A new wholesale trade center has been given the green light to open at the Myanmar-Bangladeshi border near the town of Maungdaw, according to Aung Kyaw Nyut, the center’s chairman.
He said plans to open the center sooner had been delayed because of the security situation in western Rakhine State which was the scene of deadly communal violence over the past year.
He said the new wholesale center—which will be the third in the area alongside the Maungdaw Myomah Wholesale Center and Ngakhuya Wholesale Center—would be opened at Pyin Hpyu Port, near the banks of the River Naf.
It is hoped the wholesale center will facilitate easier and more open cross-border trade between Myanmar and Bangladesh, and reduce trading costs. Fisheries is one sector that is expected to greatly expand when the trade post opens.
“The main difficulty in exporting is transportation,” said local Maungdaw trader Saw Hla Aung. “The wholesale center should allow for easier trade.”
Taxation and immigration officers should also be appointed to the new center as it the other two wholesale centers, said Aung Kyaw Nyut.
