Local businesses are optimistic that the second Thailand-Myanmar Friendship Bridge, inaugurated today (October 30), will boost cross-border trade.
The bridge, which is anticipated to be essentially the most effective connection between Tak Province and Myanmar’s most vital cities, connects to the Mae Sot-Myawaddy Permanent Border Inspection Point and the Mae Sot-Myawaddy Customs Inspection Point, post office in Bangkok reported.
The opening of the second Thailand-Myanmar Friendship Bridge is anticipated to spice up Thailand’s cross-border trade as all goods transport routes might be redirected to a brand new route within the East-West Economic Corridor (EWEC), said Suchat Triratwatthana, a businessman and adviser to the Taka Chamber of Commerce.
EWEC can be often known as the R9 route, which serves Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Myanmar.
Goods transport on all remaining border routes through Myanmar to a 3rd country will likely be redirected to this latest route and thru the Mae Sot-Myawaddy customs checkpoint, he added.
He added that this latest route is currently the fastest and most convenient method to reach Myanmar’s most vital cities.
According to Xinhuathe most recent data from the Department of Foreign Trade shows that the worth of border trade between Thailand and Myanmar in the primary eight months of 2019 was 133.86 billion baht ($4.396 billion), a rise of 4.73% in comparison with the identical period last yr yr.
However, the export value was only 68.9 billion baht ($2.262 billion), down 4.1 percent, while imports were 64.9 billion baht ($2.131 billion), a rise of 16.08 billion.
Thai Chamber of Commerce vice-chairman Niyom Wairatpanij said the second Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge would raise the worth of border trade exports to 100 billion baht from the present 80 billion baht ($2.6 billion).
Thailand’s predominant exports to Myanmar included diesel and refined oil, capital goods, construction tools and machinery.
