India-Myanmar border haats: A vital trade mechanism to enhance livelihoods of tribal and marginalised communities

With shared interests of communities dwelling alongside the border, India and Myanmar must take a people centric approach to strengthen the economic ties at grass root level. Having bilateral trade worth $1.5 billion in 2019-20, its about time to capitalize on the favourable geographical location of Myanmar which is flanked by the Northeast Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland sharing a border of 1,643 kilometres.

Myanmar also offers a vital transit gateway to Southeast Asia to these landlocked Northeastern states through massive land, coastal and inland waterways transport linkages.Besides this establishing border haats with adequate bio-security measures will boost the livelihoods of tribal communities and other marginalised populations.

India-Myanmar border haats together with trading posts and transit infrastructure linkages can facilitate the indigenous people through offering them a platform for commercial activities and hence enhancing their socio economic conditions with shared prosperity on the ground.

Cover image by North East Network