Maung Aye to visit Japan

[brelief@xxxxxxx]

--=====================_813786686==_
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"



--=====================_813786686==_
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

THE DAILY YOMIURI
October 15, 1995

Myanmar's No. 2 man plans to visit Japan
By Yoshiharu Fujiwara
Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondent

Bangkok -- Maung Aye, vice chairman of Myanmar's ruling
State Law and Order Restoration Council, is to make an
unofficial visit to Japan late this month, the highest - ranking
SLORC official to do so, according to sources close to the
Yangon government.

Myanmar is consulting with the Japanese government to
arrange meetings between the vice president and Cabinet
members.

Maung Aye, an army general, will arrive on Oct. 30 and leave
Nov. 5, the sources said.

He assumed the NO. 2 post in SLORC in April last year and
will be the highest - ranking SLORC official to visit Japan since
the miliary junta took power in 1988 following a coup.

The vice president will discuss with Japanese officials
Myanmar's economic reforms and the resumption of yen loans,
the sources said.

He will be stopping off in Japan following a trip to New York
to attend a U. N. General Assembly meeting.  He will be
accompanied by Energy Minister Khin Maung Thein and
Oliver Abel, the minister responsible for national planning and
economic development.

Whether Japan will resume yen loans to Myanmar has become
a key question, following the release of pro - democracy
movement leader Aung San Suu Kyi after six years of house
arrest in July.  Suu Kyi is calling on Japan to exercise caution
and move at a pace that matches the progress of
democratization in Myanmar.





--=====================_813786686==_--