Indo-Myanmar Border Trade: Status, Problems and Potentials

India shares 1643 km long border with Myanmar that passes through the northeastern states of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland. Although cross-border contact and movement of people are known through, but they have not led to any strong economic interdependence between the regions across the border so far. The state-centric security perception, both in India and Myanmar, treated this border as vulnerable periphery. As a result, the “idea of shared border” and border area development through mobilizing the synergies across the border did not receive due attention from the national power centers. The geo-economic potentials of the border regions were far outweighed by the geo-political considerations. This situation has, however, changed following the end of the cold-war paradigm, rise of South East Asian tigers, and release of forces of globalization. While the demise of the bi-polar world has freed the nations, who seek to forge new strategic partnership, the globalizing forces have brought economic interest in the forefront of nation’s foreign policy. With the growth of regional trading arrangements, border areas are now viewed as economic corridors rather than far flung peripheries. It is from this perspective that the contributors in this volume have examined the status, problems and potentials of Indo-Myanmar border trade based on resource, production and demand structures across the border. The book also attempts to figure out the implications of India’s Look East Policy for her north eastern region. It also pleads for treating “border trade” as a strategic tool for the economic development of the hitherto neglected regions across the border.