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[theburmanetnews] BurmaNet News: Ju
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Subject: [theburmanetnews] BurmaNet News: July 25, 2000
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______________ THE BURMANET NEWS ______________
An on-line newspaper covering Burma
______________ www.burmanet.org _______________
July 25, 2000
Issue # 1583
The BurmaNet News is viewable online at:
http://theburmanetnews.editthispage.com
*Inside Burma
BBC: BURMA STUDENTS RETURN TO CLASS
AP: MYANMAR STUDENTS RETURN TO CLASSES
XINHUA: FOREIGN EXCHANGE EARNINGS FROM TOURISTS DROP IN MYANMAR
REUTERS: ASEAN MINISTERS OPEN TALKS ON REGIONAL SECURITY
*Regional
REUTERS: MYANMAR REBEL TWINS, 12, DENY THAI HOSPITAL ATTACK
REUTERS: MYANMAR, LAOS AND CAMBODIA VOW TO STEP UP DRUG WAR
MALAYSIAN NATIONAL NEWS AGENCY: MYANMAR CLAIMS NO PROBLEM IN
MEETING "DRUG FREE" DEADLINE
BANGKOK POST: THAI-BURMA DRUG-BUSTING PLEDGE AS MEETING OPENS
WIN AUNG: ONUS NOT ON RANGOON ALONE
REUTERS: ASEAN MINISTERS OPEN TALKS ON REGIONAL SECURITY
SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST: DIPLOMATIC DANCERS CIRCLE BURMESE DRUG
PROBLEM
AFP: POORER ASEAN MEMBERS CLAMOUR FOR FUNDS TO DEVELOP MEKONG REGION
THE STRAITS TIMES: ASEAN FOREIGN MINISTERS MOVE TO RECOVER CLOUT
THE BUSINESS DAY: PTT TO HOLD TALKS WITH MYANMAR
BANGKOK POST: BID TO SOLVE FIVE PROBLEMS AFFECTING FRONTIER TRADING
BANGKOK POST: BACKDOOR DRUG TALKS LIKELY
THE NATION: HUMAN RIGHTS TO BE ON AGENDA
THE NATION: CALL FOR TOP-LEVEL TALKS ON DRUGS WITH BURMA
*International
M2 COMMUNICATIONS: -UN: ESCAP TO OFFER INTENSIVE MANAGEMENT TRAINING
TO SMALL- AND MEDIUM-SIZED BUSINESSES IN MYANMAR
AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION: BURMA DISMISSES EXCLUSION FROM
EU AGREEMENT
__________________ INSIDE BURMA ____________________
BBC: BURMA STUDENTS RETURN TO CLASS
July 24, 2000
Thousands of Burmese students have been returning to their classes
for the first time in three years.
All colleges and universities were closed by the military government
in December 1996, as they were seen as breeding grounds for dissent.
But on Monday an estimated 60,000 undergraduates were heading back to
class after the ban was quietly lifted.
They and their parents have had to sign declarations that they will
not become involved in political activity. Student unions have also
been banned.
No formal announcement was made of the lifting of the ban, but the
government wrote to individual students advising them of the
decision.
Rebellious
Third and fourth-year students had already been allowed to go back to
their classes at the end of June.
Some people being allowed to resume their studies are having to
switch universities, away from previously rebellious centres
including the Yangon Arts and Science University.
"I am very excited to go to college but I'm very disappointed that I
cannot study at Yangon University, where my elder sister and my
parents got their degrees," said 21-year old Win Win Nwe, who passed
her entrance examination in 1996.
And first-year economics student Khaing Win said: "I believe my
patience finally paid off. Many of my friends [1996 high school
graduates] who got tired of waiting for universities to reopen are
now attending the University of Distance Education."
During the three-year closure, some students travelled abroad to
study, but others were unable to do so.
Human rights activists and economists had warned the government of
the risks to Burma's development, if it shut a generation of students
out of higher education.
Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi also warned the military rulers
that Burma risked becoming a nation divided between educated and
uneducated families.
____________________________________________________
AP: MYANMAR STUDENTS RETURN TO CLASSES
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - The military regime allowed the full
resumption of higher education Monday, 31/2 years after closing down
colleges and universities to stop anti-government demonstrations.
Some 400,000 high school graduates had been waiting their turns to
begin university studies since the closures in December 1996. Neither
the closures nor the reopening was officially announced.
Nearly 60,000 first-, second- and and third-year students in the arts
and sciences began classes Monday. They followed some 20,000 fourth-
year students in these fields who had already resumed courses June
27. Classes at institutions teaching medicine, computer science and
engineering were reopened in stages beginning in January 1999.
Pro-democracy leaders and foreign human rights organizations have
cited the closing of schools as one of many human rights abuses
inflicted by the military on the population in Myanmar, also known as
Burma.
``Students have always been viewed as a threat to the military regime
and are considered the most vocal group of opposition. Therefore, the
military is sacrificing youth's future in order to prolong its
tyrannical reign,'' the anti-government Campaign Committee for Open
Schools said in a statement.
Colleges and universities in Myanmar have been open for only 30
months since 1988, the year the military brutally crushed a pro-
democracy uprising, said the group, which is composed of Myanmar
dissident organizations in exile.
But military institutes, endowed with funds and state-of-the-art
facilities, have remained opened throughout this period, creating a
``dangerous division'' in the country, the statement said.
``Burma has become a house divided. The military institutes being the
only way to get a decent education, only pro-military students have a
future and are guaranteed work opportunities, while the rest of the
country's youth is left uneducated, to fend for themselves, often
falling into the hands of poverty,'' it said.
Under the current rules, students are allowed to register at
educational institutions after signing a declaration that they will
stay clear of political activities. Student unions and other student
organizations have been banned.
Students who earlier attended the Yangon Arts and Science University,
a traditional hotbed of dissent, are now attending classes not at the
Yangon campus but at two suburban universities.
``I am very excited to go to college, but I'm very disappointed that
I cannot study at Yangon University, where my elder sister and my
parents got their degrees,'' said 21-year old Win Win Nwe, who passed
her entrance examination in 1996.
Yangon University and the Yangon Technical College, another seat of
anti-government activity in the past, were almost empty with just
small numbers of students attending postgraduate classes, special
honors classes and the faculty of anthropology.
____________________________________________________
XINHUA: FOREIGN EXCHANGE EARNINGS FROM TOURISTS DROP IN MYANMAR
July 23, 2000
YANGON. Myanmar's foreign exchange earnings from tourists dropped by
73.27 percent, getting only 9.42 million U.S.dollars in the fiscal
year 1999-2000 which ended in March compared with the previous year
when it received 35.17 million dollars.
According to the Myanmar Facts and Figures, a booklet currently
published by the Ministry of Information, during the fiscal year, the
foreign exchange earnings in Chinese yuan also fell to 819,000 from
1.253 million and that in Thai baht to 497,000 from 1.122 million.
Myanmar had maintained its annual foreign exchange earnings in the
past five fiscal years as 33.8 million in U.S. dollars, 1.7 million
in Chinese yuan and 2.8 million in Thai baht.
The booklet quoted travel agencies in the country as saying that
tourists stayed in Myanmar hotels for an average of 8 days with daily
expenditure of about 80 U.S. dollars.
Among the visitors to Myanmar, 70.6 percent were from the Asian
continent, 18.5 percent from western Europe, 6.5 percent from America
and 4.4 percent from other regions, it said, adding that Taiwanese
and Japanese from Asia comprised a majority of the visitors to
Myanmar, whereas French constituted a majority from western Europe.
According to the booklet, up to September 1999, there were 451
hotels, motels and inns with 8,999 rooms in Myanmar, including those
operated with foreign investment.
Of the 22 foreign-invested hotels run by investors from Singapore,
Thailand, Japan, Malaysia and China's Hong Kong, 17 are in Yangon, 3
in Mandalay and one each in Bagan and Kawthaung.
According to official statistics, since Myanmar opened to foreign
investment in late 1988, it has absorbed 1.1 billion dollars of
contracted investment in the sector of hotels and tourism.
Other statistics also show that there are 545 travel agencies in
Myanmar with 4,078 licensed tourist guides who speak nine languages.
___________________________ REGIONAL ___________________________
REUTERS: MYANMAR REBEL TWINS, 12, DENY THAI HOSPITAL ATTACK
July 25, 2000
BANGKOK. The child-soldier twins accused of masterminding the siege
of a Thai hospital in January have denied that they ordered the
attack.
Interviewed at their jungle hideout in a remote mountainous area
close to the Thai-Myanmar border, Johnny and Luther Htoo, 12, said
their enemy was the military government in Yangon and its soldiers
who had killed and raped their people.
``We didn't give the order to attack (the hospital),'' Luther Htoo
said. ``We were attacked by the Burmese (troops) who came from behind
and the Thai army who came from the front. We had to run deeper into
jungle.''
Remnants of the twins' group, dubbed God's Army, have been on the
run since January when 10 heavily armed guerrillas burst into a
hospital in Ratchaburi, 100 km (62 miles) west of Bangkok, and took
700 staff and patients hostage.
The 24-hour siege ended in the deaths of all 10 hostage takers and
condemnation of the Htoo twins.
Since then, the twins and their followers have been chased by both
Thai troops and Myanmar government forces and are now in hiding in
the jungle area that runs between the two countries.
In the filmed interview obtained by Reuters, Luther, who has had his
hair cut short, was dressed in army fatigues and sported a small scar
under his left eye, referred mysteriously to another group who he
seemed to imply may have been responsible for the hospital attack:
``I knew that they may do something to stop fighting but I didn't
know what. It was already done...we couldn't do anything,'' he said.
As Luther spoke his followers, a small collection of men and boys,
sat around holding their rifles and smoking.
Luther's brother Johnny, dressed all in black with his trademark
long hair hidden under a blank bandana, said little, but like other
members of the outlaw group he seemed happy to pose for the camera.
The sons of a farmer, Luther and Johnny have had no formal education
and live in a strange world full of magic and mystery.
They claim to be in charge of 400,000 invisible soldiers and to have
the ability to predict the future and change the shape of the things
around them.
The twins spend much of their time smoking and being carried around
by devoted followers, who are usually much older.
Many villagers in the border area believe the twins have possessed
supernatural wisdom since childhood and that they are reincarnations
of ancient heroes of their ethnic Karen community, which has been at
war with the Burmese for centuries.
The twins' reputation has spread far and wide among friends and foe.
The Karen community has found inspiration in stories of the twin
boys, who they see as battling their ancient enemy.
``I carry a gun to shoot Burmese (government troops) because they
are bad to Karen people. They beat our people, rape our women, kill
them and destroy villages.
``They take children from parents and make them into porters,'' said
Luther.
Political analysts say God's Army lost some support after the
hospital attack and probably has no more than 200 devoted fighters
left.
____________________________________________________
REUTERS: MYANMAR, LAOS AND CAMBODIA VOW TO STEP UP DRUG WAR
July 25, 2000
By Nopporn Wong-Anan
BANGKOK. Foreign ministers from Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia vowed
on Tuesday to step up efforts to reduce drug production and
trafficking in their countries.
Myanmar Foreign Minister Win Aung said his country has been actively
suppressing production of opium and trafficking of methamphetamine in
the country.
Myanmar is the world's second largest producer of opium and its
derivative heroin, as well as a major source of amphetamines.
Speaking on the sidelines of the 33rd annual Association of South
East Asian Nations (ASEAN) ministerial meeting, Win Aung said his
country supported an ASEAN plan to make the 10-nation zone drug free
by 2015, which was agreed on Tuesday.
Win Aung said Myanmar's military government encouraged farmers to
grow substitute crops instead of opium and this had cut opium
planting to 90,000 hectares (225,000 acres), from 150,000 hectares
three years ago.
Regional health officials have said Yangon has done little to
suppress the drugs trade. Some even accuse the ruling generals of
directly supporting and benefiting from the sale of narcotics,
allegations the government denies.
Thailand, which shares a border of more than 2,000 km (1,250 miles)
with Myanmar, has complained frequently and loudly that drugs from
Myanmar are flooding the country and pose a threat to the region.
The Thai army said in June drugs production and trafficking from
Myanmar was increasing rapidly, posing a serious threat to Thailand
and other countries in the region because of the mass relocation of
ethnic minorities in Myanmar over the past year.
DRUG NETWORK GROWING, THAILAND SAYS
Thai security authorities have said an alliance between Yangon and
an ethnic army, the United Wa State Army (UWSA), will fuel sporadic
conflicts along the Thai border and help expand the drug distribution
network of the UWSA into Thailand.
Win Aung denied the allegations.
``We never supported them. We don't have any intention to make any
trouble to Thai people. That is our political will,'' he said.
Win Aung said methamphetamine, often known in its crystalised form
as Ice, was not Myanmar's ``initial problem'' because it started in
Thailand, where the base chemical was produced.
He said Myanmar had seized over 17 million methamphetamine pills and
60,000 litres of the precursor chemical this year.
He denied a report by a Thai security agency that as of May this
year, about 50 methamphetamine factories were newly established
inside Myanmar close to Thai border and 10 others had been set up in
Laos also close to the Thai border.
``The border under our control, there are none of those there,'' he
told reporters.
Laos, a country in the Golden Triangle area, said it was working
with the United Nations' Drug Control Programme (UNDCP) to raise
about $80 million for a joint-programme of crop substitution in the
country.
Laotian Foreign Minister Somsavat Lengsavad said the programme aimed
to stop opium growing in Laos in six years.
Somsavat said UNDCP was acting as a coordinator on fund-raising from
some donor countries.
``Nowadays, the drug problem is the major transnational crime
problem for Laos. We need to tackle it urgently,'' he told reporters.
Cambodia also said it was committed to fight drug trafficking in its
country.
``We, Cambodia, are strongly committed to fight the drug
trafficking,'' Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Nam Hong said. ``We are
a victim of the trafficking.''
____________________________________________________
MALAYSIAN NATIONAL NEWS AGENCY: MYANMAR CLAIMS NO PROBLEM IN
MEETING "DRUG FREE" DEADLINE
July 25 , 2000
BANGKOK, July 21 (Bernama-DPA) - The government of Myanmar (Burma),
the prime source of heroin and methamphetamines in Southeast Asia,
foresees no difficulty in turning its country into a "drug free" zone
by the year 2015, Myanmar Foreign Minister Win Aung said on Tuesday.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) agreed on Monday
to push its deadline for turning their ten-country region into
a "drug free zone" by the year 2015, instead of the previous target
of 2020.
ASEAN, which was holding its annual ministerial powwow in Bangkok on
Monday and Tuesday, comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos,
Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
"Our drug eradication program can fit into the ASEAN program. Now we
have a comprehensive plan for total eradication of heroin," said Win
Aung.
He claimed that the junta's eradication and crop substitution program
had already helped reduce Myanmar's opium cultivation area from
150,000 acres in 1998 to about 90,000 acres last year.
The minister, however, was less confident about efforts to eradicate
methamphetamine production, a relatively new drug menace to Southeast
Asia.
According to Thai anti-narcotics authorities there are currently
about 50 illegal laboratories making methamphetamines along the Thai-
Myanmar border, most of which are under the control of the Wa ethnic
minority rebels with which Yangon (Rangoon) has signed a cease fire
agreement.
"Our country has a lot of places under the control of armed groups.
We have a cease-fire agreement with (the Wa) but those areas are
still under their control," said Win Aung.
That said, it was unclear how Myanmar could assure that Wa areas
would be drug-free by 2015.
"We are trying to encourage our people that these amphetamines are a
menace to mankind, and I think production in this business will also
go down," said the minister.
Thailand, which is currently flooded by Myanmar-made
methamphetamines, has been irked by Yangon's seeming reluctance to
pressure the Wa to stop the illegal activity.
"We never support them. We don't have any intention to make trouble
for Thai people," insisted Win Aung.
-- Bernama-DPA
____________________________________________________
BANGKOK POST: THAI-BURMA DRUG-BUSTING PLEDGE AS MEETING OPENS
WIN AUNG: ONUS NOT ON RANGOON ALONE
July 24, 2000
Saritdet Marukatat and hanravee Tansubhapol
Thailand and Burma pledged to step up co-operation against drug
trafficking yesterday as Asean foreign ministers braced to review
regional efforts at their annual meeting opening today.
The issue was prominent in talks between Foreign Minister Surin
Pitsuwan and his Burmese counterpart Win Aung on the eve of the 33rd
Asean Ministerial Meeting.
Mr Surin said the two sides agreed to activate all existing
mechanisms to end drug trafficking and other cross-border problems,
and to accelerate exchanges.
"From now on there will be quicker movement to resolve existing
common problems between our countries," he said after the 40-minute
meeting.
Thai-Burmese relations have been strained since Burmese dissidents
stormed the Burmese embassy in Bangkok in October, and raided a
hospital in Ratchaburi in January.
Mr Win Aung stressed that Burma alone should not be blamed for the
drug problems and emphasised the need to tackle them "co-
operatively". He noted that chemicals, equipment and know-how came
from an unnamed "other country" but quickly added that this included
all countries bordering Burma.
He also claimed that his government seized 17 million methamphetamine
pills this year.
Mr Surin referred to the pledge made in April last year by the two
prime ministers, Chuan Leekpai and Than Shwe, for closer co-operation
against drugs along their 2,400km border.
Besides drugs, Mr Surin and his Burmese counterpart also discussed
illegal Burmese workers, refugees, and the suspension of Thai fishery
concessions in Burma, sources added.
Mr Surin said drug problems would be discussed at the ministerial
meeting today and tomorrow as well as at the Asean Regional Forum on
Thursday.
The Asean ministers are due to review progress on the ground since
their agreement in Manila in 1998 to establish the region as a drug-
free zone by the year 2020, sources said.
Mr Surin is also under urging from a regional human rights working
group, which he received yesterday, to raise at the ministerial
meeting discussion of their draft for the establishment of an Asean
Human Rights Commission.
Somchai Homla-or, a Thai member of the working group, said the
minister agreed to do so. But Mr Surin said the ministers would have
to be briefed by their senior officials first.
Thailand, he stressed, had supported the idea of setting up a
regional human rights mechanism since the Asean Ministerial Meeting
in Singapore in 1993 gave the greenlight for it.
The working group has asked Asean to set up a "study group" and to
organise a region-wide forum of discussion on the question.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations groups Brunei, Burma,
Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore,
Thailand and Vietnam.
High on the agenda of their ministerial meeting is Thailand's
proposal for a troika system of timely troubleshooting that was
spurred by Asean's failure to react effectively to the financial
crisis and East Timor.
The member states have so far agreed on the composition of past,
present and future Asean chairmen. But some, including Cambodia, have
questioned the troika's mandate out of concern that it might go
against the grouping's non-interference principle.
The Burmese foreign minister said his country supported the idea but
he stressed the need for ministers to work out details. The troika
would not be a decision-making body, he added
____________________________________________________
REUTERS: ASEAN MINISTERS OPEN TALKS ON REGIONAL SECURITY
July 24, 2000
By Edward Davies
BANGKOK Southeast Asian foreign ministers kicked off a two-day
meeting in the Thai capital on Monday which will include talks
ranging from drug trafficking to Indonesia's ethnic and religious
strife.
Thai Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai opened the 33rd Association of
South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) ministerial meeting, which will also
discuss a plan to speed the bloc's response to the array of security,
economic and social problems that plague its diverse membership.
``Issues such as illicit drugs, trafficking of women and children,
transnational crime and environmental degradation all represent
obstacles to our development,'' Chuan told the opening ceremony.
``With ASEAN's membership enlarged to include all 10 countries of
Southeast Asia, the challenge before us now is how to deepen our
cooperative endeavours,'' Chuan said.
Cambodia joined ASEAN in 1999, completing a body grouping Brunei,
Myanmar, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore,
Thailand and Vietnam.
The environmental hazard of smog from forest fires in Indonesia
polluting large parts of the region is expected to be raised.
Jakarta is under further pressure because of bloody fighting between
Muslims and Christians in the Moluccas. But Foreign Minister Alwi
Shihab is expected to relay to the meeting Indonesia's rejection of
calls for international intervention to end the violence that has
killed thousands since early 1999.
ASEAN traditionally does not interfere in the affairs of member
countries.
____________________________________________________
SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST: DIPLOMATIC DANCERS CIRCLE BURMESE DRUG
PROBLEM
July 25, 2000
WILLIAM BARNES
Thailand's attempt to pressure Burma's military regime into cracking
down on its drug-trafficking friends has become the Byzantine
diplomatic dance of this week's Asean meeting.
The Bangkok authorities scored a modest victory when they made sure
that drug trafficking was high on the summit agenda and that of the
follow-up security forum. Asean traditionally shuns issues that may
involve meddling in members' internal affairs.
The Thais have become increasingly concerned about what they describe
as a flood of amphetamines and other drugs pouring over the border
from Burma's northern Shan state.
Security officials on the Thai side of the border have become
outspoken over Rangoon's claims that it is physically in no position
to stop well-armed traffickers and increasingly frank in voicing
their suspicions that Burmese army officers take bribes from drug
producers.
____________________________________________________
AFP: POORER ASEAN MEMBERS CLAMOUR FOR FUNDS TO DEVELOP MEKONG REGION
July 25, 2000
ASEAN's comparatively poor new members are clamouring for a piece of
the region's economic action and called Tuesday for funds to
accelerate the Mekong Basin development.
Foreign ministers from Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam
have warned at the grouping's annual meeting here that ASEAN will not
progress unless it bridges the economic gaps among its 10 members.
The five Southeast Asian nations share the Mekong river with China's
Yunan province. The region covers a total land area of 2.3 million
square kilometres, with a combined population of nearly 240 million
people.
Myanmar Foreign Minister Win Aung said the development of the Mekong
Basin has been hampered by the 1997 regional economic debacle but he
urged the grouping to renew efforts to seek financing to open it up.
"We need funds to implement the project," he told AFP.
"We need to talk to Japan and other donor countries like the EU. We
have agreed that something should be done. It is very important to
close the gap with the less-developed countries within ASEAN."
A senior ASEAN official said Vietnam which became a member in 1995,
Cambodia and Laos in 1997 and Myanmar last year, were growing
impatient with the slow pace of development in the Mekong area.
"They feel that they have been given big promises when they joined
ASEAN but little is being done," the official said.
An ASEAN-Mekong Basin Development Cooperation (AMBDC) committee was
set up in 1996, but became dormant when the economic crisis struck.
Pradap Pibulsonggram, ASEAN director-general in Thailand's foreign
ministry, said the AMBDC had been reactivated and had held its second
meeting in Hanoi last month.
"There is now renewed determination among ASEAN members to speed up
development in the area. We have a better chance to move it forward
now that the region has rebounded," he told AFP.
The committee is expected to gather again in Bangkok in October next
year to revive talks on a proposal to construct a railway line from
Singapore to Kunming, he said.
There are also plans to invite representatives from China, Japan and
Korea to attend the meeting as part of efforts to build up interest
and attract more funds, he added.
Thai Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai on Monday said the development of
the Mekong sub-region was vital to ASEAN's growth.
"There is a compelling need to expedite infrastructure development
and the capacity-building program so as to ensure the region's
economic integration," Chuan told the ASEAN foreign ministers.
"Only by closing the gap between old and new members will ASEAN be
able to move ahead with the speed and direction expected of it."
Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong called Monday for a Mekong
Basin Development Fund to be set up and said the project needed
support from ASEAN's dialogue partners, particularly Japan.
He also urged the grouping to allocate funds to conduct feasibility
studies on possible projects in the area.
"The process of regional integration will not succeed unless there is
a balance of development within ASEAN ... It is essential to set up
strategies and programs to eliminate or substantially reduce such a
disparity within ASEAN as soon as possible," he said.
He was backed by his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Dy Nien, who
sought a "higher priority" in ASEAN for projects in the Mekong area.
"ASEAN could hardly become a powerful economic entity if the
development gap among its member countries keeps widening," Nguyen
warned.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) says the Mekong region has vast
potential in terms of natural resources and a large labour pool, but
cites environment, income gap, infrastructure development and human
resources as key obstacles to growth.
It projects gross domestic product in the Mekong to surge to 863
billion dollars in 2010, up from 238 billion dollars in 1996.
The ADB, which formed an economic cooperation body in 1992 to promote
growth in the area, estimates nearly 10 billion dollars is needed to
develop its transport and energy sectors alone.
____________________________________________________
THE STRAITS TIMES: ASEAN FOREIGN MINISTERS MOVE TO RECOVER CLOUT
July 25, 2000
The 10-member states agree to take various measures to enhance their
collective profile and to step up cooperation with key partners
By LEE KIM CHEW
IN BANGKOK
ASEAN Foreign Ministers yesterday agreed to take urgent steps to
shape up the regional grouping and make it more effective so that it
can recover the clout it had lost since the 1997 Asian financial
crisis.
Thai Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan, who chaired the ministerial
meeting here, told reporters that the Asean countries would take
various measures to enhance their collective profile and step up
cooperation with key dialogue partners.
Within Asean, the 10 member-states would establish a ""full-circle
hotline'' to increase their contacts with each other.
The ministers would meet more regularly to find ways to resolve their
problems. ""Communication among Asean countries will be increased and
be more intense,'' he added.
Dr Surin said the proposed Asean troika, an ad hoc body that will be
set up to deal with emergencies in South-east Asia, would be
given ""latitude and room'' so that it could be more creative in
seeking solutions to pressing problems.
With all these measures, he said, Asean would regain the confidence
of the international community.
These steps would enhance Asean's image and make it more effective
and relevant to changes in the region, he added.
The ministers also supported Thai Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai's
proposal that the member countries organise a trade fair every three
years to showcase their products to the rest of the world and attract
more investments to the region.
To accelerate economic development in the newer Asean states, they
agreed to increase the involvement of the Asian Development Bank and
the World Bank in the Mekong River Basin projects, and there will be
more coordination among Asean countries.
The ministers agreed to move forward the deadline to make Asean a
drug-free region by 2015 instead of 2020.
Dr Surin, who was speaking on behalf of the other Asean ministers,
said they had a ""splendid'' discussion.
____________________________________________________
THE BUSINESS DAY: PTT TO HOLD TALKS WITH MYANMAR
July 24, 2000
DONRUDEE CHAISOMBAT
STAFF WRITER
The Petroleum Authority of Thailand (PTT) will open new talks with
Myanmar's government this week, to ask for a three- to four-year
postponement of the new natural gas shipment due for delivery in
2004.
Under the agreement dubbed "take or pay", PTT is required to pay when
consignment is due for delivery even if it is unable to take the
supply.
Prasert Boonsumpan, president of PTT natural gas division, said he
will go to Myanmar this week to negotiate the deal.
The gas supply was mainly intended for the Ratchaburi power plant,
but the delay in plant and pipeline construction left PTT unable to
take delivery.
The trip was also meant to ensure payment of US$280 million which is
long overdue, and to renegotiate a reduction of gas supply from 525
million cubic feet a day to 400 cubic feet a day of natural gas
already scheduled for delivery this month.
"In the past, we have asked for greater supply when needed, but now
we are asking for a reduction because we need to utilize our exiting
reserves," said Presert.
The tension between PTT and Myanmar mounted when PTT was unable to
honor the contract. Acting as an agency to negotiate the supply of
fuel to operate several power plants, PTT was left in an awkward
position when several electricity plants were not completed on
schedule, resulting in shipments of natural gas being withheld and
the agreement being breeched.
____________________________________________________
BANGKOK POST: BID TO SOLVE FIVE PROBLEMS AFFECTING FRONTIER TRADING
July 24, 2000
Supamart Kasem
The provincial chamber of commerce proposes to tackle five problems
in cross-border trade and strengthen co-operation between Thailand
and Burma.
Its proposal will be presented at a meeting of the joint public and
private sectors committee to solve economic problems on Tuesday in
Mae Sot district.
Panithi Tangphati, chairman of Tak's Chamber of Commerce, said
obstacles to cross-border trade include the lack of an agency to co-
ordinate problem-solving in case of trade disputes, a lack of close
relations between local border officials of both countries, and the
poor condition of cross-border trade routes.
Other problems include strict immigration procedures deterring
Burmese from visiting Thai border provinces, as well as the
historical distrust between the two peoples, he said.
Under the proposal, an organisation should be set up to co-ordinate
work of the Local Thai-Burmese Border Committee (TBC), Regional Thai
Burmese Border Committee and Joint Border Committee (JC).
The government should set aside budgets for border provinces to
organise activities to improve relations between Thai and Burmese
border officials.
Thailand should fund the mending of a major cross-border trade route
linking Mae Sot to Myawaddy, Moulmein and Rangoon, in exchange for
more co-operation from Burma on trade and tourism.
Burmese tourists should be allowed to enter Thailand for holidays
using only border passes in cases where they buy package tours from
authorised tour agents.
Mr Panithi said the issue of labour shortage in the industrial sector
in border provinces due to a ban on employing alien labour will be
raised by the provincial industrial council at next week's meeting.
Manop Mangsuwan, deputy chairman of Tak's Industrial Council, said 66
industrial factories in border areas of this province were facing
labour shortages as they could not find enough Thais to replace
Burmese workers.
____________________________________________________
BANGKOK POST: BACKDOOR DRUG TALKS LIKELY
July 24, 2000
Thailand and China may take matters into their own hands and hold
talks with the United Wa State Army about drug smuggling from Burma
and the Golden Triangle.
Beijing officials who accompanied Vice-President Hu Jintao to Rangoon
last week were pessimistic about the chances of dealing with the
problem through diplomatic channels.
Chinese and Thai experts discussed a number of options including the
possibility that the Wa might discuss a deal which did not include
Rangoon, diplomats said.
Foreign sources were unclear whether the Wa has actually approached
China but recent reports suggested Wa leaders might hold policy talks
with foreign diplomats in Thailand.
Southern China has been hit almost as hard as Thailand by the massive
drug movements. Organised crime, drug addiction and Aids have risen
from virtually nothing in less than a decade.
The huge rise in crime and social problems took China by surprise,
prompting Beijing to execute hundreds of drug dealers and other
criminals.
Diplomatic sources said Mr Hu was shocked last week by the lack of
urgency and co-operation from Rangoon in dealing with the drug
problem.
When he offered "significant" Chinese aid to fund crop substitution
programmes in northern Burma the military junta reportedly accepted
the aid but could not guarantee a reduction in opium or heroin output.
"China would like to keep this quiet and deal with Rangoon, but the
[military] junta won't co-operate," said one foreign source.
____________________________________________________
THE NATION: HUMAN RIGHTS TO BE ON AGENDA
July 24, 2000
ASEAN has decided to put the issue of human rights and the creation
of a regional body to promote and protect universal rights on its
official agenda for future action, according to an informed source.
The issue was discussed at the informal dinner on Sunday and taken up
again during the retreat yesterday.
Although there was no consensus among members, there seemed to be
agreement that Asean needed to seriously pursue the proposal.
At the 1993 Asean ministerial meeting in Singapore, Asean agreed to
find an appropriate regional mechanism on human rights. Seven years
have elapsed, but Asean has yet to take up the issue officially.
In 199, an informal group called Working Group for An Asean Human
Rights Mechanism discussed ways to implement the Asean decision.
Four Asean states -the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Cambodia -
have now set up national human-rights monitoring bodies. Thailand is
in the process of selecting 11 members for its National Human Rights
Commission, which is due to be established soon.
Efforts are also under way to establish a national working group in
Singapore to determine focal points on human rights in other Asean
countries.
The Working Group formally submitted its "Draft Agreement on the
Establishment of the Asean Human Rights Commission" to senior
officials over the weekend.
The draft calls for the setting up of a permanent human-rights
commission with the main function of promoting and protecting human
rights in the Asean region.
In his opening speech to the 33rd Asean Ministerial Meeting (AMM)
yesterday, Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan said the working group had
presented the mechanism for member states' consideration.
Thai and foreign non-governmental organisations called yesterday for
Asean to establish a regional body to monitor and protect human
security in the Asean member states.
Philippine Foreign Minister Domingo Siazon urged other Asean
members "to study the various proposals" advanced by the working
group.
A letter from the group, led by Somchai Homla-or of the Bangkok-based
Forum Asia, was handed to Thai Deputy Foreign Minister Sukhumbhand
Paribatra. Somchai handed copies of the letter to Asean ministers
attending the meeting here.
Somchai told Sukhumbhand the group supported Asean's proposal to set
up a "troika" system to help solve misunderstandings or conflicts
among Asean states.
The group also expressed strong support for the Asean Vision 2020,
which would make the regional grouping a more unified and dynamic
community of caring societies. It also urged Asean to promote more
human security in its member states.
"Asean should have regional mechanisms to monitor and provide
protection for the people, particularly the young and the poor and
disadvantaged," Somchai said.
Asean should be a negotiating body with superpowers that pays
attention to the poor and the disadvantaged, instead of the elite and
the private sector, he said.
Sukhumbhand told the group Asean and the Thai government shared the
group's concerns and had tried hard to expand the agenda of
cooperation to cover human security.
"We, Asean states and the Thai government, have been working towards
real security which will cover human security for the sake of Asean,"
Sukhumbhand said.
Somchai said the group's letter was based on the conclusion of
the "Asean 2000 and Beyond: Putting People First" meeting in Bangkok
on Friday. The symposium was organised by the Asian Forum for Human
Rights and Development, the Asian Cultural Forum for Development and
the Alternative Asean Network on Burma.
Somchai also asked Sukhumbhand to give a CD-Rom of Burmese Opposition
Party leader Aung San Suu Kyi's speech for the 33rd AMM to all Asean
member states, including Burma.
____________________________________________________
THE NATION: CALL FOR TOP-LEVEL TALKS ON DRUGS WITH BURMA
July 25, 2000
THE government should seek anti-drugs cooperation at the national
level from its Burmese counterparts, the Third Army Region commander
said yesterday.
The northern border drugs prevention and suppression centre reported
that drugs-producing factories in Burma opposite to the Thai border
were a major obstacle to fighting narcotics problems in recent years,
Lt General Wattanachai Chaimuanwong said.
"We see before our eyes that those factories are there but can do
nothing because they are beyond our jurisdiction," he said.
Anti-drugs officials could only attempted to block traffic flow into
the country, Wattanachai said, and although the result was
satisfactory, lots of drugs particularly methamphetamines still
flooded in and caused trouble in Thailand.
The administrations of both countries should hold talks to boost
bilateral anti-drugs efforts, he said, explaining that the northern
Thai centre was ready to tackle the problem but local agencies in
Burma usually dodged their responsibilities.
"They kept saying that an order from their superior office was needed
before they could take any action," Wattanachai said.
He also suggested a special taskforce should be formed in both
countries to patrol areas the same way Thailand and Malaysia had done
in a bid to curb the spread of drugs.
Meanwhile, Wattanachai said the command centre planned to intensify
its checks on suspected drugs traffic on roads, railways and aerial
routes. He said railways received a major focus as reports showed
more and more drugs had been transported by rail and that Sila-art
railway junction in Uttaradit was a drugs "depot".
Wattanachai also said the centre required cooperation from minority
groups who lived in villages along border to tackle the narcotics
problem.
Infrastructure and job opportunities should be made available for
them to woo their support, he said.
Thai nationality should be granted to certain people in exchange for
their cooperation in anti-drugs efforts, Wattanachai said.
__________________ INTERNATIONAL __________________
M2 COMMUNICATIONS: -UN: ESCAP TO OFFER INTENSIVE MANAGEMENT TRAINING
TO SMALL- AND MEDIUM-SIZED BUSINESSES IN MYANMAR
July 24, 2000
BANGKOK -- Improving the knowledge and skills of small- and medium-
sized entrepreneurs in Myanmar so that they can more effectively
participate in the global economy will be the focus of a management
training course to be offered by the Economic and Social Commission
for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), from 24 to 29 July 2000 in Yangon,
Myanmar.
The six-day training course is designed to enhance business skills of
small- and medium-sized entrepreneurs by focusing on international
business and general management issues, and development of specific
sectors, including agricultural products, handicrafts, and tourism.
The aim is to increase managers` capacity in marketing, finance,
international trade, strategic management, quality control, and
production technology, among others areas. An international
consortium of business schools and business practitioners will offer
the course.
Approximately 120 participants are expected to attend.
According to ESCAP, one of the main constraints to the development of
the business sector in Myanmar is the availability of adequately
trained human resources: managers, financial experts, technical
experts, marketing experts, etc. Through strengthening the human
resource base, the Myanmar business sector itself can play a more
effective role both in expanding the Myanmar economy and in
positioning itself for the global marketplace in the twenty-first
century.
The ESCAP Management Training Course in Myanmar will serve as a pilot
project for a broader human resources development project under
ESCAP`s programme for private sector development for Greater Mekong
subregion countries through human resource development, institutional
capacity building, trade facilitation and investment.
The course is being offered with financial assistance from the
Government of Japan, and in collaboration with the Government of the
Union of Myanmar, the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of
Commerce and Industry, the Institute of Economics, Myanmar, and the
Mahidol University, Thailand. The training course will be held at the
International Business Centre, Yangon.
____________________________________________________
AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION: BURMA DISMISSES EXCLUSION FROM
EU AGREEMENT
July 24, 2000
Burma has played down its exclusion from a cooperation agreement with
the European Union which its neighbours will sign this week.
The EU is to sign cooperation agreements with Cambodia and Laos in
Bangkok but has ruled out extending the same ties with Burma in the
immediate future.
The three are the newest members of the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations which holds its annual meeting of foreign ministers in
Bangkok from Monday.
Burma's Foreign Minister Win Aung told reporters on his arrival in
the Thai capital that maybe it was not the time to sign the EU
agreement.
____________________________________________________
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