Bilateral trade between India and Myanmar is set to resume via Manipur’s Moreh-Tamu border after a gap of two years.

The border management (BM) division of the Ministry of external affairs had sent an advisory to the chief secretary of Manipur, Rajesh Kumar to resume India-Myanmar border trade earlier this week.

The joint secretary of the BM division of MEA, Smita Pant wrote to Manipur chief secretary, “We have now been approached by the Myanmar side to open the border gates for resuming border trade between India and Myanmar. All concerned stakeholders in the Government of India and the Manipur state government have recommended opening border gate no 1 at the ICP, Moreh.”

The government of Manipur will soon issue orders to resume the trade between the two neighbouring countries, according to reports.

Meanwhile, traders from both nations are keen on the resumption of trade between India and Myanmar through Moreh and Mizoram’s Zokhawthar, which has also remained closed for many years, in a bid to curb the illegal trade of various items and especially narcotics.

It may be noted that the official trade route through Moreh Integrated Check Post (ICP) were closed since March 2020 following the Covid-19 outbreak.

This alongside Zokhawthar in Mizoram are two of the most important international trading points along the 1,643 kilometers long India-Myanmar unfenced border.