STATE Administration Council Vice-Chairman Deputy Prime Minister Vice-Senior General Soe Win delivered a speech at the work coordination meeting 5/2024 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 after the 17th coordination meeting of the committee, a total of 560 decisions were made and implemented until the 16th meeting. Effective actions should be taken to combat the illegal trade as it causes losses to consumers and local business people. Moreover, illegal trade can cause revenue losses for the country. There is the cost of illegal trade combatting activities. In the local production sector, the imported substandard raw materials can make products of low quality for the local entrepreneurs. Moreover, it can be harmful to the local consumers and substandard products in the international market, and the market share of the country can be affected seriously.
Fake and substandard raw materials imported from foreign countries without any guarantees can affect the local production sector and cause losses. Moreover, illegal trading in various forms can affect the economic growth of the country and receivable revenues like commercial tax, income tax and special commodities tax, and show a decline in the GDP of the State. He also stressed the duties of the steering committee, region and state special task forces to crack down on illegal trade effectively and decisively, and the serious consequences of unlawful trade in the economic sector.
Every government in the country drafts policies for political, economic and social affairs. The SAC also set the policies in these fields and the ministries, state and region governments, organizations and entrepreneurs should find their proper ways in their respective regions to overcome the limitations and challenges in implementing the economic policy of the country without any delays.
He continued that Myanmar is an agriculture-based country, and US$14.641 billion worth of products were exported in the 2023-2024 financial year and the export volume reached US$9.825 billion until November of 2024- 2025 financial year. Therefore, the departments concerned should make efforts for the agriculture, livestock and breeding sectors this financial year to develop the export sector.
He added that smuggled and illegal commodities worth K379.247 billion were seized in 17,258 cases from January 2022 to November 2024.
Concerning seizures in Myanmar, the Vice-Senior General noted that the Customs Department and Mandalay Region stood first for the seizure of smuggled and illegal commodities in September, October and November 2024, followed by the Kayin State and Kachin State. Among them, he continued that unregistered vehicles and illegal commodities were seized as the most enormous volume, followed by intermediate goods and capital goods.
Although the monthly seizures show an increase in 2024, the record of export and import data of trading partner countries shows huge gaps when compared with the export and import data of the country.
Therefore, the steering committee and special task forces are needed to accelerate their actions four times than before.
He then highlighted the instruction of the Prime Minister to double the current export volumes and added that illicit trade brings huge hindrances to the MSMEs and local entrepreneurs in their production sectors.
He also pointed out that the people informed 204 illegal trading in September, October and November 2024, of which 79 were false news, four were late news, and 121 were accurate news. A high number of trustworthy news outlets show supportive measures to carry out duties more effectively.
A total of K5 billion worth of illegal goods were seized from 242 cases.
He urged the MSME entrepreneurs to get rights for their products as the country enacts The Trademark Law, the Industrial Design Law, the Patent Law and the Copyright Law. The responsible agencies should facilitate the application processes and take action against those who break the law. Intellectual Property rights are complicated and can cause transnational crimes. According to the findings of CECD and WIPO, the value of international trade in counterfeit goods was estimated at US$509 billion, the equivalent of three per cent of world trade. 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
