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INFORMATION SHEET No.A-0224(I)



                                  INFORMATION SHEET

No.A-0224(I)					              Date. 25-11-97
 
(1)		Japan-Myanmar Friendship Association's Donation for  Restoration of 
            Bagan  Pagodas Transferred to Culture  Ministry

		Cash donated by Japan-Myanmar Friendship Association for restoration of
ancient Bagan pagodas was transferred to Ministry of Culture with a ceremony
on 24 November. The association presented cash for restoration of ancient
religious monuments in Bagan on 13 November. Japanese World War II Veterans,
who served in Myanmar, and their children and grandchildren, who are
successful entrepreneurs, are included in this association. After making
contacts with Ministry of National Planning and Economic Development, members
of the association led by a World War II Veteran visited Myanmar for the
first time.
 
(2)		Chothe Orchid to Export Flowers to Japan

		Chothe Orchid Women's Development Cooperative Syndicate Ltd and
Japan-Myanmar Friendship Association on 24 November sought means to export
Myanmar flowers to Japan. Also present were Japanese floriculturists, members
of the syndicate, officials and guests.
 
(3)		Myanmar Delegation Leaves for Thailand

		Myanmar delegation led by Director-General of Social Welfare Department
left Yangon by air on 24 November for Thailand to attend the Regional
Conference on Trafficking in Women to be held in Bangkok from 25 to 28
November. The delegation includes officials of Directorate of Investment and
Companies Administration, Immigration and Man Power Department, Myanmar
Maternal and Child Welfare Association, Myanmar National Working Committee
for Women's Affairs, Myanmar Police Force, Attorney-General's Office, Foreign
Affairs and Social Welfare Department, it is learnt.
 
(4)		49 Italian Tourists Arrive on Three-day Visit

		With the co-sponsorship of the Orchestra Travel Ltd of Myanmar and Toyo Co
of Italy, 49 tourists, the First Italian Incentive Group arrived at Yangon
International Airport on 24 November. During their three-day open season
visit to Myanmar, the tourists will study Myanmar culture and pagodas in
Yangon and Bago.
 
 
 
The Myanmar Embassy in Canada has issued a News Release on 21st November 1997
titled " An Update on Political and Economic  Developments in Myanmar."
 
		
	An update on Political and Economic Developments in Myanmar
 
		Nine years have passed since the State Law and Order Restoration Council
was urgently formed in the midst of almost absolute chaos and anarchism on
September, 18, 1988. It was a time when people were being incited, by
unscrupulous and opportunistic political elements, to create a state of
confusion and despair during which they attempted to seize state power. To
the great concern and anxiety of experienced observers there were ominous
signs that the civil unrest, which was thought to be designed solely against
the government, had escalated to cause intercommunity clashes namely, people
against people, which could lead to possible disintegration of the Union. One
cannot forget that the city of Yangon (then Rangoon) was on the verge of food
shortages, medicines were already in short supply, not to speak of widespread
looting, roadside beheadings by unruly mobs and destruction of innumerable
factories, stores, schools and even bridges, ships-in-port etc.
 
		Most people felt that their individual security was in jeopardy and they
could breathe a sigh of relief only when the State Law and Order Restoration
Council took over State responsibility from a President, who promised and
acted in accordance with the constitution, in his attempt to change the
country from a one-party socialist political system to that of a multi-party
democracy. But then it was the mobs who ruled the day and who carried on with
the rampage while the present day "politicians" helplessly looked on.
 
		Even the international media especially "Time" magazine predicted that such
a level of anarchism would make a "military grab" inevitable. " Law and order
restoration" was the first priority for the new government to achieve, and
restore it did within a matter of days. Soon after, it also began the process
of rehabilitation and reconciliation with the multi-coloured insurgencies
creating a momentum unprecedented in the country's modern history.
 
		Nine years and some gargantuan efforts later, the country now enjoys peace
and development throughout the entire Union except for a few uninhabited
jungle areas along the south-eastern border to which a stubborn,
pro-colonialist, separatist insurgency had withdrawn and stubbornly resisted
the peace process by relying on some extraneous support. If not for the
so-called "friends" of some insurgents abroad, the whole nation could now be
witnessing a total cessation of all armed insurgencies for the first time
since her Independence almost 50 years ago.
 
		In addition to the level of "Peace" that has been achieved, it is worth
while looking at some of the remarkable "Development" that have taken place
already over the past five years;
 
	 	-78 large irrigation dam projects have turned much of the dry zone into
tens of thousands of arable land.

		-New bridges now span across the mighty Aye-Yar-Waddy  (Irrawaddy) river in
the Kachin State and Bago (Pegu) Division, across the Chindwin river near the
Chin State, across the Than-	Lwin 	(Salween) river in Kayin State as well as
across many tributaries of the Aye-Yar-Waddy in its delta region.

		-Thousands of miles of new roads and railway lines have been constructed
all over the formerly underdeveloped, insurgent-ridden States and Divisions.

		-New International Airports (Mandalay & Yangon) and deep sea ports are
under advanced stages of construction with many new airlines operating
between Yangon, Mandalay and foreign Capital cities.

		Prominent among them are international airlines from Brunei, Cambodia,
Japan, India, China, Laos, Malaysia, Pakistan, Thailand, Singapore and
Vietnam and many of them have increased their number of flights in and out of
Myanmar. (These developments are particularly remarkable, because they all
took place while many former aid-providing developed countries suspended
their assistance for political reasons).

 		The level of Peace and Development that exist currently has allowed
opening up of the country and its beautiful land to all local and foreign
tourists, developers and investors.

 		The dialogue between the government and almost all the ethnic insurgents
and subsequently obtaining their trust and cooperation was a crucial factor
in this achievement only after which steps toward further political
transition will be meaningful and sustainable.

 		In its further efforts aimed towards a disciplined and a modern democratic
nation, the country must now also adapt the government structure which is
appropriate to the situations that prevail today, which is in deed a far cry
from what they were nine years ago.

 		Thus on November 15, 1997 (according to Proclamation No.1/97) the
dissolution of the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) and the
constitution of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) is a step
which must be welcomed as another milestone in the political transition of
the Union of Myanmar, towards its clearly declared social, economic and
political objectives. 
 
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