[burmanet2-l] Burma Related News - Dec 19, 2002.

["TIN KYI" <tinkyi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

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BURMA RELATED NEWS - December  19, 2002.
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HEADLINES
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AP - Suu Kyi's party accuses Myanmar junta of obstructing her tour
AFP - US charges Myanmar with new rape accusations
AFP - Myanmar's Suu Kyi clashes with authorities on political trip
Reuters - Myanmar military tries to stop crowds seeing Suu Kyi
PD - China, Myanmar Sign Economic, Technical Cooperation Agreement
Bkk Post - Senate panel wants dam plans scrapped
Bkk Post - Workers found in pick-up
The Nation - 69 groups oppose Salween dam plan
Asian Tribune - Ties with Myanmar - Editorial - The Independent
Asian Tribune - $1b gas pipeline project proposed: Plan to link Myanmar with
India via Bangladesh
Independent - Jt trade body, coastal shipping with Myanmar
Daily Star - Myanmar for deeper ties, peaceful border
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Suu Kyi's party accuses Myanmar junta of obstructing her tour
Thu Dec 19, 4:37 AM ET
By AYE AYE WIN, Associated Press Writer

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's ongoing tour of
a northwestern state has been marred by harassment of her supporters by
military authorities, her party spokesman said Thursday.

Suu Kyi's trip to Rakhine state, which began Monday, is the latest test of
the junta's willingness to allow her political freedom since releasing her
from house arrest on May 6.

The accusations of harassment and obstruction suggest that the junta may be
unwilling to let Suu Kyi's popularity increase in the countryside.

It is Suu Kyi's fifth out-of-town trip on party work since her release, but
the first time that such clear harassment by authorities has been alleged.
Government officials did not immediately comment.

When Suu Kyi arrived on Tuesday in Maruk Oo town, about 535 kilometers (330
miles) northwest of Yangon, she found the streets deserted, said U Lwin,
spokesman of her National League for Democracy party.

"People wanted to see her but were apparently told by the authorities not to
come out. Only a small group of people were present when Suu Kyi put up the
party signboard in Maruk Oo," U Lwin told reporters.

On Wednesday, when a crowd of some 20,000 people did come out in the street
to greet Suu Kyi, authorities ordered them to disperse, he said. Police with
batons and a fire engine also arrived at the scene, U Lwin said.

However, Suu Kyi climbed up on the fire engine and told local officials that
she was on a party organizational tour and the people were the first
priority for her and her party.

"She told the authorities and the police to serve the people and said she
cannot stand by and watch the authorities bully the people," U Lwin said.

He said Suu Kyi and her party were not allowed to pay homage at a famous
temple in Ponna Gyun, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) north of the Rakhine
state capital, Sittway.

Suu Kyi put up two NLD signboards in Sittway on Thursday before proceeding
to other parts of the state, U Lwin said.

Suu Kyi's release from house arrest was the result of ongoing reconciliation
talks with the junta. But the talks have achieved no real progress in ending
the country's political deadlock.

The current junta came to power in 1988 after crushing a pro-democracy
movement. It called elections in 1990 but refused to honor the results when
the NLD won a thumping victory. The junta says the country is not yet ready
for democracy.
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US charges Myanmar with new rape accusations

WASHINGTON, Dec 18 (AFP) - The United States on Wednesday charged Myanmar's
military with new counts of "horrific" gang rape and torture, resuscitating
a controversy over allegations repeatedly denied by the junta in Yangon.

The State Department said the US consulate in the northern Thai city of
Chiang Mai had found evidence to support accusations made by rights groups
that Myanmar troops had used gang rape of ethnic Shan women as a weapon of
war.

During a short preliminary investigation, State Department officials found
many victims whose stories were similar to those documented in reports by
non-governmental organisations.

"Of the 12 rape victims interviewed, all stated that they had been
gang-raped by Burmese soldiers sometime over the past five years," the
department said in a fact sheet.
"Most also reported knowing several other women or girls who had been raped
and/or killed. The most recent incident was reported by a 13-year-old girl
who said that she was raped in June 2002," the fact sheet said.

The report said that all the women were forcibly relocated by the Myanmar
military between 1995 and 1997.

"All of the victims under 15 appeared severely traumatized by their
experiences, were disturbed mentally, and spoke in whispers, if at all.

"The older women sobbed violently as they recalled horrific incidents of
their own rapes as well as brutal rapes, torture, and execution of family
members."

Washington has already called on the Myanmar government to investigate such
abuses and to punish those responsible.

It said in the report that it was waiting for an analysis by the UN special
rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar Paulo Pinheiro, who raised the
possibility of a probe into the allegations in October 2002.

"We continue to urge the Burmese regime to cooperate with an independent
investigation and take concrete steps to investigate and punish those who
may have acted in violation of domestic law, international humanitarian law,
or the laws of land warfare," the department said.

"Furthermore, we call on the Burmese regime to hold its military accountable
for any lapses and to exercise command and control over their troops."

A Thai study, released in May, documented 625 sex attacks on Shan women and
girls by Myanmar soldiers. It drew international outrage and has been
repeatedly rejected by the Yangon junta.
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Myanmar's Suu Kyi clashes with authorities on political trip

YANGON, Dec 19 (AFP) - Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has clashed
with authorities who attempted to prevent supporters from meeting her during
a political trip, in the first such incident since she was freed from house
arrest in May, her party said Thursday.

National League for Democracy (NLD) spokesman U Lwin said the Nobel peace
laureate climbed on top of a fire engine to prevent it from dispersing a
crowd of 20,000 people with high-pressure hoses in Myanmar's west.

"I cannot stand by and watch people being bullied in this manner," he cited
her as telling local authorities in Myauk-Oo, an ancient town in Rakhine
state which she is touring in a test of her newly won freedom to travel the
country.

"I'm here in the name of democracy which puts the people ahead of everything
else. Our first priority is to serve and support the people -- the police as
well as other officials have the same responsibility," she said.

It was the most serious case of interference since Aung San Suu Kyi began
travelling around Myanmar after being released from house arrest with a
promise of complete freedom of movement by the ruling junta.

U Lwin said that as Aung San Suu Kyi left Myauk-Oo for the state capital of
Sitwe early Thursday she found a huge crowd of townspeople who had gathered
to meet her but were being held back on the roadside by police carrying
batons.

Overwhelmed by the crowd, the local authorities summoned a fire-engine so
they could disperse them with water hoses, he said.

"Seeing this incident unfolding right in front of her eyes, Aung San Suu Kyi
left her car, made her way right up atop the fire-engine and requested the
local authorities to desist," he said.

In the face of her outburst the local authorities backed off and she thanked
them for their cooperation before asking the crowd to return home quietly
which they did, U Lwin said.

Along the route to Sitwe security was very tight with groups of more than 30
police manning strategic cross-roads in a bid to deter the public from
gathering to meet the pro-democracy leader, he said.

"We have informed the central authorities of what transpired and they
promised to look into the matter," he said. "This is the first time that
people have been prevented from seeing Aung San Suu Kyi."

Myanmar's junta is always extremely careful to prevent large gatherings of
people, for fear its could erupt into a spontaneous show of support for the
democracy movement.

Aung San Suu Kyi's gesture is likely to cause great concern, as it harks
back to her legendary personal appeals to the army during the bloody
repression of 1988 protests, and her campaign rallies before the 1990
elections.

Security laid on by the military government has already been extremely tight
during the trip to Rakhine which began Monday, due to the presence of Muslim
extremists in the region which borders Bangladesh.

U Lwin said Aung San Suu Kyi had reported that the pro-democracy party was
also being maligned as "destructionist" by elements in Rakhine determined to
deter people from showing up to see her.

"This is the time when we, the SPDC and the military, are cooperating with
each other for the benefit and interest of the people," she said, referring
to her ongoing contacts with the ruling State Peace and Development Council.

"I think that those who refer to us as destructionists and forbid the people
from meeting us are themselves destructionists."

Only a fortnight ago the NLD leader completed an extensive tour of Shan
state in northeast Myanmar. After that trip, the NLD complained there had
been excessive surveillance of their leader.
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Myanmar military tries to stop crowds seeing Suu Kyi

YANGON, Dec. 19 (Reuters) - Myanmar's opposition said on Thursday the ruling
military tried in vain to stop a crowd of 20,000 people flocking to a rally
by Aung San Suu Kyi, reflecting growing political tension in the
impoverished nation.

U Lwin, secretary of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD), told
reporters Suu Kyi had arranged to open an NLD party office and make a speech
to locals on Wednesday in Mrauk Oo town, 400 miles (640 km) northwest of
Yangon.

''They found the town almost deserted. It was later learned that the people
had been ordered not to go out,'' he said.

''But just before (the NLD leaders) left the town, about 20,000 people
turned up. Policemen tried to prevent them but they could not stop the
people from coming near her.''

There were no reports of violence however and the police attempts appeared
to have been restricted to pushing back the opposition supporters.

But it was one of the most serious signs of tension between the military and
the NLD since U.N. brokered talks between the two sides started two years
ago. Those talks have so far made little progress.

Suu Kyi, who won the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, has been touring Rakhine State
to drum up support for her pro-democracy cause. It was her fifth trip to
provincial Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, since being released from 19
months of house arrest in May.

Her first few trips met no opposition from the authorities but a visit last
month to Shan state in northeast Myanmar led to several reports of minor
harassment by army and police, who appeared to be angered by the huge crowds
she attracted.

Suu Kyi's party won elections in 1990 by a landslide but has never been
allowed to govern. The military, who have ruled for most of the last 40
years, say they want some form of democracy eventually but that the country
is not yet ready for change.
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People's Daily Online
Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, December 19, 2002
China, Myanmar Sign Economic, Technical Cooperation Agreement

China and Myanmar signed an agreement on economic and technical cooperation
Wednesday afternoon in order to further promote bilateral friendly ties and
economic and technical cooperation and to help Myanmar develop national
economy.

China and Myanmar signed an agreement on economic and technical cooperation
Wednesday afternoon in order to further promote bilateral friendly ties and
economic and technical cooperation and to help Myanmar develop national
economy.

Representing their respective countries, Chinese Ambassador to Myanmar Li
Jinjun and Myanmar Minister of National Planning and Economic Development U
Soe Tha signed the agreement.

Under the agreement, the Chinese government will render Myanmaran assistance
gratis which will be used in the construction of the projects of industrial
technical training center in the country's Mandalay city.

U Soe said at the signing ceremony that he believed that the agreement will
greatly enhance Myanmar's human resources development.

Ambassador Li Jinjun said the Chinese government will as always provide
Myanmar with assistance as much as possible to realize joint development.

Since China and Myanmar forged diplomatic ties more than 50 years ago, the
Chinese government has successively signed with the Myanmar government a
number of economic and technical cooperation agreements, providing Myanmar
with a number of assistance gratis and loans on favorable terms.

With the use of these funds, the Myanmar government has built several dozens
of different projects which are playing an important role in Myanmar's
economic construction.
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Bangkok Post - Thursday 19 December 2002
Senate panel wants dam plans scrapped
Human rights abuses `likely to increase'
Kultida Samabuddhi

The Senate foreign affairs panel has called on the Electricity Generation
Authority of Thailand (Egat) and MDX Plc, a construction group, to scrap
projects to build dams on the Salween river in Burma, citing concerns for
national security and image.

Panel chairman Kraisak Choonhavan yesterday said the projects would lead to
more human rights violations in Burma, thus forcing more oppressed Burmese
people to seek refuge in Thailand.

Thailand already had to deal with more than four million illegal Burmese
immigrants. If the government gave the projects the go-ahead, the problem of
illegal labour and refugees would worsen, the senator said.

MDX is set to sign a memorandum of understanding with Rangoon on Friday on
the construction of a 3,600-megawatt dam, called Ta Sang, on the Salween
river in Burma's Shan state.

Meanwhile, Egat is pushing the government to give the green light to another
two dams to be built downstream, opposite the Thai district of Mae Sariang
in Mae Hong Son.

The Salween project was discussed at a recent Asean summit in Cambodia,
where energy ministers agreed the project would go ahead. Rangoon is
encouraging other Asean states to help develop basic infrastructure in
Burma.

Mr Kraisak said the government would be condemned by the international
community if it decided to do business with the Burmese military junta.

``International forums had already blamed Thailand for implementing the
Yadana gas pipeline project, which led to the use of forced labour and rape
of ethnic people in the project area. The government should not repeat this
mistake,'' Mr Kraisak said.

The Senate would raise this issue with Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra,
the Foreign Ministry and Egat, he added.

Nassir Archwarin, of the Thai Action Committee for Democracy in Burma, said
the dams would destroy one of Southeast Asia's richest river ecosystems.

The Salween was the lifeline of more than 10 million people in 13 ethnic
groups, he added. Thailand had no real need for a hydro-power dam at the
moment because the country already had a huge oversupply of electricity.

Mr Nassir yesterday handed a petition to Mr Kraisak calling on the Senate to
stop the government and agencies concerned from supporting the projects.

The petition was backed by Burma's opposition National League for Democracy
party led by Aung San Suu Kyi, as well as 69 Thai and Burmese NGOs working
on environment and human rights issues. Mr Nassir said local villagers were
being relocated by force, raped and killed by Burmese troops guarding the
site of Ta Sang dam.

``The Thai government must explore other more suitable alternatives in order
to ensure sustainable power management, not just to take advantage of the
lack of democracy in Burma to push through these projects,'' he said.
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Bangkok Post - Thursday 19 December 2002
Workers found in pick-up
Penchan Charoensuthiphan

Ten illegal Burmese workers were arrested in Don Muang district yesterday in
two pick-up trucks bearing the name of a local councillor.

The windshields bore stickers in the name of Nakhon Nonthaburi municipality
councillor Surasak Kessuwannathas.

Immigration police commissioner Pol Lt-Gen Charnwit Watcharapuk said
immigration police often encountered people claiming that local and national
politicians were involved in smuggling.

The drivers would be charged with smuggling aliens into the country.

The owner of a construction site where the Burmese workers were heading
would be charged with sheltering illegal labour, which carries a potential
five-year jail term, while their employer would face a potential three-year
jail term. Mr Surasak , the councillor, would also be called in for
questioning.

Today, 40 illegal Burmese workers would be deported to Myawaddy under a
Thai-Burmese deportation agreement.
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The Nation
69 groups oppose Salween dam plan
Published on Dec 19, 2002

A group of 69 non-governmental organisations and Burmese dissidents
yesterday voiced opposition to the proposed US$5.5 billion (Bt237 trillion)
hydro-electric dam on the Salween River, saying the project was socially and
environmentally damaging.

Energy Minister Pongthep Thepkanchana recently commissioned the Electricity
Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) to conduct a feasibility study into
the Salween dam.

The project's opponents submitted an open letter to the Senate Committee on
Foreign Affairs urging it to scrutinise the project, saying the dam offered
little benefit for Thailand but would harm the environment and ethnic
minorities in the region.

The location of the dam has not yet been decided.

Egat governor Sitthiporn Rattanopas said Rangoon wanted to site the 3,000
megawatt dam near Burma's Tha Sang township while Egat proposed building the
dam on the Thai side. The Salween River flows mostly through Burma but a
small portion of the river forms the Thai-Burmese border.

Some 10 million people from 13 ethnic minorities live along the river and
rely on it for their survival, said the letter signed by groups that include
the National League for Democracy (Liberated Area) and the All Burmese
Students' Democratic Front.

"Even though the project has not been approved, many people have been forced
to relocate. Some of them were raped and killed," the letter said.

Civil war between rebellious ethnic groups and the junta is still going on
in areas proposed for the project, it added.

The project developers should hold off on the dam's construction until Burma
has peace and full democracy, it said.

A Thai construction company MDX is preparing to sign a memorandum of
understanding with Rangoon tomorrow to construct another dam on the Salween
River.
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Asian Tribune
Date : 2002-12-19
Ties with Myanmar - Editorial - The Independent

The two-day visit to this country of the Myanmar Premier General Than Shwe
marks a turning point in bilateral relations. The visit, at the invitation
of Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia, comes at a time when the need to expand
trade and strengthen ties between the two neighbours is being felt ever more
keenly, and Myanmar is slowly ending its self-imposed isolation and, as
claimed by its leader, is also making a transition to democracy.

Myanmar, apart from India, is our only neighbour which is geographically
contiguous to our country. Truly it is much closer to us than many other
countries which we fondly describe with epithets as "neighbouring",
"regional partner", etc. It is said that one can choose friends but cannot
choose neighbour. But though Myanmar is a common-border sharing neighbour,
contacts between our two countries have not been as frequent and materially
significant as might be expected. This state is hopefully being changed. The
large entourage accompanying the visiting Premier shows that the Myanmar
side is equally keen to expand ties. After formal talks between the two
Prime Ministers an agreement and a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) were
signed. Also, an agreement on cultural cooperation was signed between
foreign ministers of the two countries. Under the MoU consultative meetings
will be held to strengthen the entire gamut of bilateral relations. We can
now look forward to increased economic cooperation of the two countries.

Appropriately, the question of road link between the two countries dominated
the talks. It transpired that Myanmar is willing to work with Bangladesh to
establish the road link and both sides have decided to set up task forces to
study the technical and financial feasibility in this regard. After road
link is established augmentation of trade will follow as a matter of course.

No doubt there are outstanding problems with Myanmar, which is but natural
among neighbours. Presence of the remaining 22,000 Rohingyas in the country
may be cited. To resolve this and other outstanding issues the two countries
should engage in constructive dialogue. On the question of Rohingyas Gen
Than Shwe has assured Bangladesh government that his government is committed
to solving the issue through dialogue. With this visit of the Myanmar
Premier the process of strengthening bilateral relations may be said to have
received a great fillip.
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Asian Tribune
Date : 2002-12-19
$1b gas pipeline project proposed: Plan to link Myanmar with India via
Bangladesh

The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources has accepted, in principle, a
proposal for the construction of a Myanmar-Tripura- West Bengal gas pipeline
through Bangladesh.

The ministry forwarded the proposal, submitted by a hitherto unknown
Bangladeshi company, to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) last month seeking
its approval. It is now waiting for green signal from the PMO.

"It is not a bad proposal; we accepted it in principle and we shall take it
up with the Prime Minister," AKM Mosharraf Hossain State Minister for Energy
and Mineral Resources told The Independent yesterday.

The minister in a tone of robust optimism said, "Bangladesh can earn Tk
1,000 crore per year through this project and I think there is no harm in
constructing such a pipeline. It is not at all a political issue."

"Mohona Holding Limited, a Bangladeshi company, recently submitted the one
billion-dollar project to the Energy Ministry. The ministry formed a
committee to examine the proposal and submit a report. Sources said that the
ministry did not as yet have adequate background information about the
company and its technical and financial competence to undertake such a huge
project covering three countries of the region. The company has not
furnished detailed information as to how it would organise funds for the
project.

If the project is finally approved by Bangladesh government, a consortium
will have to be set up to implement it within Bangladesh territory. In any
such consortium Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation Ltd, a subsidiary of
Petrobangla, will be a major player. Interestingly, Petrobangla sources did
not share the Minister's optimism and termed the proposal " immature."

Myanmar, Tripura and West Bengal state governments of India have accepted
the proposal in principle, to construct a pipeline through Bangladesh
territory, the State Minister for Energy said. It could not however be
ascertained if the proposal came up for discussion during the just-concluded
visit of the Prime Minister of Mayanmar.

The minister said if the Prime Minister's office okayed the project then
they would go ahead to form a consortium in this regard.

Sources said that Bangladesh would put forward some terms and conditions to
the company. One of the conditions is that Bangladesh will be the sole
operator of the pipeline and will be entitled to use it as and when
necessary in her own interest including export and import of gas whenever
needed.

Other terms and conditions include provisions requiring the company to
construct the pipeline with 30 to 40 inch diameter and to include BPCL as
one of the main parties in the consortium , the sources said.

The proposed pipeline will enter Bangladesh border through Brahmanbaria from
the Indian territory of Tripura and will cross into West Bengal through
Rajshahi border.

The pipeline may help export gas to India without interference by any IOC,
the sources said.

According to the sources, it will cost Tk 900 crore to construct the
pipeline in Bangladesh.

Energy Ministry source said USA, Australia and some Indian companies have
indicated their willingness to offer fund for construction of the pipeline
in Bangladesh.
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Independent-Bangladesh
Jt trade body, coastal shipping with Myanmar
UNB, Dhaka
19-12-2002

Resolving all pending issues of bilateral trade, Bangladesh and Myanmar on
Wednesday finalised agreements to establish a Joint Trade Commission and
introduce Accounts Trade and Coastal Shipping link.

The agreements are expected to be signed next March, opening new vistas in
trade between the two neighbouring countries, officials said.

Bangladesh Commerce Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury and visiting
Myanmar Commerce Minister Brig General Pyi Sone in a 45-minute exclusive
meeting at a local hotel finalised the deals, yielded by Tuesday's official
talks between the two countries.

"On implementation of the agreements, bilateral trade will increase
substantially while the current informal trade will be turned into formal
trade gradually," Khosru told reporters at his secretariat office after the
meeting.

He said an expected increase in trade between the two countries would help
Bangladesh earn more revenue besides creating positive impact on country's
foreign exchange reserve.

Terming "most successful" the Myanmar Commerce Minister's current visit as a
member of his Prime Minister's entourage, Khosru said all issues, pending
since March this year when a single-country fair of Bangladesh was held in
Myanmar, were resolved through this trip.

Another single-country fair of Bangladesh will be organised in Myanmar next
March when the agreements will be formally signed.

During the visit of the Bangladesh Commerce Minister to Myanmar last March,
the two countries came to an understanding that there would be a coastal
shipping agreement and an account-trade agreement signed for boosting
bilateral trade.

A draft Coastal Shipping Agreement has already been sent to Myanmar
authorities while Bangladesh received from Myanmar draft documents on
Account Trade arrangement that provides for two-way trade transactions
without needing hard cash in terms of foreign currency for payments.

Besides, the two countries entered into a border-trade agreement in 1994 and
formal border trade began under the deal in 1995.

The volume of trade under normal trading system was around $26 million in
2000-2001. Bangladesh's imports from Myanmar were worth $24.69 million while
exports to Myanmar fetched only $ 1.09 million. The trade gap was $ 23.77
million.
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The Daily Star - Thu. December 19, 2002
Myanmar for deeper ties, peaceful border
President hosts luncheon for Gen Than Shwe
UNB, Dhaka

Hoping to strengthen bilateral relations to reciprocate Bangla-desh's
goodwill, Myanmar Prime Minister Senior General Than Shwe yesterday said the
Myanmar-Bangladesh border should be turned into one of peace, stability and
prosperity.

He noted that there exist no big problems in bilateral relations between the
two countries as of now. "It is our consistent policy to try to reduce
bigger issues into smaller ones and to have the smaller matters to be
resolved completely."

Speaking at a luncheon hosted by President Iajuddin Ahmed at Bangabhaban
yesterday, the visiting PM said the Myanmar delegation came to Bangladesh
with the sole purpose of further consolidating this friendship and
cooperation.

Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, Mrs Than Shwe, Mrs Iajuddin Ahmed, Speaker
Barrister Jamiruddin Sircar, Chief Justice Mainur Reza Chowdhury, former
Chief Justice and Chief Advisor to the Caretaker Government Justice Latifur
Rahman, ministers, judges, diplomats, editors, leaders of the business
community, political leaders and high civil and military officials attended
the luncheon.

Despite dynamic economic and commercial relations between Bangladesh and
Myanmar, a large potential still remains for the two countries to tap, said
the visiting Myanmar PM.

He mentioned that during the courses of discussions at the prime minister
level, the two sides were able to explore further avenues to expand and
deepen cooperation between Bangladesh and Myanmar in various spheres.

General Shwe said Myanmar, having close and cordial ties with Bangladesh
since its independence, is one of the first countries to recognise
Bangladesh and there has always been the common desire to further
consolidate this friendship.

The Myanmar premier thanked the government of Bangladesh for the "warm
welcome and generous hospitality" extended to his delegation during his
two-day visit.

"The sincere expressions of friendship accorded to our delegation is a
reflection of the goodwill and understanding that exist between our two
countries and our two peoples," he told the function.

President Iajuddin in his address hoped that Bangladesh and Myanmar would
closely work to bring peace and stability in the South Asian region.

"We want to develop our economies for the common good of our peoples as we
believe that accelerated bilateral trade, investment and cooperation in
other vital areas will help both our countries," he said.

The president stressed an urgent need of establishing direct road and
coastal shipping links between the two countries. "In achieving this
objective, Myanmar will surely find Bangladesh a very willing partner."

Referring to Shaheed President Ziaur Rahman's efforts for regional
cooperation in South Asia for its more than a billion people, he said
Bangladesh and Myanmar had a great stake in promoting regional and
sub-regional cooperation.

"Bangladesh also attaches great importance to its membership of Asia
Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) and we like to make ACD a mechanism to promote
peace, harmony and development of our entire region with Myanmar," President
Iajuddin said.

He noted that both Bangladesh and Myanmar are active members of BIMSTEC,
which enables the two countries to expand the scope of cooperation with
neighbours in the southeast. "We may jointly work also to make BIMSTEC a
useful instrument at our disposal to promote cooperation."

Dr Iajuddin said Bangladesh is committed to supporting all initiatives to
encourage greater people-to-people contact between the leaders, academics,
civil and military officials of the two countries.

He hoped that Bangladesh and Myanmar would now enter into a new and
significant phase in bilateral relations and that both the countries
undertake efforts with a renewed commitment to make bilateral cooperation
truly beneficial for the two countries.
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