Burma seeks trade with India

Fighting rebels along the border will also be discussed

By Larry Jagan BBC South East Asia analyst

Burma's Foreign Minister, Win Aung, is in India to drum up more trade.

On Monday he addressed senior Indian businessmen and invited them to invest in Burma's industries, especially the agriculture, information technology, infrastructure and energy sectors.

We are opening our doors to trade and investment

Burmese Foreign Minister Win Aung

He held talks with Indian Finance Minister Jaswant Singh, before a planned meeting with his counterpart, Yashwant Sinha.

Indian officials said no major deals were likely to be signed during Win Aung's visit.

But the trip will certainly further enhance the growing bilateral economic ties between the countries.

Strategic

One of Win Aung's main aims on this trip to India is to boost the growing trading relationship between the two countries.

Win Aung: We're ready to trade

Burma is open for business and keen to see Indian entrepreneurs take advantage of the opportunities, he told a meeting of the Confederation of Indian Industries.

Burma's strategic position, at the cross-roads of South Asia and East Asia, he said, meant that Indian investors stood to reap substantial benefits from investing in Burma.

Win Aung also proposed a regional summit of the countries involved in the regional grouping - the Bangladesh, India, Burma, Sri Lanka and Thailand Economic Co-operation (BIMST-EC) - to further boost regional co-operation.

The foreign minister said that, while this forum set up more than five years ago had opened up avenues for bilateral and multilateral co-operation in trade and economic development, more needed still to be done.

He also suggested that this regional co-operation should be expanded to include China.

Trade ties

In the past few years trade between India and Burma has begun to expand rapidly, increasing in value nearly eight-fold in the last decade alone.

Officially, India is now Burma's fourth most important export market, with beans, pulses and wood products being the major export items.

Burma's main imports from India are pharmaceuticals, iron and steel.

But more than anything else, Rangoon is anxious to see more Indian investment in its energy sector.

Indian Government officials told the BBC that there is substantial Indian interest in infrastructure projects, including completing a major highway connecting India's north-east with Thailand, through Mandalay and Rangoon.

India's state-run Oil and Gas Co-operation (ONGC) and the Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) is involved in oil and gas exploration off Burma's western Rakhine coast.

To boost economic ties between the two countries, India's businessmen are now planning to send a delegation from India's north-east to Burma to explore further economic co-operation.

A trade and industry fair called the Made in India Show is also planned in Rangoon for later this year.