Anti-Illegal Trade: Meeting of Anti-Illegal Trade Steering Committee Held

The State Administration Council Vice-Chairman Deputy Prime Minister Vice-Senior General Soe Win addressed the coordination meeting 3/2022 of the Anti-Illegal Trade Steering Committee at the room of the Ministry of Commerce in Nay Pyi Taw in the meeting at 2 pm Tuesday.

In his address, the State Administration Council Vice-Chairman Deputy Prime Minister said that it was the fourth meeting of the Steering Committee and that Anti-Illegal Trade Special Task Forces and staff on OSS duty had become more skilled in performing their work. He noted that the first course to enhance the capacity of staff had been conducted and multiplier courses had also been run at the regional and state-level and also stressed the need for the continuous opening of such courses.

He then pointed out that, after the reconstitution of the Steering Committee, the estimated value of illegal goods seized between January and May 2022 was about K21.771 billion and that the total value of illegal goods confiscated last year was only K13.318 billion.

April 2022, about K5.233 billion worth of illegal goods was seized but in May only K3.633 billion worth of illegal goods were confiscated. The Vice-Senior General Soe Win urged the personnel of the region and state anti-illegal trade special task forces, the customs department and one-stop services to implement their work plans more effectively and in some regions and states, all possible means should be applied to control illegal trade along the trade routes, regular or surprise checks should be carried out at the places where illegal trade starts and illegal goods are stored for distribution and action must be taken.

Finally, the Vice-Senior General recommended that capacity-enhancing courses on anti-illegal trade should be regularly conducted, measures should be taken to ensure that money received from the auctioning of confiscated goods properly flow into the government’s revenues, to take effective action under the rules and regulations, and to hold inter-departmental coordination meetings with broader economic, political and security outlook.