The China-ASEAN aquatic products trading center in Mengding Township, Lincang City.

[InKunming--Yunnan]  As China’s 16th border economic cooperation zone, the Lincang Border Economic Cooperation Zone in southwest Yunnan province was approved in 1992.

Since its inception in 2011, the Lincang economic zone has focused on cross-border trade, logistics, finance, tourism, equipment manufacturing and more, facilitating China-Myanmar cooperation.

Lincang City recently held the sixth border-trade fair, during which four projects worth 3.5 billion yuan was signed. Among them, the China Litian holding group invested in production of cars powered by renewable energy, and such investment was brought by the strong momentum of China-Myanmar cooperation.

Along with the openings and completions of the railways, highways, bridges and airports that surrounded the Lincang economic zone, the Myanmar government also pays increasing attention to the zone’s future.

In April 2016, Myanmar State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi approved the Kunlong-Qingshui River Special Economic Zone, following the 125 industrial park approved by the Myanmay Central Government. Such projects contributed to the buildup of the cross border Kunlong bridge.

Now, many China-Myanmar cooperative projects have been put into use, including the Yunnan-Myanmar Railway Museum, the Nansan Exhibition Center for Border Fair. The Mengding Joint-Check Point, the China-Myanmar Avenue, and the Ruijia Sino-Burmese International Agricultural Products Logistics Trade Center are under construction.

The Yunaoda nuts processing mill in the Lincang economic development zone.

In June 2016, the management of the Lincang economic zone met with the Myanmar delegation at the 4th China-South Asia Expo in Kunming, and the two side exchanged views on cooperation in production capacity.

In December 2015, the Qingshuihe port officially became Yunnan’s first channel to allow Chinese and Myanmar citizens to travel freely across the border with a passport.

In the season of sugarcane harvest, Myanmar farmers would ship about five hundred trucks of sugar cane into China via the Lincang zone, and the income of them was guaranteed by fast customs clearance.

As early as 2012, the Lincang Municipal Government signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Agricultural Cooperation with the Shan State Government of Myanmar. The two sides jointly built up the 3-million-mu North Myanmar Agricultural Cooperative Development Zone.

Lincang also joined hands with the Chinese Chamber of Commerce in Myanmar and set up a business representative office there.

At present, 29 Lincang enterprises are doing business in North Myanmar, while 23 Myanmar businesses have presence in the Lincang economic zone. (Source:yunnangateway.com)