Dibrugarh: Border trade between India and Myanmar at Pangsau Pass, suspended for more than six years, is set to resume on July 20, following a bilateral meeting between trade bodies from both sides.Cross-border commerce under the Free Movement Regime (FMR) allows residents living within a 10-km radius on either side of the India-Myanmar border to engage in local commerce and cross-border exchanges.The trade link, which remained shut since Feb 3, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, will reopen after representatives of the Pangsau Bazaar Committee and the Nampong Border Trade Business Association (NBTBA) met their Myanmar counterparts at the Border Haat near Nampong in Arunachal Pradesh’s Changlang district on July 9 to finalise modalities for the resumption.The Indian delegation was led by zilla parishad member Matton Ngaimong, along with NBTBA president Jongkham Morang and general secretary Rahulyong Tikhak. The talks, described as the first bilateral meeting of its kind, concluded on a positive note, with the Myanmar side extending full cooperation for the reopening of cross-border trade.NBTBA president Jongkham Morang said the association was looking forward to normal trading activity resuming after years of disruption. “Our traders and their counterparts across the border have waited a long time for this. We are hopeful this will bring back livelihoods that were lost during the pandemic years,” he said.Expressing optimism over the development, Nampong MLA Laisam Simai said, “The revival of the border haat will significantly boost the local economy by creating better business opportunities and improving the livelihoods of small traders and residents in the region.”Under the Free Movement Regime, the border haat will function on the 10th, 20th and 30th of every month, with participation restricted to eligible residents living within the prescribed 10-kilometre border radius in line with FMR guidelines. The Pangsau Pass, which cuts across mountain ranges, connects Nampong with Myanmar’s Kachin State and has historically served as a key trading point between traders from the Nampong area and their Myanmar neighbours.The push to reopen the haat gained momentum earlier this month. On July 3, Arunachal Pradesh legislator Mohesh Chai raised the issue of resuming border trade at Pangsau Pass with Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal during the Board of Trade meeting at Vanijya Bhawan in New Delhi. Days later, on July 8, Nampong MLA Laisam Simai met Bullo Mamu, Secretary of Trade and Commerce, Govt of Arunachal Pradesh, to discuss the reopening along with other trade-related matters.Following that meeting, an order was issued the same day notifying resumption of the border haat from July 10, along with an SOP to regulate its functioning in a “systematic, transparent and secure manner.”However, since modalities had not yet been finalised between the Pangsau Bazaar Committee, the NBTBA and their Myanmar counterparts, the actual resumption was pushed to July 20 after the July 9 meeting.The govt order also states that provisions under the FMR and other applicable laws and regulations of the Govt of India and Govt of Arunachal Pradesh will govern cross-border movement of persons and related matters at the haat.Officials and trade representatives said the resumption is expected to revitalise local commerce, enhance economic cooperation and strengthen long-standing ties between the border communities of India and Myanmar, many of whom share ethnic and familial links across the international boundary.
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