Bilateral trade: Trade fair to promote bilateral trade between China and Burma

A China-Myanmar border trade fair will be opened on Monday in a Chinese border town in Southwestern Yunnan province linking Myanmar's Muse in Shan state aimed at promoting the bilateral trade between the two countries.

It is the 7th of this kind trade fair between the two countries and also the second time for an annual China-Myanmar border trade fair to be participated by other neighboring countries such as Thailand, India and Bangladesh.

The five-day China-Myanmar border trade exhibition to be held in Jiegao, Ruili, Chinese border town linking with Myanmar, which will run until Friday, are joined by about 100 Myanmar enterprises.

Myanmar products, displayed at its 60 booths in the fair, cover agricultural produces such as various beans and pulses, maize and sesame, marine products, rubber, furniture and gem items.
During the trade fair, a joint committee meeting for China-Myanmar border trade and a coordination meeting on economic affairs are to be attached.

Xinhua reports that according to Chinese official figures, in the first three quarters of 2007, China-Myanmar bilateral trade hit 1.435 billion U.S. dollars, up 37.7 percent compared with 2006 correspondingly. Of the total, China's exports to Myanmar took 1.216 billion dollars, up 45.8 percent, while its import from Myanmar stood 220 million dollars, up 5.2 percent. China enjoyed a trade surplus of 996 million U.S. dollars.

The figures for 2006's China-Myanmar bilateral trade were registered at 1.46 billion U.S. dollars. Among them, trade between the Yunnan province and Myanmar amounted to 692.08 million U.S. dollars during the year, up 9.6 percent from the previous year. Of the total, Yunnan's exports to Myanmar represented 521 million U.S. dollars, while its imports from Myanmar was valued at 171 million U.S. dollars, the figures show.

The two countries have set a target for their annual bilateral trade to increase to 1.5 billion U.S. dollars.