Myanmar, China striving for US$1.5 bln bilateral trade volume

Traders of Myanmar and China are striving to reach a targeted bilateral trade volume of 1.5 billion US dollars in the coming years set by the two countries, a local news journal reported Tuesday.

As an initial step of the endeavor, businessmen of the two countries signed trade deals worth 300 million dollars early this month, with formal trade contracts worth 176 million and memorandums of understanding 124 million, the Flower News quoted business circle as saying.

According to the contracts, Myanmar is to export to China various items of bean and pulse, maize, potato, eel, fish, prawn, crab, sesame and mango as well as forest and metallic products.

In last May alone, Myanmar exported to China 20 million dollars worth of such goods, while importing 11 million dollars' commodities including fertilizer, wax, costic soda, paper, automobile spare parts, diesel engines and textile products, a release of the Ministry of Commerce said.

Bilateral economic and trade relations between Myanmar and China have maintained good development momentum in recent years. According to Chinese official statistics, Myanmar-China bilateral trade, including the border trade, reached 1.145 billion dollars in 2004, up 6.3 percent from 2003. Of the total, China's exports to Myanmar took 938 million, while its imports from Myanmar represented 207 million.

Meanwhile, Myanmar's official figures show that China's contracted investment in the country had amounted to 191 million dollars in 25 projects as of January this year.

Source: Xinhua