India starts river project in Myanmar

YANGON - India has begun construction of a river port and waterway terminal in Myanmar, aimed at promoting trade between the two countries.

Construction for the Myanmar-India Kaladan Multimodal Transit Transport Project in Sittway township of Rakhine state began Sunday, Xinhua reported Monday citing official daily New Light of Myanmar.

The construction in the Kaladan river project would be completed by 2013.

India is Myanmar’s fourth largest trading partner after Thailand, China and Singapore.

The Myanmar-India bilateral trade reached $1.19 billion in the 2009-10 fiscal year, a 26.1 percent increase from the previous year, according to official statistics.