Myanmar has agreed to study the possibility of lowering its tariffs on imported Taiwanese fabrics, a move seen as a goodwill gesture following an economic dialogue held by Taiwan and Myanmar, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said on Saturday.
A Taiwanese delegation, led by Bureau of Foreign Trade Director-General Yang Jen-ni (楊珍妮), visited Myanmar from Wednesday to Saturday last week, and met with economic authorities in the Southeast Asian nation.
After their meeting, the two sides signed a joint statement pledging to facilitate trade and investment between the two nations.
The ministry said the dialogue with Myanmar prompted the nation to consider cutting tariffs on Taiwan-made fabrics.
Importers of Taiwanese fabrics in Myanmar are currently required to pay import duties of 5 percent to 15 percent, according to the ministry. It did not say if fabrics made in other nations receive preferential tariff treatment from the country.
KEY EXPORT ITEM
The ministry said fabrics are one of Taiwan’s few key export items to Myanmar, accounting for 14 percent of Taiwan’s outbound sales to the nation, with exports worth US$32 million.
Taiwan also agreed to discuss further the possibility of exporting agricultural equipment and modified vegetable seeds and rice seeds to the emerging market with Myanmar in the future, the ministry said.
The two sides agreed to work together on commodity inspection technology to lower trading costs, and Taiwan pledged to help Myanmar set up a system to speed up the goods clearance process at customs.
The ministry said Taipei and Naypyidaw have also reached a consensus to improve exchanges of information on trade, which is expected to help Taiwanese exporters analyze the Myanmar market before developing strategies to get involved there.
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