18 August

AN inspection team from China is expected to visit Myanmar in August to inspect tissue cul-ture bananas in preparation for importing the fruit from Myan-mar, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

The  move  comes  after  the  Ministry  of  Commerce  ap-proached  China  to  allow  legal  exports of five fruits—pineapple, avocado, lemon, pomelo, and tis-sue culture bananas.

“We replied to queries by the  Chinese  side  about  pests.  They, in turn, told us that a del-egation of experts will visit My-anmar at the end of this month,” said  U  Khin  Maung  Lwin,  As-sistant  Permanent  Secretary,  Ministry of Commerce.

The ministry is also work-ing to get permission for export of  pineapple,  avocado,  lemon,  and pomelo through diplomatic channels.

As  China  accounts  for  95  per cent of its total fruit exports, Myanmar needs to adopt a sys-tematic plan for promoting trade with the neighboring country.

Myanmar  traders  have  been  exporting  tissue  culture  bananas  to  China  through  the  border illegally.  —Thurein Kyaw (Translated by Kyaw Zin Lin)