Outdated Tradable Item list Hindering Nathula Trade

Source:Sikkim Mail

Gangtok: September 13:

The trade along Nathula border in respect to import is not doing fine since 2010 as even this year the import from China till date is recorded nil. Based on the report of Superintendent of Customs, Land Custom Station(LCS), Serathang the export for the month of May 2011 is recorded to about Rs. 12 lakhs 70 thousand, June is Rs. 44 lakhs, 45 thousand, July Rs. 21lakhs 26thousand and in the month of August is Rs. 48 lakhs 41 thousand respectively. The total export made since May 2011 till August is about Rs. 1,26,82000/- respectively which in comparison to the figures of 2010 is quite less as the export met in the year 2010 since May till November is Rs. 4 crores 2 lakhs.

The items in demand for export in the Nathula trade out of 29 listed items by Government of India are cane food, utensils, textiles, copper items, tea, snuffs, spices, vegetable oils and blankets, the most demanded items are only nine out of 29 listed items which states that the traders currently carrying out trade along Nathula are not making much profit or are least benefited. On the other hand the 15 listed items for import are goat skin, sheep skin, wool, raw silk, yak tail, yak hair, china clay, borax, seaibelyipe, butter, goat
kashmiri, common salt, horse, goat and sheep respectively but the items listed for import or export are not much of demand or out dated.

Considering the revision of items listed for both export and import the Government of Sikkim along with the concerned department has been referring Government of India for necessary changes so that the traders along borders would be benefited out of trade since 2006 the year of inception but even after completion of the 5th year no response or changes in the items listed for Nathula trade has been revised. Adding more to it, the traders trading along Nathula used to carry out the trade of Chinese items not listed since long but that too has been strictly banned. If the revision or list is not met with soon or relaxation of trading of non listed items in less quantity then the idea of opening the age old trade route (silk route) would again lose its value and the intention of both the government of facilitating the people residing along the border will not be met at all.

SIKKIM: Nathu La border trade to resume on May three

Gangtok, Apr 19 (PTI) Border trade between India and China via the Nathu La pass in Sikkim will resume this year from May 3, an official release said here today.

The process to issue trade passes to interested traders will soon begin at the East Sikkim District Collector’s office soon, the release said.

The number of goods on the trade list remains unchanged this year with 29 items on export list from India and 15 items on the import list from Tibet Autonomous region.

Border trade between India and China through the 14,200 feet high Nathu-La pass resumed in 2006 after a gap of over 40 years. Both countries had signed an agreement for reopening the silk route for bilateral trade involving the traders of Sikkim and Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR).

Last year’s trade saw Indian traders register an export volume of Rs 1.35 crore.

Nathu La border trade from May 3

Gangtok, April 16

The fifth season of Nathu La border trade between Sikkim and Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) is expected to start from May 3, though official confirmation from the Centre is yet awaited. Meanwhile, the East District Collectorate has opened its office from April 12 for receiving applications for trade passes . However, the passes would be issued only after the official confirmation of the dates of opening of the Nathu La border trade from the Centre, said DC (East), Mr D. Anandnan. in a press statement. The district collector appealed to those interested in participating in the border trade to apply for the trade passes to his office, District Administrative Centre, Sichey in the prescribed format with necessary enclosures.

Last year, the Nathu La border trade commenced in the second week of May and closed on November 30. — Sarikah Atreya

ITBP to get 1st women’s battalion to be posted in Sikkim.


The second month of the new year will be a historic one for the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), when the first women’s battalion of the paramilitary force passes out.

The battalion, comprising 380 women, is at present undergoing a 44-week training; they will pass out in the first week of February. The battalion will be deployed along the Indo-China border at Nathu La in Sikkim and on the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra to escort pilgrims, ITBP Director-General Vikram Srivastava said on Friday.

“This has been a busy year for ITBP. Besides getting new battalion, lands sanctioned and training personnel, we are also looking at rotating battalions from higher altitudes to lower altitudes,” he said.

Speaking on the sidelines of a function organised by Himveer Wives’ Welfare Association (HWWA), the ITBP’s welfare arm, Srivastava said the 380 trainees were recruited after four companies were sanctioned for women.

Exports to China hit new peak
- Nathu-la trade up

Source; Telegraph


Gangtok, Dec. 2: Landslides and inclement weather this monsoon did little to dampen trade with China through Nathu-la with Indian exports crossing the crore mark for the first time at the end of the fourth season of trading that ended on Monday.

According to data provided by the Sikkim commerce and industries department, the total exports from India this season stood at over Rs 1.35 crore, surpassing the Rs 95 lakh that was recorded in the last season.

With obsolete items making up the trade list of the Tibet Autonomous Region — it includes yak pelt, sheep wool, borax (a cleaner and disinfectant) and salt — the imports from TAR was dismal till last month when items worth Rs 2.95 lakh were sold to the Sikkimese buyers.

Senior officials of the commerce and industries department said the Indian exports comprised mainly canned food, textiles, utensils, vegetable oils, tea, dry fruit and spices. According to the agreement between the two countries, India can export 29 items, while traders from TAR can send only 15.

Customs officials at Nathu-la at 14,400ft said 3,737 Chinese buyers came over to the Sherathang trade mart on the Indian side, while 1,157 Indian businessmen crossed over to the Renquinggang trading post on the Chinese side.

“There was absolute goodwill between the two sides at the closing ceremony yesterday. However, the demand for revising the list of items that can be imported from China still remains a contentious issue,” said a senior government official present at the event. The Sikkim director for commerce and industries, Ujjwal Gurung, had hosted a lunch for the traders.

Sources in the Indo-China Traders’ Association said the traders from TAR had boycotted trade in May and June this year demanding that the list of items be revised.

S.K. Sarda, the president of the Sikkim Chamber of Commerce, welcomed the rise in the export volume. “It is a positive development, as the volume of trade picked up in the second half of the season. I have positive feedback from Delhi that a revised list of items for import has been approved and there should be some good news at the year-end,” Sarda said.

He also said traders from Sikkim would have an advantage over their counterparts from other states when the trade is opened to all. “The Indian government had allowed only traders from Sikkim to do commerce through Nathu-la for the first five years and the next season, starting in March 2010, will be the last,” Sarda added.

TIBET TURNS A LINK IN INDO-CHINA TIES

“Tibet is changing from being a barrier to a region linking China and India together,” Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo has said.

Mr. Yeo, who visited Tibet last month, said in a recent article that economically, there was much to be gained by improving road and rail links between Tibet and South Asia.”

“Indeed, the Chinese have suggested that Lhasa and Calcutta [Kolkata] be linked by rail,” Mr. Yeo emphasised. In his view, however, “the Indian government is understandably apprehensive about moving too quickly.”

Seeing the issue in a contemporary perspective, Mr. Yeo wrote: “Scars of the 1962 War are still raw in India. When the Indian Army moved to liberate Bangladesh in December 1971, an important factor it considered was the winter snow preventing the Chinese Army from interfering through the mountain passes. Thus, the reopening of the 4,400-metre-high Nathu La Pass in July 2006 was politically significant. As part of it, China recognised India’s ownership of Sikkim.

Hundreds of kilometres of fibre optic cables have been laid in this year from Yadong in Tibet to Siliguri in West Bengal with an initial capacity of 20 gigabytes per second.”

The rapid growth of China-India trade in the past 10 years and the emergence of China as India’s biggest trading partner marked just “the beginning” of new economic linkages between the two Asian neighbours. “Common economic interests are driving the two countries into closer political cooperation, both bilaterally and internationally.”

In this emerging China-India economic context, “Tibet is both an opportunity and an issue.” According to Mr. Yeo, “the economic opportunity is obvious, but rapid development has brought about great stress to the Tibetan way of life, [and] this complicates bilateral relations between China and India.”

Yet, “Tibet is [also] part of a much larger Asian drama that is changing the world.” China and India “will supply much of the talent for global development in this century,” and how they “relate to each other in the coming decades will affect everyone,” Mr. Yeo wrote

CHAMBER DEMANDS REVIEW OF TRADE LIST THRU NATHU LA

SIKKIM CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
GANGTOK

PRESS RELEASE DT.1 MAY 2009

Nathu la trade enters the fourth season beginning 4th May 2009 when Department of Commerce, Government of Sikkim is organsing a function wherein traders have been invited to participate in the opening function to be held at Sherathang Trade Mart on the Indian Side. The timing of the programme has been fixed at 9 AM on 4th May 2009.

Around 50 applications have already been submitted at DC office for issue of Trade Pass.
These trade passes are issued to those residents of Sikkim who have got a trade licence issued by Local Self Government, Government of Sikkim. The traders can also get permission to take their vehicle upto Chinese trade post located 14 km down Nathu la..

The participation in the past three years have chiefly been from the residents of border areas of Sikkim. The trade lists which was notified by a public notice No 20(RE-2006)2004-2009 dt 13th June 2006 remains the same even for the current season allowing 15 items for import and 29 items for export from Sikkim,India.

The list remains obsolete

We urge Commerce Ministry to review this list immediately so that a viable and vibrant trade can start over Nathu la.

S.K.Sarda
President
Sikkim Chamber of Commerce
Gangtok

NATHU LA TRADE THIS SEASON

Nathu La trade sluggish, Sikkim wants more items on trading list

September 24, 2008
Nathu La (Sikkim): Bilateral trade between Asian giants India and China through the Nathu La pass on the fabled Silk Route has remained sluggish this year and Sikkim is mounting pressure on New Delhi to expand the list of tradable items to boost business, officials said Wednesday.

"Since trade re-opened on May 19, the two countries did business worth just about Rs.2.6 million," Ujwal Gurung, Sikkim's director of industry and commerce, told IANS.

"There is a need to broaden the list of both importable and exportable items for boosting trade and hence we have urged New Delhi to include at least 15 more items," he added.

The two Asian giants in July 2006 reopened trade across the 15,000-feet (4,545-metre) Nathu La pass, 52 km east of Sikkim's capital Gangtok, as part of a broader rapprochement. The move marked the first direct trade link between the nuclear-armed neighbours since a bitter border war in 1962.

Under an agreement reached between the two countries, trade takes place four days a week - Monday to Thursday - beginning May each year and lasting until Nov 30, when snow closes down the pass.

The sluggish border trade between the two countries is due to restrictions in tradable items - India can import 15 items from China including silk, yak pelts and horses, and export 29 goods that include textiles, tea, rice, vegetables and herbs.

Bilateral trade in 2006 through Nathu La saw business worth about Rs.2 million with Indian traders doing business worth about Rs.1.1 million. Last year, the volume of trade was to the tune of Rs 2.6 million.

Although two-way trade was slow in the first two seasons, about 1,200 Chinese traders crossed the border separated by a rusty barbed wire marker to the bazaar of Sherathang, five km below the pass on the Indian side.

About 700 Indian traders headed to the Renqinggang interim market in Tibet on the Chinese side, 16 km from the border, during the first two seasons.

"There were some restrictions from the Chinese side this season due to the recently concluded Beijing Olympics and hence the volume of trade is not that high," Gurung said.

Businessmen from both sides of the border were also seeking a broadening of the list of items traded through the Nathu La pass.

"The list of tradable items should be increased and include commodities like locally made beer, medicines, jam, processed food products, floriculture and horticultural products so that business grows," said S.K. Sarda, president of the Sikkim Chamber of Commerce.

"The Chinese traders have been selling just yak pelts and sheep wool. It is imperative that the two countries decide to review the present export-import list," he added.

In 2003, Beijing gave up its territorial claim over the Indian state of Sikkim but is still holding on to its age old stand that a vast stretch of Arunachal Pradesh belongs to it.

China has never recognised the 1914 boundary, known as the McMahon Line, and claims 90,000 sq km (34,750 square miles) - nearly all of Arunachal Pradesh in India's northeast. India also accuses China of occupying 38,000 sq km (14,670 square miles) in Jammu and Kashmir.
SOURCE: IANS