Weekly Business Roundup (August 22, 2009)

Indian Traders Call for Action on Deal with Burma

Trade leaders in northeastern India have accused the Indian government of failing to implement a trade agreement with Burma.

The Northeast Federation of International Trade (NEFIT) says the New Delhi government is also failing to use land border links with Burma to promote its so-called Look East trade policy.

The criticism comes as India and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) finally sign a free trade agreement. Burma is the only member of the 10-country association which shares a border with India.

NEFIT is now urging New Delhi to fulfill its earlier commitment to providing leading finance for the construction of a highway linking northeast India with Thailand through Burma.

NEFIT said in a statement this week the new trade route should run from Moreh on the India-Burma border and extend to Mae Sot on the Burma-Thailand border via Mandalay.

The Indo-Burma trade agreement of 1994 calls for the development of road, railway and communications infrastructure, but “the [Indian] government has failed to take any initiative in this direction so far,” said NEFIT president Bijoy Phangcho, quoted in India’s The Asian Age.

He said it was all the more vital to follow through on these plans now that New Delhi had reached a long-delayed free trade agreement with Asean, which comes into force next January. The agreement will get rid of tariffs on 80 percent of goods.

India is Burma’s fourth largest trading partner and the biggest importer by value of Burmese goods after Thailand, with combined trade worth about US $1 billion.

China Trade Undermines Burma Sanctions: US Senator

China’s trade ties with Burma are a major factor in propping up the Burmese military junta, said a US senator who visited the country, met Aung San Suu Kyi and won the freedom of a jailed American.

After leaving Burma, Sen Jim Webb told reporters that trade, including weapons sales, was one of the tools of influence the Chinese had used with the junta.

Webb, who is the chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asia, said continuing trade links by China, Thailand and other Asian countries had undermined economic sanctions against the junta by the United States and European Union.

Webb is among those in Washington now calling for a reappraisal of the US government’s sanctions policy.

France’s Total Faces New Forced Labor Claims

Allegations have resurfaced that forced labor is used in connection with the pipeline that carries gas from French energy giant Total’s Yadana gas field production through Burma into Thailand.

The allegations were made by the human rights group EarthRights International (ERI), which is compiling a new report on labor coerced by Burmese army and police units guarding the pipeline.

ERI is quoted by The Independent newspaper in London as saying it interviewed Burmese villagers this year who gave new evidence that they were recently forced to work on a camp structure for state security personnel guarding the pipeline.

The new allegations are being compiled for a report to be published in September, the paper quoted ERI as saying.

Total, which has slipped through European Union sanctions against Burma to maintain its offshore gas production, which is mostly bought by Thailand, continues to deny persistent reports of pipeline-linked forced labor.

On its Web site, the French giant complains that its Yadana field is a “favorite target of activists who opposed the current [Burmese] government.”

It adds: “Wherever we operate, we are dedicated to developing economically viable projects while adhering to national and international laws and ensuring compliance with our code of conduct.”

China Invites Burmese Firms to Major Regional Trade Fair

Dozens of Burmese firms are to exhibit at a major trade fair in China, according to the official Chinese government news agency.

The fair, at Nanning in Guangxi Province on China’s south coast, will involve all sectors of Burma’s business community “seeking trade promotion” between the two countries, said the Xinhua news agency.

Chinese representatives are meanwhile attending the Yangon Expo, a four-day trade fair currently taking place in Rangoon, Burma’s main commercial center.