Opening hours at Thai-Myanmar border pass to be extended

CHIANG RAI, THAILAND, November21 (TNA) - Authorities have announced that the opening hours at a Thai-Myanmar border pass in Chiang Rai Province in the Thai North will be extended as of December 1, 2014 to boost cross-border trade and tourism. The local authorities told reporters on Friday that, from December 1, the border pass, linking Thailand's Mae Sai District in Chiang Rai with Myanmar's Tachilek Town, will be opened from 6:30am to 9pm, instead of 6:30pm currently. According to the authorities, daily opening hours at the Mae Sai-Tachilek border pass are likely to be extended until midnight in 2015. Two-way trade between Thailand and Myanmar at the Mae Sai-Tachilek border pass stood at about 12.15 billion baht in the 2014 fiscal year, which ended on September 30, 2014, with Thailand gaining a trade surplus of about 11 billion baht. (TNA)