sign trade deal

YANGON: Myanmar and India have signed an agreement to streamline trade and investment, taking a new step to strengthen their increasingly significant economic ties, the Myanmar Times said.

The agreement was signed by Indian Minister for Commerce and Industry Arun Jaitley and his Myanmar counterpart Brigadier- General Pyi Sone in Yangon on July 15, the semi-official weekly said in its edition to be published on Monday.

Under the deal, India will give technical and financial assistance to Myanmar to make value-added products for the Indian market, commerce ministry official Tint Thwin said.

"Both sides need to eliminate or relax non-tariff barriers such as quotas," he said, adding the two sides were planning to establish a banking system to provide for easier transactions.

They would also address trade-related issues, such as the need to improve transport links, he told the newspaper.

Jaitley, who led a seven-member delegation attending the first meeting of the India-Myanmar Joint Trade Committee, reportedly said his country placed a high priority on expanding economic ties with Myanmar.

India was hoping to double bilateral trade to US$1.0 billion by 2006, he said. In the decade to 2001-2002, the value of total direct trade between the two countries increased by 500 percent, to $428 million. -- AFP