State Administration Council Vice-Chair­man Deputy Prime Minister Vice-Senior General Soe Win delivered a speech at the work coordina­tion meeting 1/2025 of the Ille­gal Trade Eradication Steering Committee at the Ministry of Commerce in Nay Pyi Taw yes­terday.

Speaking at the meeting, the Vice-Senior General, who is also the committee chairman, said that after the 18th coordina­tion meeting of the committee, a total of 589 decisions were made and implemented until the 17th meeting.

Concerning seizures, smuggled and illegal commod­ities worth over K458 billion were seized in 19,000 cases from January 2022 to January 2025. However, it is still lower than the bilateral trade data, and so it needs to accelerate the action to seize more. The regional and state task forces know their routes and should conduct surprise checks in ad­dition to regular check day and night by cooperating with the security forces.

Moreover, he mentioned the instruction of the Prime Minister: “In seizing the un­registered vehicles, it needs to expose and take action against the administrative and secu­rity officials involved in these processes in addition to the of­fenders. The unregistered mo­torcycles will also be exposed. Importing and exporting illegal products can make huge im­pacts on the country, and so ac­tions must be taken effectively,” said the Prime Minister at the meeting with region and state chief ministers who attended the Union-level MSME prod­ucts exhibition and competition opening ceremony held on 12 February 2025.

The Vice-Senior General noted that the Customs Depart­ment and Sagaing Region stood first for the seizure of smug­gled and illegal commodities between December 2024 and January 2025, followed by the Mandalay Region and Yangon Region. Among them, he con­tinued, unregistered vehicles and illegal trucks were seized as the most enormous volume, followed by intermediate goods and capital goods.

In 2024, K44.138 billion worth of smuggled and illegal commodities was seized as the most enormous volume in December, and the seizures showed K65 billion in 2022, over K135 billion in 2023 and K223 billion in 2024 when compared to the different years. He then appreciated the efforts in seiz­ing illegal trade.

The estimated global GDP was valued at US$105 trillion in 2024, with illicit trade and mon­ey laundering resulting in a loss of up to $2.6 trillion, while $2.2 trillion in cross-border trade, $1 trillion in bribery and corrup­tion, over $500 billion in drug trafficking, $500 billion in fraud and copy, $258 billion in environ­mental crimes, and $150 billion in human trafficking.

Illegal trade can cause weakness in peace and securi­ty, including bribery, violence, crime and terrorism financing. Therefore, decisive actions must be taken against the ille­gal trade.

He then highlighted the disadvantages of illegal busi­nesses.

He continued that it is hard to control the illegal entry and exit gates along the border lines while there are entries via illegal routes. Therefore, if the staff assigned duty on main routes along border lines work with loyalty, honesty, compas­sion and goodwill to support the State economy, the illegal trade can be exposed than be­fore. Similarly, there are distri­butions of illegal products by exporting via the border camps and keeping them at the ware­houses near the camps. There­fore, the officials should take action against such doings.

The illegal entry of prod­ucts threatens the national health system of the country, the economy and the future of youths. The illegal exploration of natural resources and ille­gal imports by illegal exporters can destroy the ecosystem. The MSME business people make efforts to support the State economy and if there are entries of illegal products, raw materi­als and substandard products and they create a competitive market, the local entrepreneurs cannot compete at all. There­fore, combatting illegal trade is a supportive measure for the State economy and MSMEs.

He then mentioned the need to ensure the correct in­formation and safety of inform­ers, awards for informers and those who make seizures, pub­lic awareness programmes via state-owned newspapers, TV and radio stations and private news agencies, proper prepa­rations to prevent traffic jams at the trade camps, inspection camps and outposts in relevant regions and states, and collab­orative actions of committee members, region/state illegal trade eradication task forces, staff and people in combatting illegal trade and ensuring the stability of MSME products, safety of consumers and State budgets.

He also called for attendees to work together to combat the unlawful trade.

After hearing the reports made by the attendees, the Vice-Senior General coordinat­ed all discussions and reports. – MNA/KTZH