Thailand optimistic on border reopening

By Aye Thidar Kyaw
July 25 - 31, 2011

THAILAND’S business community is hoping that the election of Yingluck Shinawatra’s Puea Thai Party on July 3 will lead to the reopening of the Myawaddy-Mae Sot border crossing.

The border checkpoint has been closed since July 12 last year when Myanmar’s government objected to Thai development on the Moei River, which forms the border.

The border closure was followed by heavy fighting between ethnic rebels and Tatmadaw troops in Myawaddy in early November.

However, with a new government in place in Bangkok and fighting stopped for now, businesspeople from both sides of the border say they are hoping the crossing will be reopened for trade.

“We’ve had a big problem regarding the border crossing at Mae Sot,” said Mr Prajuab Supinee, a commercial counsellor at the Thai embassy in Yangon.

“We’re trying to cooperate with the new government to see what policy will be set [regarding the Myawaddy-Mae Sot crossing],” Mr Prajuab said.

“The first thing we are trying to do is to better inform the new government about the trading relationship between Thailand and Myanmar,” he said.

Mr Prajuab said the crossing had been the most important between the two countries.

The crossing accounted for as much as 60 percent of bilateral border trade, before it was closed,” he said.
Since then traders have shifted their attentions to Kawthoung- Ranong.

But one Thai foodstuffs importer based at Kawthoung said the crossing into Thailand was too slow during the monsoon months.

“There are too many difficulties for Thai exporters here because we have too many problems to solve at once; too many things can go wrong and slow a delivery. The Myawaddy-Mae Sot crossing was much more convenient,” Mr Prajuab said.

He added that border trade through Kawthoung-Ranong had increased by up to 400pc since the Myawaddy-Mae Sot closure.

A Ministry of Commerce official said the reopening of the crossing at Myawaddy depended on Thailand.
“I think the new Thai prime minister will be helpful towards boosting trade and investment between Myanmar and Thailand,” he said.