Border trade at Moreh: the Myanmar gateway’s bumpy road to revival

The twin towns of Moreh and Tamu, separated by a wire fence on the India–Myanmar border, are trading again after months of disruption, with truckloads of lentils, garments and construction material moving in both directions.

The trade had boomed under the Look East Policy, only to slow sharply amid instability in Myanmar’s border regions and the closure of the Kaladan route.

Merchants say the volumes are a third of their peak, but the reopening matters beyond commerce: the border bazaar is also the region’s oldest living example of people-to-people exchange.