The volume of border trade between Myanmar and China at the Muse trade point alone amounted to 311 million U.S. dollars in the first half of 2006, up from 257 million dollars in the same period of 2005, a local weekly reported Friday.

Except some drop in the border trade volume during the transition period when the Muse 105th Mile Border Trade Zone was being established in March/April, the border trade in the Muse point has been growing steadily, the Myanmar Times quoted the Commerce Ministry as saying.

The Muse 105th Mile Border Trade Zone opened in April and the trade system there with China is being transformed from border trade into normal trade since early 2005 as an initial move aimed at changing all Myanmar's border trade systems with neighboring countries into normal trade ones.

According to Chinese official statistics, China-Myanmar bilateral trade hit 1.209 billion dollars in 2005, up 5.6 percent from 2004. Of the total, China's exports to Myanmar took 935 million dollars, while its import from Myanmar stood at 274 million dollars.

Of the bilateral trade, that between China's Yunnan province and Myanmar, including the border trade, amounted to 630 million dollars during the year, up 14.6 percent from the previous year. Yunnan's exports to Myanmar stood at 400 million dollars, while its import from Myanmar was valued at 230 million dollars.

The latest figures from the Chinese Customs Department indicate that China-Myanmar bilateral trade in the first half of 2006 amounted to 662 million dollars, up by 10.8 percent compared with the same period of 2005. Of the total, China's export to Myanmar took 549 million dollars, up 30.5 percent, while China's import from Myanmar 114 million dollars, down 35.9 percent. China realized a trade surplus of 434 million dollars.

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

Since achievements have been made in the Muse trade point, all other trade points with the rest of the neighboring countries such as Tamu with India, Maungtaw with Bangladesh, Myawaddy with Thailand are set to follow suit.

Myanmar has a total of 13 main border trade points with its four neighboring countries.

According to Myanmar Commerce Ministry's statistics, the country's foreign trade volume in the fiscal year of 2005-06 which ended in March totaled 5.5 billion dollars, of which the border trade accounted for over 30 percent.

Source: Xinhua