BANGLADESH-MYANMAR TRADE
Border market and banking transactions to be discussed
Khawaza Main Uddin
Dhaka is sending a technical team to Yongon next week to work out the modalities of banking transactions and of making the planned ‘border market’ operational to increase trade between Bangladesh and Myanmar, a pariah state with huge business potential.
According to trade diplomats, the two sides will try to make direct banking arrangements —mechanisms for opening letters of credit — for expanding bilateral trade which is, they think, nominal compared to the comparative advantages of both the neighbouring countries.
‘Both the countries have ample scope to increase trade and ensure mutual benefit. But lack of mechanisms such as smooth banking transactions and the communications problem hampers cooperation in trade,’ said one of them. Myanmar is considered to be Bangladesh’s gateway to Southeast Asia.
The Bangladesh delegation will comprise four members of a working group headed by a deputy governor of the Bangladesh Bank, Ziaul Hassan Siddiqui. The group was formed by the government recently to make recommendations for increasing bilateral trade between Bangladesh and Myanmar.
Other members of the team are Mohammad Shafiqul Islam, a consultant of the commerce ministry, Mohammad Atiqur Rahman, managing director of the state-owned Sonali Bank, and Syed Mahmudul Huq, president of the Bangladesh-Myanmar Business Promotion Council.
The team has been assigned to prepare an in-depth report on how to set up a border market, as proposed earlier, and to resume cooperation between the two countries which have failed to come closer in the past three decades or so.
A similar border market of Bangladesh and India is also being talked about as part of the effort to enhance border trade between the two countries. Such a market may be covered by the proposed bilateral Free Trade Agreement, said officials of the commerce and foreign ministries.
Apart from problems in money transaction, carrying goods and commodities to and from Myanmar is hampered by serious constraints, the business promotion council told a recent meeting of the working group. The council will help the delegation to make their visit a success by providing the necessary inputs.
The members of the delegation will visit the border market which is already operational between Myanmar and Thailand in addition to holding their planned talks with Myanmar officials.
The official two-way trade, mainly in the form of border trade, between Bangladesh and Myanmar stands at around $60 million annually in value, with balance of payments tilted in favour of Myanmar. However, the extent of informal trade or smuggling is yet to be measured properly.
Courtesy: newagebd.com
