The visit comes as the state seeks to boost tourism and trade with the opening of a new border crossing with Thailand.
Vice-President Henry Van Thio was in the Kayah (Karenni) State capital Loikaw this weekend to discuss tourism and border trade, which he said were vital for the state’s economic development.
Speaking at the Kayah State Hall in Loikaw on Sunday, the vice-president said that the opening of a border-trade route through Border Post 13 in the town of Maesae would be the key to developing tourism in the state.
“If we can open a border-trade route, the tourism business will develop in Kayah state. Tourism is an essential sector for the state’s economic development. We are payingclose attention to this. That’s why I am in KayahState,” he said in his opening speech.
Thevice-president and other senior Union-government officials met with Kayah State Chief Minister El PhoungSho and other state-level officials and government staff during the visit.
They also observed border-trade routes between Loikaw and Bawlakhe, Hpasoung and Maesae.A border-trade camp was opened in Maesae Township, opposite Thailand’s Mae Hong Son Province, on October 26, 2016.
Despite close relations between Kayah State and Mae Hong Son Province (their capitals are sister cities), however, the Thais have yet to open a trading center on their side of the border.
The reason, according toPrachuabArjaraphong, the deputy administrator of Mae Hong Son Province, is that the border area is a wildlife-conservation zone. Plans to expand border trade will therefore depend on the results of an environmental impact assessment, he said.
“If the survey result shows there is no impact on the natural forest or wild animals, we will take back this area from the wildlife conservation department. After that, we can fix the road and it will be ready,” he told Kantarawaddy Times in February.
According to official figures, border trade at the Maesae camp was valued at US$447,000 in the 2016-2017 financial year, $959,000 in 2017-2018, and $1.299 million in 2018-2019.
The vice-president and other officials also visited the Moe Byae hydropower dam, the HteeSaeKharwaterfall in LoikawTownship, the Ngwe Tawng dam, Pan Pet village and BeeluChaung in DemosoTownship during their stay in the state.
