A border trade and industrial zone in Myanmar's border town of Muse linking China's Ruili will open by early next year, a local journal reported in its latest issue.

The Muse border trade and industrial zone, also known as the Muse 105 Mile Zone, covers an area of 150 hectares, said the Flower News.

Once it is established, the zone will serve as a model one for emergence of more such zones in other areas, it said.

Beginning in December 1988, Myanmar set up border trade offices in Lashio, Muse, Namhkam and Kunlong, and started implementation of border trade system in 1991 with China and India.

As a follow-up, in 1995, Muse area was selected and opened as a border trade point with China with one-stop service being introduced.

According to the report, trading activities in Muse are being carried out with momentum with goods flow registering at about 200 tons daily. Commodity items flowing into Myanmar by way of the Muse trade route include machinery and construction material.

Aiming to promote border trade with China, the Myanmar authorities designated 180 land plots under four categories for sale beginning in March this year, according to business circle.

The building of such sale centers is jointly undertaken by three private companies, the sources said.

Myanmar has opened six border trade points with China, of which Muse stands as the one with greater trade transactions. The country plans to open more such points to further enhance the bilateral trade with China.

Meanwhile, Myanmar has also been working to transform border trade to normal trade to enhance the bilateral trade between the two countries.

Bilateral economic and trade relations between Myanmar and China have been developing continuously in recent years.

According to Chinese official statistics, Myanmar-China bilateral trade, including the border trade, reached 1.145 billion US dollars in 2004, up 6.3 percent from 2003. Of the total, China's exports to Myanmar took 938 million dollars, while its imports from Myanmar represented 207 million.

The two countries are striving for an increase of bilateral trade volume to 1.5 billion dollars by the end of this year.

Myanmar's rich natural resources, including mining, agricultural and forest products, have vast market in China, while Myanmar consumers like Chinese goods.

Myanmar and China officially opened the border trade in 1988 and signed the border trade agreement in 1994.

Source: Xinhua