International Relations
This new sub-section will contain documents and links dealing with global and regional issues from various perspectives - perhaps useful for those thinking about Burma/Myanmar's future in the world. See also the Roots and Resources pages under Development and sustainability
Websites/Multiple Documents
Source/publisher:
Google
Date of entry/update:
2013-06-21
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Category:
International Relations
Language:
English
more
Source/publisher:
Google
Date of entry/update:
2013-06-21
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Category:
International Relations
Language:
English
more
Source/publisher:
Google
Date of entry/update:
2013-06-21
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Category:
International Relations
Language:
English
more
Description:
"We are a community of public scholars and organizers linking peace, justice, and the environment in the U.S. and globally".
Source/publisher:
Institute for Policy Studies
Date of entry/update:
2012-01-21
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Language:
English
more
Description:
Articles on this category from BurmaNet News
Source/publisher:
BurmaNet News
Date of entry/update:
2016-03-01
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Category:
International Relations, ASEAN-Burma relations
Language:
English
more
Description:
"Myanmar ISIS is a research and policy analysis institute working on international relations and Myanmar foreign policy...What do we do?
• Contributes timely inputs, views, research papers and recommendations to support policy and decision-making on bilateral and multilateral issues.
• Serves Myanmar?s national interest while promoting peace, friendship and cooperation with other countries.
• Organizes and hosts seminars, workshops and debates in Myanmar in cooperation with internationally recognized institutions.
• Sends representatives to meetings, seminars, workshops and roundtable discussions organized by other institutes of international studies and think tanks in Asia and other parts of the world.
What is our role in Myanmar?
While much research is carried out on domestic issues in Myanmar, less is done on foreign policy.
Myanmar ISIS is the sole think-tank taking attempting to fulfill the gap.
A foreign-policy think-tank can both give foreign actors a better understanding of Myanmar?s stances, policies and actions and provide advice to Myanmar representatives in their decision-making at a regional or global level.
What are our goals?
• Carry out quality research on international issues relevant for Myanmar
• Cultivate a new generation of international affairs experts in Myanmar
• Communicate policy-relevant content to decision-makers
• Raising awareness of Myanmar ISIS? activities in Myanmar and abroad
• Actively maintain contact with other Myanmar governmental institutions, and inform their policies..."...Has aboout 25 publications for doiwnload
Source/publisher:
Myanmar-ISIS
Date of entry/update:
2018-03-09
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
more
Description:
See the current material but also the Archive...The list of "What We?re Reading" (lower right-hand) has useful links to global issues.
Source/publisher:
TomDispatch
Date of entry/update:
2013-06-20
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Category:
International Relations
Language:
English
more
Description:
" ZComunications is a massive site with many components. You can access various parts from here, via the links below, that include brief descriptions. In general, however, you will want to bookmark some part of the site, probably either ZNet or ZMag, and enter that part directly rather than via this introductory splash page. From any part, you can get to the rest.!..."
Source/publisher:
Z Communications
Date of entry/update:
2013-06-20
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Category:
International Relations
Language:
English
more
Individual Documents
Summary:
"“The mix within her of global human rights icon and steely Burmese politician is bound to be uneasy.”
So wrote Mr William Burns, former deputy secretary of state in the Obama administration, of...
Sub-title:
In countries undergoing a transition to democracy, deeply engrained social and intellectual tendencies are often at odds with idealistic international political norms.
Description:
"“The mix within her of global human rights icon and steely Burmese politician is bound to be uneasy.”
So wrote Mr William Burns, former deputy secretary of state in the Obama administration, of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in his contemporaneous notes on meeting her in Myanmar (The Back Channel: A Memoir of American Diplomacy and the Case for Its Renewal. NY: Random House, p. 270).
This prescient conclusion captures the essence of Aung San Suu Kyi’s dilemma, and that of much of the Western world, in balancing international opinions and policies with Burmese political realities. She considers herself, as she has stated, a politician not an icon. She is, however, both.
This unease has been dually fostered: in the West by Myanmar’s egregiously discriminatory and disastrous policy of ethnic cleansing (some claim genocide) against the Rohingya Muslim minority, but in Myanmar itself – where anti-Rohingya sentiment is virtually ubiquitous and repressive legislation against them enforced – by her administration’s lack of economic progress for those most in need. Among the urban and intellectual community, there is further disquiet because of the use of anti-democratic legislation, some of it dating from British colonial rule and continued under military autocracies.
Although reports indicate her falling, if not failing, reputation, she remains relatively popular..."
Source/publisher:
"Frontier Myanmar" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2019-11-01
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
About Aung San Suu Kyi, International Relations, Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory, Human Rights and international relations
Language:
Local URL:
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Description:
"“In order to facilitate investment, businesses need political stability. And in that sense, Mandalay is the perfect place to offer this condition,” Mandalay Chief Minister Zaw Myint Maung told an audience of European investors and businesses.
The European Chamber of Commerce in Myanmar (EuroCham) in collaboration with the Mandalay Region Chamber of Commerce (MRCCI) organised the forum “Business Climate in Upper Myanmar” on May 21.
Many European businesses see Mandalay’s location and access to Upper Myanmar as a key asset but raise concerns about the opaque bureaucracy and shortage of skilled labour.
“Mandalay is at the crossroads between big Asian players, like China and India, and [the city] could become a main trading and communications centre,” said Fabian Lorenz, attorney-at-law, Luther Law Firm Limited.
The availability of raw materials and labour in Mandalay offers a vast potential for development and investment, he added. This includes agriculture, food processing and manufacturing..."
Source/publisher:
"Belt & Road News" (China)
Date of entry/update:
2019-09-25
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
“One Belt, One Road” initiative, European investment, Burma/Myanmar's Foreign relations, general, International Relations
Language:
Local URL:
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Description:
"They may not be the first two countries that come to mind when people think of the Pilbara, but last week Australia’s ambassadors to Myanmar and Kuwait visited the region.
The visits were part of the Australian Government’s Global Heads of Mission Meeting, in which all ofAustralia’s heads of mission headed to Canberra to consider Australia’s response to foreign trade, development policy challenges and opportunities.
They then travelled to locations around regional Australia to help the community understand how the Australian Government’s work overseas delivers benefits to all, and to listen and respond to local perspectives.
Australia’s ambassador to Myanmar Andrea Faulkner visited Karratha and said WA was the State which had the most, in a business sense, to do with her patch.
“There’s real opportunities in Myanmar for the oil and gas sector,” she said
“Woodside is Australia’s biggest investor in Myanmar.
“They’re involved in exploration of LNG on the West coast.”
While in Karratha, Ms Faulkner met with the Murujuga Aboriginal Corportation, Yara Pilbara, Woodside, the City of Karratha, the Pilbara Development Commission, Bush Lolly Cafe, Karratha Senior High School, Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation and Rio Tinto..."
Source/publisher:
The West Australian (Australia) via "Pilbara News"
Date of entry/update:
2019-09-23
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Australia-Burma relations, International Relations, Burma/Myanmar's Foreign relations, general
Language:
Local URL:
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Description:
"Myanmar's natural gas export hit 3.5 billion U.S. dollars in the first 11 months (Oct.-Aug.) of the fiscal year 2018-2019 ending September, according to the Ministry of Commerce Wednesday.
The natural gas export during the period increased by 430 million U.S. dollars compared with the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year.
Natural gas represents one of the major export items of Myanmar and over 20 percent of the country's export earning came from the sale of natural gas.
There are several gas fields in Myanmar, of which Yadana and Yetagun were discovered in the early 1990s.
The Yadana natural gas project, located offshore in the Andaman Sea, is being carried out by the TOTAL company of France with its pipeline supplying gas to Thailand so as the Zawtika project in the gulf of Mottama.
The Shwe natural gas field, lying offshore Rakhine state, was found in 2014 and gas from the field was mainly exported to China..."
Source/publisher:
"Xinhua" (China)
Date of entry/update:
2019-09-18
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Economy: general, analytical, statistical (various sources), Government of Myanmar (oil and gas), Burma/Myanmar's Foreign relations, general, International Relations
Language:
Local URL:
more
Summary:
"Since last year, Myanmar officials responsible for drumming up foreign investment have been shuttling between Naypyitaw and Asian countries to pitch the government’s latest legal, procedural, and...
Description:
"Since last year, Myanmar officials responsible for drumming up foreign investment have been shuttling between Naypyitaw and Asian countries to pitch the government’s latest legal, procedural, and institutional reforms to potential investors as part of efforts to revitalize the country’s economy.
State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi often highlights foreign direct investment (FDI) as a key driver of Myanmar’s economy.
Starting last year, both abroad and at home, Myanmar has held investment and business forums with Japan, South Korea, China, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong and Singapore among Asian countries, and the US, UK, Czech, Hungary and Australia among Western nations.
Between January and September this year, the government organized a Union-level investment summit in Naypyitaw and four major investment forums in Yangon and Mandalay regions, and in Rakhine and Chin states, inviting both local and foreign investors to attend. This is part of the government’s investment promotion plan, which has emphasized East Asian countries since the country’s image took a battering in the wake of the 2017 Rohingya crisis in Rakhine State, which turned off Western investors..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy"
Date of entry/update:
2019-09-12
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Lists, Directories of Foreign Companies in Burma, Burma/Myanmar's relationship with the Global Economy, Burma/Myanmar's Foreign relations, general, International Relations
Language:
Local URL:
more
Description:
"Myanmar rolled out a new Companies Law in 2018 to attract more foreign direct investment (FDI) into the country. The new law, which replaced rules made more than a century ago, was one of several initiatives to reform the economy. While the economy had picked up pace, experts cautioned that Myanmar’s FDI targets in 2019 might fall short..."
Source/publisher:
"CNA"
Date of entry/update:
2019-09-06
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Lists, Directories of Foreign Companies in Burma, International Relations, Legislation under consideration, adopted, amended or repealed
Language:
Local URL:
more
Sub-title:
Myanmar has accumulated US$10.2 billion in debt owed to more than 20 countries and multilateral organisations, the Joint Public Accounts Committee of the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw noted in a report on the Union budget for the 2017-18 fiscal year.
Description:
"The committee said the Ministries of Home Affairs; Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation; Transport and Communication; Electricity and Energy and; Industry took the largest loans.
According to the report, loans rose by more than US$1 billion (K1.587 trillion), or 11.5pc, between fiscal 2016-17 and 2017-18.
Of the total loan amount as of March 2018, loans from China formed the biggest amount totaling US$4 billion. Some US$1.11 billion has been repaid.
The Export-Import Bank of China(Exim China) was the creditor for the majority of the loans taken out by the Ministries of Electricity and Energy; Defence; Industry and; Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation.
Examples of loans from Exim China include the Ministry of Electricity and Energy’s Thout Yay Khat 2 project with Shwe Swan-in Co Ltd where the firm still owes US$5.2 million in capital and a further US$2.7 million to the ministry.
A long-planned caustic soda plan project for which Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd (MEHL) had signed a 690-million-yuan loan with Exim China in June 2010 remains unbuilt despite 276 million yuan having been spent and MEHL having transferred the No 3 Heavy Industries Enterprise to implement the project. To-date, the government has repaid 289 million yuan in capital and interest and only expressions of interest have been invited for the project..."
Source/publisher:
"Myanmar Times"
Date of entry/update:
2019-08-20
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Foreign Debt, International Relations
Language:
Local URL:
more
Description:
"Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi made her first diplomatic visit to Cambodia this week, underscoring the similarities between two countries that find themselves increasingly isolated from the international community.
According to the Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Suu Kyi arrived in Cambodia on April 29, flying from Beijing where she and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen attended the second Belt and Road Forum.
While the statement claimed the visit would strengthen cooperation within Asean – the Association of Southeast Asian Nations – Myanmar and Cambodia have been stumbling blocks to the bloc’s effectiveness, with both seen as being more loyal to China..."
Source/publisher:
"South China Morning Post"
Date of entry/update:
2019-08-18
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
Local URL:
more
Description:
Sir Humphrey explains
Source/publisher:
BBC
Date of publication:
1983-11-30
Date of entry/update:
2016-07-02
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Relations
Language:
English
Local URL:
more