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<font face="ARIAL" color="#800000"><b>INVESTMENT<br>
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Investors quit Mae Sot for Myawaddy<br>
</font><font size=5><i>Labour shortage and more incentives cited<br>
<br>
</font></i><font size=3>Supamart Kasem<br>
</font><font size=5>L</font></b><font size=3>abour shortage in Mae Sot
district and more favourable incentives for investors in Burma have
prompted two Thai firms and many Hong Kong entrepreneurs to turn to
invest more than one billion baht in Myawaddy.<br>
Panithi Tangphati, chairman of Tak's Chamber of Commerce, said Colors
Best Co and Champion Thai Knitting Co had decided to invest US$3 million
in a joint venture company, SP International Co Ltd, to operate a
knitting garment plant in Myawaddy, since both firms were satisfied with
Burma's investment conditions.<br>
Construction of the factory and facilities will be started later this
year and completed in April next year, he added.<br>
On Thursday, Mr Panithi returned from a three-day trip to Rangoon after
he and Myawaddy Chamber of Commerce chairman Soe Myint led Chingchai
Korprapakij, owner of Colors Best Co, and Preecha sae Kang, owner of
Champion Thai Knitting Co, to gather information about Burma's policies
on foreign investment in border areas.<br>
The team had meetings with Burma's State Peace and Development Secretary
One Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt, Minister for Industry-1 Aung Thaung, and Minister
for Foreign Affairs Win Aung.<br>
According to Mr Panithi, the Burmese authorities agreed to approve both
Thai investors' project within 15 days of submission of their
request.<br>
Under Burmese law, revenue taxes for investors will be waived for the
first three years and the period may be extended for any project that
fails to make a profit.<br>
Land leasing contracts in Burma last 30 years and can be renewed for
another five years three times. The rate of land leasing fees in Rangoon
is US$3 per square metre per year while those in other areas are lower
depending on location and the quality of infrastructure.<br>
Mr Panithi said 20 Hong Kong businessmen who earlier planned to invest
more than a billion baht in factories in Mae Sot had changed their minds
and would now invest in Myawaddy.<br>
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</font><font face="Courier New, Courier" size=5><b>Exiled rebels failing
to foment uprising <br>
</font></b>Activist says target "a few months away"<br>
<font size=2>Despite predictions yesterday that Ddemocracy was only
months away, rebel leaders have failed to foment an anti-military
uprising in Burma tied to auspicious days and,anniversaries. <br>
Only a few, small-scale acts of defiance have been reported in Burma in
recent weeks despite calls by the rebels for major demonstrations on
9-9-99 (September 9), which is held to be an auspicious day, and again
yesterday, the 11th anniversary of a military coup which sealed the
brutal suppression of a pro-democracy uprising. <br>
<br>
</font><font size=3>"We are in good shape. We will achieve our goal
in a few months," Moe The Zun said in Bangkok yesterday. He and
other leaders of the exiled National Coalition Government of the Union of
Burma. said the recent high state of security and the buying of favour by
the handing out of rice and other items in the countryside reflected the
military's fear and weakness. "They are on the defensive now,"
he said. <br>
While he spoke, nearly 200 exiled activists staged a peaceful protest
before their country's embassy in Bangkok to mark the anniversary. <br>
Chanting slogans lauding democracy, the protesters urged the
international community to help bring an end to military rule. <br>
<br>
AFP <br>
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