By Maria Siow | Posted: 28 March 2012 2123 hrs
RUILI, Yunnan province: As Myanmar opens up to the outside world, its neighbours stand to gain from its efforts to seek greater regional and international engagement.
China's Ruili, which borders Myanmar, is one such neighbour that looks forward to the relaxation of the former military dictatorship.
Located in China's southwestern Yunnan province, Ruili is known for its Myanmar influence.
Its location right next to Myanmar means it has quick and easy access to jade and jewellery from the Southeast Asian nation.
With over 5,000 jewellery companies and distributors, Ruili is one of China's four major jewellery distribution centres.
Local authorities hope to transform Ruili into an international jewellery centre within the next few years.
In addition, local traders hope with the opening up of Myanmar, trade and tourism here will take off in an even bigger way.
Jewellery shop manager Yang Cuibo said: "Our customers are mainly from Beijing, Shanghai, Shandong, Northeast China, Hangzhou, Zhejiang and Guangxi.
"We also have foreign customers. We don't just sell. We have our own factory and are involved in the entire process of extracting and processing."
Indeed, some Chinese have already grown rich on Myanmar jade.
Sichuan businessman Gu Yonggui said: "The prices of top quality jade had increased by 300 times over the past 10 years. The most lucrative is raw jade. It's really amazing."
Myanmar traders in China hope more business opportunities will become available after Myanmar opens up.
Shop proprietor Win Naing said: "We sell mainly to wholesalers. We also sell raw jade, pendants and bracelets."
Myanmar jade is globally renowned, and 95 per cent of the world's best and top grade emerald comes from Myanmar.
Like most border towns in China, the city of Ruili has made a name for itself in the development of trade and tourism.
But the growing and closer interactions between China and Myanmar has also brought with it both illegal and illicit activities.
These include the illegal entry of goods and humans, as well as drug trafficking.
Plans are under way to turn Ruili into a centre of border trade between China and Myanmar.
So as more inter-border opportunities become more abundant, greater cooperation will also be needed to ensure illegal activities are kept at bay.
- CNA/wk
Link : http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/southeastasia/view/1191817/1/.html
No comments:
Post a Comment