Indo-China border animal / leather trade to resume.

[Guest guest]

Dear friends in China and India,

 

Some more bad news as Indo-China border trade reopens on 6th July,

2006.

Among the 15 importable items from China are goat skin, sheep skin,

wool, raw silk, yak tail, yak hair, china clay, borax, seaibelyipe

rpt seaibelyipe, butter, goat kashmiri, common salt, horse, goat and

sheep.

 

Please read the news report below.

 

Azam Siddiqui

 

www.assamtribune.com ( search in 'northeast' )

 

Nathula trade to be confined to border areas

GANGTOK, June 26 – Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling has

said that the Sino-Indian border trade through Nathula, due to

commence in July, will initially be confined to the areas

surrounding the border and only a limited number of items will be

exported and imported. Addressing a press conference here last

night, Chamling said only 29 items will be exported and 15 imported

through the pass in the beginning.

 

Trade passes with one-year validity will be issued to people who are

either Sikkim subject certificate holders, permanent residents with

land registered in their names or running a business anywhere in the

state with proper licences, he said. Chamling attributed the

forthcoming resumption of border trade between the two Asian giants

through Nathula to his party's consistent efforts over the years.

 

" The Sikkim Democratic Front has consistently worked hard towards

the reopening of this trade route making it a very vital aspect of

its election manifestos in 1994, 1999 and 2004 and here is the

result for everyone to see, " Chamling said. Closed after the Indo-

China War of 1962, Nathula situated at an altitude of 14,500 feet

above sea level in East Sikkim is all set to reopen on July 6.

 

Stating that the reopening of the trade route will open the doors

for the state's rapid economic development, the Chief Minister

appealed to the people of the state, especially the youth, to make

the most of the business opportunities to be generated by it.

 

The 29 items to be traded through the route include agricultural

implements, blankets, copper products, clothes, cycles, coffee, tea,

barley, rice, flour, dry fruits, vegetables, vegetable oil, gur and

misri, tobacco, snuff, spices, shoes, kerosene oil, stationery,

utensils, wheat, liquor, milk processed product, canned food,

cigarettes, local herb, palm oil and hardware, Chamling said.

 

The 15 importable items from China are goat skin, sheep skin, wool,

raw silk, yak tail, yak hair, china clay, borax, seaibelyipe rpt

seaibelyipe, butter, goat kashmiri, common salt, horse, goat and

sheep, he said.

 

The trade volume passing through Nathula will be worth Rs 353 crore

in 2010, Rs 450 crore in 2015 and Rs 574 crore in 2020, the chief

minister said quoting from the report of the state appointed Nathula

trade study group headed by Prof Mahendra P Lama of the Jawaharlal

Nehru University.

 

Seeking to address the apprehensions generated in the minds of the

Sikkimese people by the reopening of Nathula with regard to

environment, influx of goods and migration, the chief minister

said " let me assure that with the full support from the Central

government, we have a strong mechanism to minimise all these

negative impacts.

 

He, however, urged the people of the state to be vigilant against

any forces that may try to misuse and misappropriate the

opportunities generated by this trade route. –PTI