Myanmar to expand investigations into illegal trade at international gateways

The Myanmar government task force responsible for cracking down illegally exports and imports will expand investigations into illegal trade at Yangon's busiest international gateways starting July 2, a senior trade official said here Friday.
Under the Prevention and Control of Illegal Trading Central Committee, the Mobile Team formed with customs and police officials as well as port authorities will prioritize the inspection at the six main international gateways including Yangon International Airport, said U Nyunt Aung, deputy director general of the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, the Ministry of Commerce.
Ports in Yangon routinely handle about 80 percent of the nation 's imports and exports.
U Nyunt Aung stressed that the elimination of contraband goods will protect consumers, tax collection, and free-and-fair trading competition.
According to official data, 17.51 billion kyats (18.05 million U.S. dollars) worth of contraband goods were seized in border trade during the law enforcement checks on border trade from November 2012 to June 2014.
Myanmar's normal trade amounted to 6.88 billion U.S. dollars in the first five months this year.
In fiscal year 2013-14 (April-March), Myanmar's foreign trade reached 24.963 billion U.S. dollars, of which normal trade accounted for 20.375 billion U.S. dollars while border trade made up 4.588 billion U.S. dollars.
In 2013, the Central Statistical Organization said that Myanmar 's border trade hit 4.68 billion U.S. dollars, of which export stood at 2.9 billion U.S. dollars while import was 1.83 billion U. S. dollars.
Myanmar's border trade is conducted at 14 points with four neighboring countries, namely China, Thailand, Bangladesh and India.