The Minister of Commerce, U Win Myint, had told trade officials at the Chinese embassy earlier that day that Myanmar hoped to begin talks next month on a framework that would provide for legal rice exports, the journalists were told.

The first part of the process would involve finalising an agreement with China on the administration of quality supervision, inspection and quarantine (AQSIQ), said spokespersons for the ministry and the Myanmar Rice Federation.

“First we will get the AQSIQ signed and then we'll work on fixing the export quota,” said MRF secretary, U Ye Min Aung.
 
The director-general of the Department of Trade Promotion at the Ministry of Commerce, U Toe Aung Myint, said that after the AQSIQ was signed and an export quota agreed, negotiations would begin on a free trade agreement.

The briefing was told that the AQSIQ would also provide for the export of other crops to China.

A senior Trade Promotion Department official told Mizzima Business Weekly in May that some rice exports are permitted to China under a quota system it uses to encourage crop substitution and deter opium poppy cultivation.

Exports that exceeded the quota were regarded as being illegal in China but show as legal border exports for Myanmar, he said.