Actual trading begins through Nathula

Gangtok:Actual trading between India and China through Nathula has resumed after a gap of 44 years with traders from both the countries visiting the marts on either side of the border and transacting business worth Rs 70,000. While around eight traders from the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) came over to Sherathang trading mart yesterday and sold raw wool worth Rs 30,000 about five traders from Sikkim went to the Requinggang trading mart and sold rice and foodgrains worth nearly Rs 40,000, Sikkim chamber of commerce president S K Sarda told reporters here today. Though reopened on July six after over four decades of closure, trading through the route had not been possible due to the customs department's insistence on the production of the mandatory Import Export Code (IEC) number by traders from Sikkim. This technical hurdle, however, was removed last Thursday when the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) issued a notification granting exemption to the Sikkimese traders from undergoing this formality at the border. As trading through the route is supposed to take place only four days a week from Monday to Thursday it could begin only yesterday. "We are happy that trade has actually begun through the route", the chamber president said.