Vice-Chairman of the State Administration Council Deputy Prime Minister Vice-Senior General Soe Win, who is in the capacity of the Chairman of the Illegal Trade Eradication Steering Committee, attended the 2/2024 work coordination meeting of the committee which was held at Nyilarkhan Hall of the Ministry of Commerce in Nay Pyi Taw on 15 May, and delivered a speech as follows:
- After reconstituting the steering committee, seizures of illegal trade volume approximately amounted to K250.176 billion in 12,430 cases up to April 2024.
- Regarding the seizures of smuggled and illegal commodities in regions and states including Nay Pyi Taw Council Area, Mandalay Region stood first, followed by Kachin State, Taninthayi Region.
- In terms of smuggled goods categories, vehicles and machinery including unregistered vehicles and illegal commodities were seized as the most enormous volume, followed by intermediate goods and capital goods.
- In the ASEAN region, increasing of illegal trade has caused not only financial losses to governments and businesses but also significantly affected biodiversity, human lives and rights.
- It is reported that the main cause of the problem has been described as cigarettes, alcohol, beverages, toys and games consoles, vehicle parts, medicines, agricultural chemicals, pesticide and violation of copyrights.
- As the country is abundant in natural resources and is an agricultural country, products from natural resources and agricultural business are mainly exported to other countries.
- As the country suffers losses in revenue and negative effects due to illegal trade, the government, the private sectors as well as the people are required to make concerted efforts to eliminate illegal trade.
- Online sales of medicines, cosmetics, food, and most consumer goods locally are being imported through illegal routes.
- Therefore, special teams and One Stop Service (OSS) departments, along with the FDA and CID, regularly work to prevent and deter these activities. As such, they are urged to arrest regularly, make arrest in disguise and arrest as per the tip-off.
- Illegal trade causes a decline in legal export volume and foreign exchange income. Moreover, the payment of illicit routes causes black markets, causing difficulties in calculating the income and expense of the State and obstacles to adopting the financial and monetary policies.
After that, Steering Committee Secretary Deputy Minister for Commerce U Min Min and officials made sector-wise reports. After hearing the reports, the Committee Chairman coordinated all discussions and delivered a concluding remark.
Also present at the meeting were union ministers Lt-Gen Yar Pyae and U Tun Ohn, deputy ministers, the chairman of the Revenue Appellate Tribunal, members of the Nay Pyi Taw Council, permanent-secretaries, directors-general, chairmen and officials of organizations. Moreover, chairmen of regional and state special committees for eradication of illegal trade participated in the meeting through videoconferencing.
Source: MWD (16-5-2024)
- After reconstituting the steering committee, seizures of illegal trade volume approximately amounted to K250.176 billion in 12,430 cases up to April 2024.
- Regarding the seizures of smuggled and illegal commodities in regions and states including Nay Pyi Taw Council Area, Mandalay Region stood first, followed by Kachin State, Taninthayi Region.
- In terms of smuggled goods categories, vehicles and machinery including unregistered vehicles and illegal commodities were seized as the most enormous volume, followed by intermediate goods and capital goods.
- As the country suffers losses in revenue and negative effects due to illegal trade, the government, the private sectors as well as the people are required to make concerted efforts to eliminate illegal trade.
- Special teams and One Stop Service (OSS) departments, along with the FDA and CID, regularly work to prevent and deter these activities. As such, they are urged to arrest regularly, make arrest in disguise and arrest as per the tip-off.