Indian SME exhibition to be held in Myanmar

An Indian small and medium entrepreneurs (SME) exhibition will be held in Yangon, Myanmar's former capital, late this year, aimed at boosting bilateral trade and cooperation, the local Newsweek journal reported Wednesday.

The SME India 2007 exhibition, set on Nov. 25, is also aimed at absorbing Indian SMEs to invest in Myanmar, the Indo-Myanmar Chambers of Commerce and Industry (CCI) was quoted as saying.

Myanmar wishes Indian entrepreneurs to invest in such industries as pharmacy, cement, steel, fertilizer, information and communications technology and food production, the sources said.

The exhibition will be another Indian event in Yangon after the Confederation of Indian Industry held a "Made in India" industrial show in February 2004, in which iron and steel products, construction materials, medicine and medical equipment, cosmetics, garment, handicraft, leather ware, farming equipment, electronic products and kitchen ware were displayed.

The plan of sponsoring the 2007 SME Exhibition India was discussed between a visiting business delegation of the Indo- Myanmar CCI and its Myanmar counterpart in September last year.

Relations between Myanmar and India have been growing during the past few years with cooperation in all sectors, particularly in those of trade and economy.

The Indian statistics show that Myanmar-India bilateral trade reached 650 million U.S. dollars in the fiscal year 2006-07 which ended in March, up from 557.68 million dollars in 2005-06.

India stands as Myanmar's 4th largest trading partner after Thailand, China and Singapore and also Myanmar's second largest export market after Thailand, absorbing 25 percent of its total exports.

Myanmar figures also show that India's investment in Myanmar had reached 35.08 million dollars in three projects as of September last year, out of Myanmar's total foreign investment of 14.4 billion dollars since late 1988.

Source: Xinhua