New Delhi (Mizzima) – India’s Ambassador to Burma, Alok Sen, earlier this week, visited the north-eastern state of Mizoram to discuss the status of Indo-Burma border trade and the Kaladan multi-modal project.
The ambassador concluded a three-day visit on Wednesday, after holding discussions with Mizoram Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla, according to an official at the Information and Public Relations Office of Mizoram.
The official said, the ambassador, who arrived in Aizawl on Monday, discussed border trade with Burma and the implementation of the Kaladan multi-modal project.
The Indo-Burmese trade road No (2), opened in 2004, links Zokhawthar town in Mizoram with Rihkhawdar of Chin state in western Burma.
“He came here to see for himself the difficulties of border trade and to talk to the Chief Minister on the Kaladan project,” the official told Mizzima.
Sen, during the trip, also visited the Indo-Burma border trade point at Zokhawthar, to see for himself the situation of bilateral trade along the border.
According to the official, Sen highlighted the importance of Mizoram state in successfully implementing the two projects.
Indo-Burma border trade and the Kaladan multi-modal project are part of the two countries’ bilateral trade and development projects, which are being implemented under India’s “Look East Policy”, launched in 1994.
India and Burma had signed a Memorandum of Understanding on developing the Kaladan Multi-modal Transit Transport project, during the visit of Burma’s military leader Vice-Senior General Maung Aye to India in April 2008.
The project includes connecting India with Sittwe Port in western Burma, via Chin state. It will include development of the Kaladan river, in Burma’s Chin state and road-ways.
The official said, the Mizoram government expects that the Kaladan multi-modal project will be beneficial, but expressed skepticism over Indo-Burma border trade, saying, “it is hard to say if Mizoram state and India will profit from border trade, because the activity is still very much informal.”
According to the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, bilateral trade between India and Burma for the fiscal year 2007-08 stood at USD 901.3 million. For the same fiscal year, Burma’s export to India was USD 7272.85 million, while India’s export was USD 173.46 million.
