A 50-member delegation of senior officials, including ministers and Burmese Army officials, visited Maungdaw Township on the western Burma border on Thursday to initiate projects following trade agreements reached during General Maung Aye's recent trip to Bangladesh.
The visit comes a week after General Maung Aye's official visit to Bangladesh.
"They began their tour to Maungdaw on Thursday to inspect some projects that will begin very soon. The team is now visiting several important places along the border," a customs official said.
The team is led by General Thein Zaw, minister of post, telegraph, and communications of the Burmese ruling junta. Many other ministers are in the delegation such as ministers of livestock breeding and fisheries, construction and commerce, as well as the western command commander.
According to a local source, the team visited Kyin Chaung Village north of Maungdaw, soon after their arrival. Kyin Chaung will be the point of connection for the first phase of the friendship road from Cox's Bazaar in Bangladesh.
The ministers reportedly inspected the route where the friendship road could be constructed between Bangladesh and Burma. They also reportedly inspected large tracts of farmland that was confiscated from local farmers for the project.
After the visit to Kyin Chaung, the team visited Aung Sit Byint Village nearby, where a vocational training school for repatriated refugee women was inaugurated by the UNHCR.
"There is a proposal to build a harbour in Maungdaw Township to promote border trade, and it will be constructed in Kan Yin Chaung Village," an official from the township construction department said.
The delegation is expected to visit Kan Yin Chaung Village today to inspect the location for the harbour.
The officials will also visit the newly constructed town of Taungbro on the border today, to inspect the site where the friendship road bridge will be constructed over the upper Naff River.
The ministers plan to tour along the Naff River in speed boats, and the authorities in Maungdaw have arranged four speed boats, a source from Maungdaw entrance gate said.
An official from the border trade association said that the Burmese military government is keen to promote border trade with Bangladesh because there are no international markets for exporting maritime products from Arakan following US sanctions on Burma.
Bangladesh and Burma have signed many agreements in the last seven years but have been unable to implement the agreements because of lack of cooperation by the military regime. However, Burma is now eager to promote trade with Bangladesh through the border because the country, especially western Arakan, has been hit hard by an economic slump and lacks markets for its export products.
