ID :
167483
Fri, 03/11/2011 - 13:03
Auther :

Myanmar closes 20 border ports

BANGKOK, March 11 (TNA) - Myanmar has closed all 20 ports along the Moei River to block all cargo from Mae Sot District of Thailand's northwestern Tak Province since March 9, leaving scores of boats loaded with goods stranded on the river bank on the Thai side.

Myanmar authorities have reportedly ordered the closure of the border ports, banning all trucks and small boats carrying goods from Thailand with violators to be prosecuted.

A Thai member of a joint border committee revealed, quoting his Myanmar counterpart as saying, that the Myanmar government has ordered the closure of the border ports to check on tariffs imposed on goods shipped from Thailand--after a senior military officer had complained that the tariffs were inconsistent with the volume of imports from the Thai side.

Despite the closure of the border ports, scores of Myanmar traders have continued travelling across the border to Mae Sot to purchase Thai products for fears of a prolonged closure of the Myanmar ports.

Thai-Myanmar border trade through small ports along the Moei River just resumed after the general election in Myanmar on November 7 last year--following months of closure for security reasons--although the Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge connecting Mae Sot and Myanmar’s Myawaddy town has remained closed after fighting between government forces and armed ethnic Karens erupted earlier in nearby areas. (TNA)

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