Mizzima News

New Delhi (Mizzima) – The Myanmar Gem Emporium is being held in Rangoon and is being attended by specially invited representatives of foreign gem companies and gem merchants.

The 12-day 46th Gem Emporium is being held from March 8 to 20 at the Myanmar Convention Centre (MCC). Gem merchants have been invited by the Burmese foreign missions.

"The gem merchants are coming from foreign countries. They were invited by Burmese embassies. But I don't know from which countries. They are regular buyers from foreign gem companies and other groups," a source from MCC told Mizzima.

The major buyers coming to this emporium are from China, Thailand and Hong Kong.

In the aftermath of the brutal crack down on the monk-led saffron revolution in 2007, the US government imposed a sanction which banned buying and importing of gem stones and natural gas from Burma.

This law is called 'Block Burmese JADE (Junta's Anti-Democratic Efforts).

Burma earned over USD 300 million from gem exports annually, a US government document said.

The global economic turmoil hit Burmese gem exports severely and sales slumped. But the official media of the junta reported that it earned over Euro 130 million (over USD 250 million) in the last emporium held in October 2008.

But Chinese gem merchants view the US economic sanction as ineffective as most of the buyers of Burmese gems are from China.