News today that trade between Myanmar and northeast India’s Mizoram State is expected to “take-off” with the completion of new customs buildings. This follows an earlier report from The Times of India that the Indian “commerce ministry…said it would extend all possible assistance to boost exports from Mizoram”.
Broader context on the opening of this trade route is provided by the somewhat surprising source of the Islamic Republic News Agency’s english language edition.
Trade between Mizoram and Myanmar has, of course, been a dream for businesspeople and bureaucrats for decades. Secure and efficient transport links between northeast India and Southeast Asia have the potential to transform many preconceptions of regional economy and society. A truck driving from Guwahati to Bangkok in merely a day or two seems fanciful in 2006. We forget that it’s not that far, and that the historical connections between these two regions are strong in many ways.
Imagine packing the kids in the car and leaving from Chiang Mai on a two-week family trip to Assam. Imagine catching the bus from Aizawl and ending up in Pattaya two days later.
This would be unprecedented. But…in a few short years, we may see northeast India very differently.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Deborshi Purkayastha // Apr 5, 2007 at 7:04 pm
A road link from Guwahati-Shillong-Imphal-Moreh-Mandalay-Yangon-Chaing Mai-Bangkok-Phuket-Kuala Lampur-Singapore will not only give a big boost to tourism but also it will open new doors for trade & commerce. This region has some of the best tourist hot spots and can generate loads of revenue for all governments. I am personally from Shillong buut am working in Mumbai, India. At least personally, i have a dream of driving down the above route.
2 Madan Arora // Mar 24, 2008 at 10:03 am
I am born in Burma, had high schooling at MOHNYIN, Kachin state, then college and professional education in India, now residing in USA. My lifelong dream is to go by road to Burma from India. My parents at one time took Ledo road from Myitkyina to India.
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