인도·남아시아

Illegal trade, a long-standing issue in Myanmar and India, hinder the socio-economic development of the both countries. Therefore, this paper discussed illegal trade relations between India and Myanmar with special reference to its impacts on Myanmar socio-economic sectors. It was observed that Myanmar has suffered from many negative impacts, except few positive, of the illegal trade with India on their socio-economic fronts. Illegal trade can be considered in a good way that can improve living standard of the people who involve in the illegal trade activities in Myanmar. Nevertheless, illegal trade is mostly regarded as a barrier to the socio-economic development of the country losing the government's revenues and creating unfair competition on the market, providing a source of corruption, damaging public health and even harming for environment. It is recommended that in order to enhance formal trade cooperation and reduce illegal trade between Myanmar and India, the existing rules and procedures of trade and the range of commodities allowed to be traded in the border trade agreement should be revised and reformulated. It is said, however, that trade liberalization alone will not be able to contribute to promote trade and reduce illegal trade, if a pro-poor trade strategy is not included in the trade regimes of the countries. So, government of Myanmar has to actively engage in tackling down various problems to promote legal trade with government of India, in general and Manipur state government, in particular. If then, certainly the relations between India and Myanmar will be greatly improved. It is also good for the future prospect of sub-regional cooperation such as BIMSTEC and BCIM that bridge between South and Southeast Asian regions.