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BURMA RELATED NEWS - April 08,
2002.
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HEADLINES
----------------------------------------------------------------- AFP - India's northeast welcomes road link with
Southeast Asia
Reuters - Karaoke replaces communism in old
Khmer Rouge town
Dow Jones - Asean Takes Another Baby Step
Towards Integration
Hoover's Online - Burma: Wa leaders explain
drugs situation to foreign diplomats
Hoover's Online - Burma: Secretary-1 Khin Nyunt
speaks at ASEAN opening ceremony
Bkk Post - Thai firms unaffected by new
restriction in Burma
NSTP - Reconciliation talks in the
pipeline
The Nation - EDITORIAL I: Border tension on the
burner again
Xinhua via COMTEX - Myanmar Exports Less Teak,
Hardwood in 2001
Xinhuanet - Myanmar's Paper Production Goes Up
in 2001
The Straits Times - Myanmar talks may
bring breakthrough
----------------------------------------------------------------- Monday April 8, 12:46 PM
India's northeast welcomes road
link with Southeast Asia
GUWAHATI, India, April 8 (AFP)
- India's troubled northeast region hailed Monday a decision to build a "highway
of opportunity" linking India, Thailand and Myanmar and boosting regional trade
and development.
The seven states that make up India's buffer zone with Southeast Asia have
struggled with decades of separatist insurgency that has bled the economy of a
region rich in natural resources.
The new highway, which could see the light of day within just 18 months,
offers a new economic lifeline.
"It would be a wonderful thing if India is connected by road to Southeast
Asian business centers," Manipur state chief minister, Okram Ibobi Singh, told
AFP by telephone from the state capital Imphal.
The highway scheme, for which financing details have yet to be unveiled,
was unveiled on Saturday after a meeting of Indian, Thai and Myanmar foreign
ministers in Yangon.
The 1,400 kilometer (900-mile) road would run from Moreh in Manipur, cut
across the ancient city of Bagan in central Myanmar to join Thailand at Mae
Sot.
"The proposed road would increase connectivity to the northeast and free
trade with Southeast Asian countries and the region would flourish," Assam state
chief minister Tarun Gogoi told AFP.
"Our region would then have the potential to become the hub of business
activities with a boom in tourism and other avenues opening up
simultaneously."
A series of separatist struggles in timber- and oil-rich Assam have claimed
more than 10,000 lives in the past two decades.
Assam, the gateway between the northeast and the rest of India, is about
2,000 kilometres from the Indian capital New Delhi and some 3,000 kilometres
from the country's biggest commercial centre, Bombay.
Of the 5,000-kilometer combined perimeter formed by India's seven
northeastern states, only 250 kilometers are linked to the rest of the country,
while the remainder borders China, Myanmar, Bhutan, Bangladesh, China, and
Nepal.
Last week saw the inagural flight of a twice-weekly air service linking the
Assamese capital Guwahati with Bangkok.
----------------------------------------------------------------- Karaoke replaces communism in old
Khmer Rouge town
Mon Apr 8,12:34 AM ET By Chhay Sophal PAILIN, Cambodia (Reuters) -
Pol Pot would be horrified. His hardline communist Khmer Rouge regime banned
money, entertainment and even love in a bid to create a pure agrarian utopia.
But its former heartland is a paradise for gambling, drinking, sex and drugs.
The ramshackle jungle town of Pailin near the Thai border is a former Khmer
Rouge stronghold, home to many members of the group that broke up in 1998 with
the surrender of its last fighters. The town's economy is founded on one product
above all -- vice.
Thais flock across the border to gamble in casinos run by former Khmer
Rouge cadres, drink and croon in their karaoke bars and have sex with Vietnamese
prostitutes in their brothels.
Former leaders of the notorious group live here in comfortable retirement
after giving up their fight, untouched so far by halting efforts to set up an
international tribunal to bring them to justice.
They say they knew nothing of the regime's atrocities -- some 1.7 million
people died during its 1975-79 rule through execution, torture, disease and
starvation -- and pin all blame on Pol Pot, Khmer Rouge "Brother Number One",
who died in 1998.
Brother Number Two, Nuon Chea, seen as the regime's ideological guru --
lives freely near Pailin.
He says times have changed, but he has not abandoned the principles that
first inspired him to join the Khmer Rouge and fight for a better society
decades ago.
"I really hated the injustice, corruption and debauchery of the anarchic
colonialist society," Nuon Chea told Reuters at his home in a bamboo forest just
50 metres (yards) from the Thai border.
INJUSTICE, CORRUPTION AND DEBAUCHERY
But Nuon Chea's younger followers now show no sign of following the
principles he still espouses.
Not only have they stopped fighting debauchery, they are actively profiting
from it.
Top Khmer Rouge leaders have bankrolled casinos and massage parlours and
are believed to have a hand in the lucrative business of smuggling drugs across
the border from Thailand.
"Khmer Rouge areas are being used as drug trafficking routes from Burma
(Myanmar) into Phnom Penh," said Graham Shaw, a United Nations Drug Control and
Crime Prevention official in Phnom Penh.
"If there is a lot of money to be made from anything we assume senior
leaders know about it, and that goes throughout Cambodia," he told Reuters.
"It's all part of transnational organised crime -- using casinos to launder
money, to warehouse illicit drugs, and house women trafficked for sexual
exploitation."
The Pailin casinos are lawless places. Guards -- many of them teenagers --
lounge around in the shadows carrying Kalashnikovs. Many of the Thai
high-rollers bring a troop of bodyguards.
Entertainment, aside from gambling, includes cockfighting and boxing bouts
-- and, of course, sex.
Drugs, too, are easy to find.
Suong Sikoeun, a former assistant to Khmer Rouge Foreign Minister Ieng
Sary, says he is shocked by the town's decadence.
"Many, many people, particularly the young people, take drugs now," Suong
Sikoeun told Reuters. "This is against (our) principles. But the people are in
great need of money. You can be very rich if you sell 2,000 pills."
WEDDING BELLS
Nuon Chea says he has moved with the changing times but that does not make
him a hypocrite. He says many Khmer Rouge policies were practical for the days
after the movement won its war to overthrow a U.S.-backed government and take
power in 1975.
He recently invited hundreds of guests to a wedding party for his daughter
at a Pailin nightclub and casino complex, complete with Buddhist monks to bless
the proceedings.
The Khmer Rouge banned traditional marriages and religion when it ruled
Cambodia and instead held mass weddings for couples who had never met before.
Love was considered an alien, colonialist concept.
Forced marriages, Nuon Chea says, were necessary at the time to protect
women's rights.
"After the war, we did not need unnecessary things such as traditional
wedding parties because we focused only strengthening the revolutionary ranks,"
Nuon Chea said.
"Many men had been killed in the war and many elderly ladies were single.
So, we required the young men to marry them or the young men would marry only
young ladies," he said.
"But from time to time, everything has to be changed."
----------------------------------------------------------------- Monday April 8, 8:10 AM
WRAP: Asean Takes Another Baby Step Towards Integration (This item was first published 1011 GMT Saturday.) YANGON (Dow Jones)--Southeast
Asia's finance ministers on Saturday signed an accord to liberalize trade and
investment in financial services, taking another small step towards their goal
of closer regional economic integration.
Many observers say the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations, need to break down trade barriers and increase cooperation if they are
to maintain strong economic growth. But the very location of the ministers'
meeting - poor, isolated and military-ruled Myanmar - highlights the difficulty
of that project.
"Our overall message is: regional integration as fast as you can possibly
handle it," said Ernest Bower, president of the U.S.-Asean Business Council, a
business lobby group that met with Asean finance ministers this week in Yangon.
The deal signed Saturday formalizes the results of negotiations that ended
in December 2001, when Asean members agreed to extend each other slightly more
favorable treatment in financial services than they do to other countries in the
World Trade Organization.
But the concessions granted so far are fairly minor, Asean officials said,
and they will have to be built on in another round of negotiations, whose launch
was also announced Saturday. "It's very difficult, it's kind of sensitive,"
Asean Secretary-General Rodolfo Severino said of the financial services talks.
Aside from financial services, Asean's economic integration is proceeding
on a number of different fronts, including trade in goods, due to be discussed
at an upcoming meeting of Asean economic ministers.
Along with the recent signs of a regional economic recovery, that's feeding
a sense among Asean members that they can be successful economically by relying
more on themselves and less on the U.S., historically their largest export
market.
"I think right now Asean countries can stand on their own strength,"
Thailand's Finance Minister Somkid Jatusripitak said, while acknowledging that a
U.S. recovery would provide a much-needed boost to his country's economic
growth.
Indonesia's Finance Minister Boediono told reporters that Asean's recovery
could be maintained "by doing our homework, each of us, and working to cooperate
together as much as possible."
Asean has also tried to bolster ties between its members and the strongest
economies in the region: Japan, South Korea and China. Japan has signed a
bilateral free-trade agreement with Asean member Singapore, and talks will start
next month on a China-Asean free trade area.
Increasing Cooperation On Currencies
Asean finance ministers also said Saturday they would continue to expand a
program of bilateral currency swap agreements among Asean member countries and
Japan, South Korea and China. Six deals involving total commitments of US$14
billion have been signed over the past year, and another eight are now under
negotiation, they said.
Such deals allow the central bank of one nation to borrow foreign currency
from another, but repay the loan in its own domestic currency. The added
short-term liquidity the swaps provide is intended to deter speculation in the
foreign exchange market.
Asean officials have said the swap agreements could eventually be expanded
to form an Asian Monetary Fund, a local counterpart to the International
Monetary Fund that would support regional economies in the event of a crisis
like the one in 1997-98.
But Philippine Secretary of Finance Jose Isidro Camacho, who had said
earlier this week that he would try to revive interest among his colleagues in
an Asian Monetary Fund, said Saturday the ministers' hadn't discussed the idea
in Yangon.
Nonetheless, expanding financial and monetary cooperation among Asean
members, and the larger grouping including Japan, South Korea and China, is very
much on people's minds.
Secretary-General Severino said the idea of an Asian Monetary Fund is still
being considered, and some researchers are working on even more ambitious
schemes to coordinate policy in the region.
"Some kind of regional collaboration on exchange-rate policy is the
future," said Pradumna Rana, the manager of the Asian Development Bank's
regional economic monitoring unit. He said the ADB is researching such
arrangements and would eventually present its findings to Asean.
The Yangon meetings included finance ministers or deputy finance ministers
from the 10 Asean member countries of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos,
Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
----------------------------------------------------------------- Hoover's Online
Burma: Wa leaders explain drugs
situation to foreign diplomats
April 7, 2002 6:40am Source: The New Light of Myanmar web site, Rangoon, in English 6 Apr 02 Yangon [Rangoon], 5 April - Foreign diplomats including Dean of the
Diplomatic Corps Ambassador of Laos Mr Ly Bounkham and heads of foreign missions
visited Kengtung [Keng Tung] and its central market on 2 April morning. Led by
Chairman of Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control of Myanmar Minister for
Home Affairs Col Tin Hlaing and Vice-Chairman Minister for Foreign Affairs U Win
Aung, the diplomats left Kengtung for Pansang [Panghsang] in Wa region by
helicopter at 10 a.m.
On arrival at Pansang at 11 a.m., they were welcomed by Wa national race
leader U Pauk Yu Chan and officials. U Pauk Yu Chan met with them at Maezin
Hotel. He said as the Wa people had to engage in battles under the Burma
Communist Party, they were not able to conduct regional development
undertakings. They were able to develop the roads, bridges, schools and
dispensaries only after peace had been restored. A plan was laid down in 1990 to
reduce poppy cultivation annually to totally end the practice and to eradicate
the narcotic drugs. In 1996, an order to eliminate the narcotic drugs was
issued. It had been declared to the world in 1997 that efforts will be made
under the leadership of the government of the Union of Myanmar to totally free
the Wa region from narcotic drugs.
The drug eradication task has been carried out with greater momentum since
10 years ago. The Wa region has gained greater success in carrying out the task.
And its success has been acknowledged by the local and the international
communities. There has been misunderstanding concerning the drug elimination
task of the Wa region as it has no media coverage. Especially, some of the
opium-trafficking insurgents, who get foreign assistance, are launching
fabrications concerning the situation at Thai-Myanmar [Burma] border. They are
trying to belittle the sincere efforts of the Wa people. The Wa region has to
suffer much due to such perpetrations. The Ywet Sit [Yawd Serk] group is trying
to launch fabrications as if the Wa group was getting involved in the drug
business.
The Ywet Sit group in collusion with some capitalists is transgressing the
Myanmar territory at the border and producing narcotic drugs. But the Ywet Sit
group is trying to put the blame on the Wa group. In replying to the questions
raised by the heads of foreign missions, U Paw Yu Chan said that the Wa national
group is striving to eradicate the cultivation and production of narcotic drugs
with the use of money earned from timber, mining, gems and other businesses
permitted by the State. The State has provided assistance for the regional
development tasks being undertaken by the Wa national group. Measures are being
taken to improve the standard of education and health, promote social status and
develop the intellectual power of national youths.
Cultivation of opium-substitute crops is meeting with success. Livestock
breeding work and other businesses are being done, and factories are being
extended by means of hydro-electric power. The living standard of Wa nationals
will rise in future.
They were served with lunch at the Maezin Hotel. Then, the ministers and
the heads of foreign missions looked round Pankham Cigarette Factory and Honpan
Distillery. Afterwards, they left there by helicopter and arrived at (special
township) in Honpan Township at 3 p.m.
Leader of Wa nationals U Aik Ron explained measures taken for the
eradication of cultivation and production of narcotic drugs in Nantit Township,
progress of work and future tasks.
In replying to the questions raised by the heads of foreign missions, he
said that the State has given encouragement and assistance for the development
of the region. Nantit Township consists of six village-tracts. Now, there are no
traces of cultivation of opium whatsoever in four village-tracts except in two
village-tracts. The cultivation of opium is on the decrease every year. In doing
opium-substitute cultivation, quality paddy strains, rubber, lychee, mangoes,
oranges and tea plants have been grown since 1996-97.
Hydro-electric power factories have been built, and industries are being
extended. Then, they viewed the rubber plantations, and Nammarhaw Bridge across
the border river. They left there by helicopter and arrived at Lashio Airport in
northern Shan State at 5 p.m.
----------------------------------------------------------------- Hoover's Online
Burma: Secretary-1 Khin Nyunt speaks at ASEAN opening ceremony April 7, 2002 10:41am Source: The New Light of Myanmar web site, Rangoon, in English 6 Apr 02 Burmese leader Khin Nyunt has given an opening address at the ASEAN Finance
Ministers Meeting, in which he noted that it was the first such meeting to be
held in Burma. He said that the ASEAN economies were on the path of recovery
from the 1997 crisis by adopting practices suited to their individual
circumstances. In the case of Burma, he said that the "government has been
striving for all-round development in political, economic and social fields to
pave the way for the emergence of a peaceful, tranquil and new modern developed
nation". The following is the text of a report in English by Burmese newspaper
The New Light of Myanmar web site on 6 April
Yangon [Rangoon], 5 April: The opening ceremony of the Sixth ASEAN
[Association of Southeast Asian Nations] Finance Ministers Meeting hosted by
Myanmar [Burma] for the first time, was held at the Traders Hotel on Sule Pagoda
Road this morning, with an address by Secretary-1 of the State Peace and
Development Council Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt.
Also present were ministers, finance ministers from ASEAN member nations,
the secretary-general of ASEAN, the chairman of the Asia Development Bank,
deputy ministers, the governor of the Central Bank of Myanmar, officials of the
State Peace and Development Council Office, members of the US-ASEAN Business
Council, the vice-governors of finance and central banks of three dialogue
countries of ASEAN the People's Republic of China, Japan and the Republic of
Korea, senior officials, delegates, ambassadors of three dialogue countries of
ASEAN in Yangon, chairmen of private banks in Myanmar, local and foreign
correspondents and guests.
In his address the secretary-1 said: This is the first ever ASEAN Finance
Ministers Meeting to be held in Myanmar and therefore, it is a great pleasure
and privilege for me to address this opening ceremony. First of all, I would
like to take this opportunity, on behalf of the government and the people of
Myanmar, to extend our heartfelt welcome to all the ASEAN Finance Ministers, the
secretary-general of the ASEAN, the president of the Asian Development Bank as
well as to all the distinguished delegates. Although your stay in Myanmar is
brief, it is our hope that you will be able to have an insight of our country,
which is rich in beauty and culture, and is peaceful and economically vibrant.
May I also wish you a most pleasant and enjoyable stay. The present meeting
has taken a new and urgent significance and importance since it is taking place
against a background of a complex international economic situation. It may be
recalled that despite the dire predictions by some observers, particularly by
those outside the region, the ASEAN countries were able to put their economies
on the path of recovery following the financial crisis that shook the region in
1997. By adopting policies and practices best suited to the specific
circumstances of individual nations, by enhancing cooperation and integration
among member states and by adopting bold measures, we were able to gradually
regain the economic initiative as well as increased confidence in the region
from international investors. However, the recent events in the global economic
situation are presenting new challenges to all of us.
But I am confident that ASEAN will be able to overcome these challenges by
working together. Allow me to take this opportunity to congratulate the ASEAN+3
finance ministers for their concerted efforts to establish the Chiang Mai
Initiative based on their experience, expertise and their goodwill for the
region. The ASEAN Swap Arrangement, one of Chiang-Mai Initiative's main
components, has been enlarged to 1bn US dollars effective from 17 November 2000
and has as its participants all the ASEAN member countries. With regard to the
Bilateral Swap Arrangement (BSA), I am pleased to learn that a number of
agreements have already been concluded between various countries.
At the Seventh ASEAN Summit held in Brunei Darussalam in November of last
year, the leaders agreed to go beyond the ASEAN Free Trade Area and the ASEAN
Investment Area by deepening market liberalization for both trade and investment
and also agreed to speed up negotiations on liberalizing intra-ASEAN trade in
services and to start negotiations on mutual recognition arrangement for
professional services. I am pleased to learn that two protocols: "the protocol
to implement the package of commitments on financial services under the ASEAN
Framework Agreement on Services" and "the protocol governing the implementation
of the ASEAN Harmonized Tariff Nomenclature" will be signed at this meeting. I
understand that these two protocols would give added momentum, to the
achievement of the summit's agreements.
At this juncture, I would like to briefly mention that the Myanmar
government has been striving for all-round development in political, economic
and social fields to pave the way for the emergence of a peaceful, tranquil and
new modern developed nation. By adopting suitable policies and by utilizing our
economic potentials, Myanmar has been able to surpass the planned targets in the
1992-93 to 1995-96 Short Term Four-Year Plan and the 1996-97 to 2000-2001
Five-Year Plan, achieving an average annual growth rate of 7.5 per cent and 8.4
per cent against plan targets of 5.1 and 6 per cent respectively. We have now
embarked on a new 2001-2002 to 2005-2006 Five Year Plan and we are fully
confident that we shall be again able to surpass the projected annual growth
rate of six per cent.
With the economy on the right path to rapid development, Myanmar will
surely be able to make a more meaningful contribution to the development and
prosperity of the region as a whole. Allow me to take this opportunity to
reaffirm Myanmar's commitment to enhance cooperation among the member countries
of the Association. The agenda that is before your meeting is wide-ranging and
is of great importance to the region. The meeting will surely benefit from your
wisdom and wide experience. In conclusion, I would therefore like to wish you
every success in your deliberations.
Then, the secretary-1, together with the ASEAN finance ministers and
secretary-general, posed for a documentary photo and the opening ceremony came
to a close. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - Monday 08 April 2002
Thai firms unaffected by new
restriction in Burma
Supamart Kasem
Thai companies will be affected only slightly by Burma's decision to
suspend the permits of foreign trading companies indefinitely, local traders
said.
Companies from South Korea, Japan, China, Singapore, Malaysia and Britain
would be affected most, said Niyom Vairachapanich, chairman of the border trade
committee of the Thai Chamber of Commerce.
``A few Thai firms set up importing companies in Burma, but not like those
running big businesses such as automobiles and department stores,'' he said.
``Most transactions along the border between Thais and Burmese involve everyday
consumer products.''
Burma introduced the restriction, saying it was necessary to protect local
companies at a time when the country's currency, the kyat, is plummeting in
value.
Colonel Kyaw Thein, a senior intelligence officer, said that as of January,
permits were not being renewed.
All permits were suspended by the end of last month
The move affected about 100 companies, all of which were previously
required to renew their permits every two years.
An executive at Thailand's Loxley Plc said the company had closed its
trading operation in Burma two years because business was sluggish.
The kyat is hovering around 800 to the US dollar on the black market,
causing the prices of imported goods to rocket.
The official rate is seven kyat to the dollar.
Panithi Tangpati, the chairman of the Tak Provincial Chamber of Commerce
said Burma usually introduced tough measures when there were economic
troubles.
Mae Sot's Customs Office reported that Thailand exported 1.34 billion baht
worth of goods to Burma in the first quarter this year, up from 591 million in
the same period last year.
Imports from Burma totalled 238 million baht, down from 350 million.
----------------------------------------------------------------- The New Straits Times Press
Reconciliation talks in the pipeline YANGON, April 7. ? Reconciliation talks between democracy leader Aung San
Suu Kyi and the junta have dragged on for 18 long and frustrating months, but
some observers are now hopeful they will soon reach a breakthrough.
The contents of the secret talks are known only to Aung San Suu Kyi and the
ruling generals who visit her lakeside villa, where she has been held under
house arrest since September 2000, a month before the contacts began.
However, the leadership of the Nobel peace laureate's National League for
Democracy (NLD), is optimistic the talks are about to wrap up a preliminary
"confidence-building" stage and begin addressing a political transition.
NLD secretary U Lwin said the process was on the point of leaping that
hurdle last month when it was derailed by the regime's announcement that it had
foiled a coup plot mounted by relatives of former dictator Ne Win.
"I think that it was about time that we might be able to go for the
dialogue, then unfortunately we had this coup attempt," he said. U Lwin said
that although the contacts had so far moved far too slowly and produced too
little, the party was confident they would soon be back on track and begin
broaching substantial issues.
The veteran democracy campaigner scoffed at suggestions the NLD could lose
patience and pull the plug on the peace talks if they fail to yield dramatic
results soon.
But Western Governments are growing impatient, demanding that Aung San Suu
Kyi be released and urging the regime to start building a framework for a
transition Government partly made up of civilians.
Snapping at the generals' heels is legislation making its way to the United
States Congress which would ban imports from Myanmar worth some US$500 million
(RM1.9 billion) a year.
"The threat of American sanctions is something they worry about," said one
diplomat in Yangon. "They will try to avoid the trade ban if they can, but what
they'll come up with, who knows." High hopes have been attached to the April 22
visit here by United Nations envoy Tan Sri Razali Ismail, who brokered the
contacts that began in October 2000, winning the trust and respect of both sides
of Myanmar's political divide.
"Everyone is looking for a concrete development from Razali's visit," said
one diplomat. "It's time for something more." "Between now and June we will see
some major developments. I don't think they're shadow-boxing any more," said
another highly-placed observer.
But there are doubts the generals are confident in their ability to handle
the delicate next phase without unleashing forces that will see them join
Chile's Pinochet and Indonesia's Suharto on the list of disgraced
autocrats.
"The generals have nothing to gain and everything to lose," said one Asian
diplomat, noting that the regime's grip on power was firmer than ever after four
decades of martial rule.
"They know what happens to military regimes that lose power ... For them it
is not only a question of power, but also of their very survival." Myanmar's
Foreign Minister Win Aung reiterated last week that the junta would not rush
into reforms, but that prospects for change had improved now the regime had
abandoned its confrontational stance with the opposition. ? AFP
----------------------------------------------------------------- The Nation
EDITORIAL I: Border tension on the burner again Published on Apr 8, 2002 The relationship between Thailand and Burma, which the Thaksin
administration claimed to be back to normal, has been put to the test following
a border clash between a Thai army unit and Burma's United Wa State Army (UWSA)
in Chiang Mai province late last month.
The fighting captured the public's attention because a Thai soldier was
killed and many others wounded. Most importantly, the clash resulted in the
cancellation of HM the Queen's trip to a Royal project at a nearby area.
From that moment, a spillover of verbal attacks commenced. Both countries'
ambassadors were "invited" to receive notes, ranking from a protest note to an
aide memoir.
Rangoon claimed that Thai troopers were on its soil when the clash took
place, while Thai Army Commander in Chief Surayud Jalanont insisted that there
was no reason for the army unit to invade Burmese territory.
This reminded the public of the old days a few years back when bilateral
relations were on the line following a series of volatile crimes in Thailand by
Burmese dissidents. During the period under the Chuan Leekpai administration,
Thailand and Burma were engaged in dispute mostly caused by border conflicts and
the influx of Burmese illegal immigrants.
Relations remain shaky despite the Thaksin government's claim that
Thai-Burma ties returned to normal after an exchange of visits of senior
government officials including Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
This administration criticised its predecessor, the Chuan government, for
putting the relationship in danger by conducting a policy that was too tough.
Thaksin's visit to Rangoon last year was the first of a Thai premier in years as
the Chuan government suspended all high-ranking visits to express displeasure
with bilateral ties.
Thaksin was scheduled to visit Rangoon for the second time but had to
cancel it following Burma's arrests of General Ne Win's family members who were
accused of trying to stage a coup. A senior Burmese officer, General Maung Aye,
the vice chairman of the military junta, is also scheduled to visit Thailand for
the first time late this month.
But despite the claim of the better ties, verbal and border attacks have
returned.The military junta's reaction to the latest violent incident surprised
many. Its high-ranking army officers conducted press conferences to deny any
involvement in the Wa's illicit activities. They also strongly attacked the Thai
Army for helping Burmese dissidents who are fighting for independence along the
border. The reaction was totally different from previous border incidents
because the military junta formerly aired its comments through the
government-controlled newspaper, New Light of Myanmar, or let some spokesman
speak on the condition of anonymity.
This time the Burmese officers seemed to be taking the opportunity to
publicly voice their long-held belief that their failure in fighting Burmese
dissidents was due to the Thai Army's support for them.
It is worth watching closely how Thailand and Burma will handle this case.
It will be a crucial test for the bilateral relationship, which this government
believes is in a better condition than it was during the previous
administration. The results will show the public whether the reciprocal visits
actually improved strained relations.
----------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar's Paper Production Goes Up
in 2001
Xinhuanet 2002-04-08 10:11:06 YANGON, April 8 (Xinhuanet) --
Myanmar produced 20,239 tons of allsorts of paper in the year 2001, a 19.8
percent increase over the previous year, the latest data of the country's
Central Statistical Organization show.
There are three state-run paper plants in Myanmar under the Ministry of
Industry No.1 respectively located in the country's Mon state, Bago and Yangon
divisions. They are producing stationery and print paper, exercise books, brown
paper, packing paper and tissue paper.
A new newsprint paper factory in Mandalay division, set up in April 2001
with the assistance of the Tianjin Machinery Import andExport Corporation of
China, will produce 7,500 tons of paper annually.
Besides, Myanmar is also building a 200-ton-daily-capacity bleached bamboo
pulp factory in Ayeyawaddy division's Thabaung township, buying in machinery
from the China Metallurgical Construction (Group) Corporation. When completed,
the plant will produce 60,000 tons of the pulp yearly.
Meanwhile, Myanmar plans to add more paper and pulp mills of 50to 500 tons
daily capacity in different states and divisions during the five-year-plan
period from 2001-02 to 2005-06.
Myanmar's per capita consumption of paper is 2.6 kilograms and its total
domestic paper demand in the just-ended fiscal year of 2001-02 (April-March) was
117,600 tons. Although Myanmar's paper production increased in the year 2001,
the countryimported 69 million U.S. dollars worth of paper goods, an increaseof
41.1 percent compared with 2000, to meet its domestic demand.
----------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar Exports Less Teak, Hardwood in
2001
4/4/2002 YANGON, Apr 5, 2002 (Xinhua via
COMTEX) -- Myanmar exported 301,678 cubic- meters of teak in
2001,a 0.37-percent drop from 2000, according to the latest figures released by
the country's Central Statistical Organization.
Meanwhile, during the year, the country exported 372,994 cubic meters of
hardwood, a 24.53-percent reduction from 2000.
Export earning from teak and hardwood totaled 264.28 million U. S. dollars
during 2001, accounting for 11.5 percent of Myanmar's total exports.
Timber has become Myanmar's second largest export goods after agricultural
products and the country's teak enjoys a good reputation in the world. About 85
percent of the teak in the world market is produced in Myanmar.
According to other official figures, Myanmar produced about 200, 000 tons
of teak from its forests each year since the fiscal year 1997-98, down from
about 400,000 tons in the 1970s. Myanmar's forest covers 50 percent of its total
land area, registering 33 million hectares, 7 percent less than in 1962.
To overcome teak shortage, Myanmar launched a special plantation plan five
years ago and has been able to plant more than 32,400 hectares of teak.
Of the forest area, 18.6 percent are reserved and protected public forest,
the percentage of which is being targeted to increase to 30. ----------------------------------------------------------------- The Straits Times
APRIL 8, 2002 MON
Myanmar talks may bring breakthrough
YANGON - Observers are hopeful that a breakthrough will soon be reached
between democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and Myanmar's ruling military
government, whose reconciliation talks have dragged on for 18 long and
frustrating months.
The contents of the secret talks are known only to Ms Suu Kyi and the
generals who visit her lakeside villa, where she has been held under house
arrest since September 2000, a month before the contacts between the two sides
began.
However, the leadership of the Nobel peace laureate's National League for
Democracy (NLD) is optimistic that the talks are about to wrap up a preliminary
'confidence-building' stage and will begin addressing a political transition.
--AFP
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