A trade zone in Myanmar's border town of Muse linking China's Ruili in Yunnan province will open before February, a Myanmar official responsible for border trade said Monday.

After the inauguration of the border trade zone, also known as the Muse 105 Mile Zone, it will contribute to the development of the trade between Myanmar and China, U San Pyae, director-general of the Directorate of Border Trade of the Ministry of Commerce told a press briefing here.

The border trade zone covers an area of 150 hectares, according to the department.

Beginning 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.

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

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 continued to develop in recent years.

According to figures from the Chinese customs department, Myanmar-China bilateral trade, including the border trade, reached 1.082 billion US dollars in the first 11 months of 2005, up 10.1 percent from the same period of 2004. Of the total, China's exports to Myanmar took 827 million dollars, while its imports from Myanmar represented 255 million, increasing by 4.3 percent and 34.1 percent respectively.

The Chinese statistics also register that bilateral trade between Yunnan province and Myanmar including the border trade amounted to nearly 400 million dollars in 2004, a 25 percent increase from 2003. Yunnan's export to Myanmar reached over 214 million dollars, while its import from Myanmar represented 160 million dollars.

Myanmar and China were striving for an increase of bilateral trade volume to 1.5 billion US dollars.

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

The two countries officially opened the border trade in 1988 and signed the border trade agreement in 1994.

Source: Xinhua