Madhurjya Prasad Bezbaruah

Indo-myanmar Cross-border Trade: a Passage to Asian Prosperity or a Dead End Madhurjya Prasad Bezbaruah

End of the Cold War followed by successful conclusion of the Uruguay Round in the last decade of the twentieth century saw a surge in economic integration among countries around the globe. The climate of trans-national economic cooperation opened up the prospect of increased cross-border trade among neighbouring countries. In virtually land-locked Northeast Region of India, which is surrounded by China, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Bhutan, border trade came to be seen as the means of breaking free from the shackles of geographical isolation that had inflicted the region since partition of the country in 1947. However, as years rolled by without border trade imparting any visible impact, optimism started to give way to scepticism. The present work takes up a detailed probe into the prospects of Indo-Myanmar border trade and comes up with a number of alternative scenarios. It concludes with identification of critical areas of intervention for realising the best case scenario. The book should be of interest to anyone concerned with the economy and the society in the troubled territories of Northeast India and Myanmar.