--------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday July 16, 2:38 PM
Tourism could be tool to
unhinge Myanmar's junta: industry experts
HONG KONG
(AFP) -Tourists normally avoid
authoritarian nations such as Myanmar, but industry officials say their ideas --
and their money -- could be key to bringing down repressive regimes.
"It
is complicated to know whether to travel to countries that don't share our
values, but if we only traveled to democracies our itineraries would be
limited," said Francesco Frangialli, the secretary-general of the World Tourism
Organization, after wrapping up a two-day conference on revitalizing tourism in
Asia.
"Increased tourism (to a destination) means an increased freedom of
commerce and, potentially, of people. If a country succeeds like its neighbors,
it will benefit like its neighbors -- not just financially but with a changed
politics and culture."
The junta's human rights record and its recent
re-arrest of Nobel laureate and democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi have helped
keep Myanmar off the list of Asian tourist destinations despite a wealth of
architectural, cultural and natural attractions.
"Tourism is culture and
shopping, not politics; most people who come to Myanmar are not politicians and
most people who talk about Myanmar talk without going there," Brigadier General
Aye Myint Kyu, Myanmar's deputy minister of hotels and tourism, told AFP
Wednesday.
"Aung San Suu Kyi is not a talking point of tourism; the EU is
interested in Aung San Suu Kyi but in our country she is not
interesting."
Britain issued a strong warning Monday to travel firms
operating in Southeast Asia to consider pulling out of Myanmar, and US lawmakers
voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to join the European Union and Canada in imposing
economic sanctions on the country formerly known as Burma.
Japan, which
had been the largest donor of foreign aid to Myanmar until it suspended
contributions in the furor over Aung San Suu Kyi's detention in late May,
maintains it is important to keep politics out of tourism, said director of
tourism policy, Satoru Kanazawa.
"The situation in Myanmar is not bad
enough for us to wield our influence. In the end, no matter what government is
in place, exchanges between people are good."
Such Japanese tolerance
extends even to old adversary China, but comes to a dead stop with North
Korea.
"Even though China is a communist dictatorship and we do not
agree, we respect the Chinese choice and encourage tourists to go there because
that will help with understanding" the acrimony between the two nations,
Kanazawa said.
"But while we do not like to use power to discourage
people to visit countries for political reasons, North Korea kidnapped our
people and tourism there will give (North Korean President) Kim (Jong Il) money
to build weapons."
The world needs only to look at the long-standing US
embargo against Cuba to see how preventing tourism can backfire and help
maintain an oppressive government, said Peter de Jong, president of the Pacific
Asia Travel Association.
"If the US had been smart and allowed tourism
into Cuba sooner, the situation would be a lot different," de Jong said.
"Nothing changes a country like tourism."
It was tourism, Frangialli
said, that helped usher in the free market democracy that brought an end in 1975
to the dictatorship of Francisco Franco in Spain.
"Contact with
foreigners transformed Spain; when French women lay on the beach in their
bathing suits it showed Spanish women that they could too," he said.
"I
understand that Aung San Suu Kyi may not like it, but tourism may be a profound
factor in laying the ground for democracy."
--------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday July 16, 7:35 PM
Myanmar junta condemns US
sanctions as "weapons of mass destruction"
YANGON
(AFP) -Myanmar's junta condemned a
United States vote to tighten economic sanctions on the military-run country,
describing them as "weapons of mass destruction" that would create
havoc.
US lawmakers on Tuesday voted overwhelmingly to sanction Myanmar's
government for a new crackdown on the pro-democracy opposition by banning
imports, freezing the regime's assets in US banks and imposing a visa
ban.
The bill must be reconciled with similar measures approved by the US
Senate a month ago, and signed by US President George W. Bush before coming into
force.
A spokesman for the regime said Wednesday, in a statement titled
"Sanctions Used as Weapons of Mass Destruction" that the measures would deprive
people of job opportunities and hurt health care and education in the
impoverished nation.
"Sanctions, in short, are imposed on target
countries by the rich and powerful nations mainly with the intention to create
havoc and bring hardship on the mass population," he said.
Last week the
junta sent Bush a petition signed by 350,000 textile workers appealing against
the ban, which the Myanmar Times said would threaten annual exports worth 356
million dollars, mostly in the textile sector.
"A ban on imports from
Myanmar could cut the country's export earnings by up to a third," the
semi-official weekly said Monday.
The Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act
of 2003, which was passed in the US House of Representatives by a vote of 418 to
two, was introduced in protest over the junta's detention of opposition leader
Aung San Suu Kyi on May 30.
"In attacking Aung San Suu Kyi and other
supporters of democracy, the Rangoon regime has sunk to new lows and secured its
place among the world's rogues gallery of chronic human rights abusers," said
California Representative Tom Lantos, top Democrat on the House International
Affairs Committee.
"The sanctions legislation passed by the House today
is a tough measure, but no tougher than Burma's ruling thugs deserve," he
said.
Lantos lashed the junta for the campaign of repression unleashed
after May 30 when supporters of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy
(NLD) were ambushed by a pro-junta mob in northern Myanmar.
"With this
brutal campaign against freedom, the national reconciliation process sponsored
by the United Nations is dead," he said, referring to talks begun in October
2000 which were aimed at introducing democratic reforms.
"The Burmese
government had two years to deal seriously with Aung San Suu Kyi, and instead,
they viciously attacked the Nobel Laureate."
Myanmar, which was known as
Burma until the ruling generals renamed the country, is under intense
international pressure to free Aung San Suu Kyi and the rest of the NLD
leadership which is either in jail or under house arrest.
The European
Union has also imposed tighter sanctions on Myanmar, while the country's largest
donor Japan has suspended new economic aid.
US Deputy Assistant Secretary
of State for East Asia and the Pacific Randy Schriver on Wednesday criticised
China's stance on Myanmar, saying it was isolated in its failure to condemn the
junta and should use its leverage to push for change.
"China alone has
sustained its policies in light of what recently occurred there, the tragic
attack," he said in a radio interview.
China, one of the few countries
which maintains political ties with Myanmar, has recently boosted its economic
influence in the country and has refused to get engaged in what it terms
"internal affairs".
Aung San Suu Kyi's NLD party won 1990 elections in a
landslide but has never been allowed to rule.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday July 15, 11:01 PM
Premier Oil bets on drill
bit after restructuring
By Andrew Callus
LONDON, July 15 (Reuters) -
British oil and gas firm Premier Oil Plc said on Tuesday it hoped an intensive
drilling programme this year and next would end a long spell without a major
discovery.
Reflecting on the company's lack of drilling success at the
company's annual shareholders meeting, Chief Executive Charles Jamieson heralded
"more or less constant drilling between now and the end of next year" with help
from funds flowing through from a long-planned restructuring.
"In this
business you're only as good as your last find," Jamieson told Reuters during a
break in the meeting.
"Call it bad luck. I just call it the risks of
that game. Over the past five years we have one of the best records in the
industry, but that said, I'd love a big oil discovery somewhere."
Premier works mainly in the UK North Sea, Pakistan, Indonesia, and West
Africa. Analysts say it is two years or more since the company found
commercially viable oil and gas.
In February, exploration wells in the
Natuna Sea, Indonesia, were abandoned after disappointing results.
In
May, results from its Zirkani prospect in Pakistan were inconclusive, though
Jamieson said on Tuesday that he had high hopes Zirkani would eventually prove
commercial.
Just ahead of the meeting, Premier won the latest of a
series of legal approvals for a restructuring announced last September, under
which two major shareholders which rescued it from bankruptcy in the 1990s will
exit the company's share base in exchange for some of its assets. The holdings
of 25 percent each by Amerada Hess of the United States and Malaysia's Petronas
were seen as a drag on Premier's stock performance. In the past year Premier
shares have been among the best performers in the UK market with a 64 percent
rise in anticipation of the restructuring being completed, and partly on talk of
a post-restructuring takeover.
The stock stood on Tuesday at 34-1/2
pence at 1425 GMT, up 0.74 pence on the day and close to a five year high. As
recently as 1997 the stock was worth close to 60 pence, and some shareholders at
Tuesday's meeting remembered paying 90 pence a share.
JULY
REVAMP?
Chairman David John told shareholders that he hoped to
complete the much-delayed restructuring by the end of July.
The revamp
will see Premier Oil quit Myanmar by swapping all its assets there along with
some in Indonesia for the two 25 percent stakes. Premier will also get over $200
million in cash and about $150 million in assumed debt.
Premier has been
criticised by governments and human rights groups over its investments in
Myanmar, formerly called Burma, but John defended the timing of the company's
exit as "in line with our strategy of maximising value for shareholders".
John said the company would consider returning some restructuring cash
by way of a share buyback or special dividend, but that it remained mainly
committed to shareholder value through capital growth.
He also
acknowledged the possibility of a takeover bid.
"The current financial
strength of the company is not entirely reflected in the share price," he said.
"I wouldn't be at all surprised if somebody isn't running the slide rule over
us".
But analysts see little further upside for the stock.
"The
problem with Premier is it doesn't have a good drilling record," said Peter
Hitchens of Cheuvreux. "You buy these stocks for exposure to the drill bit. If
you want exposure to the oil price you buy BP".
--------------------------------------------------------------
U.S. backs Myanmar sanctions
Tuesday, July 15,
2003 Posted: 11:51 PM EDT (0351 GMT)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- The U.S. House of Representatives has
voted 418-2 to ban imports from Myanmar, where pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu
Kyi has been held by the government since May 30.
Rep. Tom Lantos, a
California Democrat who help craft the sanctions bill, said Tuesday the import
ban would hit Myanmar's leaders "where it hurts -- in their checking accounts."
"United States imports of Burmese products have been bankrolling Burma's
brutal dictatorship. Burma's major exporters are either owned by the ruling
thugs, or are intricately tied to the government," he said.
Last month,
the Senate voted 97-1 to ban imports from Myanmar, subject to annual
congressional renewal, until the country has a democratically elected government
in place. U.S. officials still refer to Myanmar by its former name, Burma.
The House bill would limit the import ban to three years to address U.S.
business community concerns about the difficulty of lifting sanctions once they
have been imposed.
Like the Senate bill, it also freezes the assets of
the Myanmar regime and its leadership in the United States, reiterates existing
U.S. policy to oppose lending to Myanmar in international financial
institutions, and strengthens the current visa ban on former and present leaders
of the Myanmar government or its political arm.
The Senate could approve
the new House version in coming days and send a final bill to President George
W. Bush, who is expected to sign it, congressional aides said.
The
United States imported $356 million worth of textiles, clothing, footwear and
other goods from Myanmar in 2002.
The Myanmar government arrested Suu
Kyi on May 30 following a clash between her supporters and pro-government groups
outside Yangon, the country's capital. She has spent more than half of the last
14 years in detention in her home in Yangon.
--------------------------------------------------------------
US official condemns China's stance on Burma
16/07/2003 14:56:36 | ABC Radio Australia
News
A senior United States official has criticised
China's stance on Burma.
America's deputy assistant secretary of state
for East Asia and the Pacific, Randy Schriver, says Beijing is isolated in its
failure to condemn Burma's military junta over its detention of opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Mr Schriver says Beijing should use its leverage
to push for change.
He says virtually every Asian nation has made it
clear they oppose the detention of Ms Suu Kyi, except China.
The comments
came as US lawmakers voted overwhelmingly for sanctions against the junta,
including trade restrictions, a freeze on the regime's financial assets in US
banks, and a visa ban on regime members seeking to enter the US.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Financial Express
Wednesday, July 16, 2003
OVL Seeks Equity In 5 New Myanmar Blocks
Anupama Airy
New Delhi, July
15: ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL) is pursuing equity participation in five new
exploration blocks in Myanmar. These are A-2 and A-3 on the Rakhine coast and
M-1, M-7 and M-9 exploration blocks in the Gulf of Moattama in Myanmar.
According to highly placed government officials, the first round of
discussions have already taken place between OVL and the Myanmar Oil and Gas
Enterprise (MOGE) and the latter has agreed to set up a data room for a detailed
data review of all these blocks by OVL. The blocks, finally selected by OVL,
will be awarded on negotiation basis, officials said. Presently, OVL and Gail
India jointly hold a 30 per cent equity in the offshore block A-1 of Daewoo
International in Myanmar.
Alongside, Gail India is examining the
feasibility of setting up an LPG extraction plant and a petrochemical unit based
on the Yetagun gas field in Myanmar.
The Yetagun field is presently
producing 340 mmscfd of gas and is scheduled to produce 400 mmscfd of gas by
2004, having potential LPG recovery of 4 per cent.
Myanmar Petrochemical
Enterprise (MPE) has estimated that this could give a production of 300,000
tonnes per annum of LPG. Officials said that Gail is also studying the
possibility of LPG exports from this unit to India.
?MPE has informed
that ethane recovery to the extent of seven per cent is possible from this gas.
Gail will examine the feasibility of setting up a gas cracker for polymer
production based on this,? officials said.
On the upstream side, it has
also been agreed that a joint study by specialists from OVL and MOGE of the
geological basins in the proximity of the India-Myanmar border would be
undertaken to comprehensively evaluate such basins for developing the future
exploration strategy.
?To begin with the study will focus on two
regions? Hukaung and Chindwin. Deep water exploration blocks continuing towards
Andaman side would also be studied subsequently, as MOGE has significant seismic
coverage,? officials said.
On the downstream side, Indian Oil
Corporation (IOC) is examining the feasibility of revamping Thanlyin refinery of
Myanmar Petrochemical Enterprise.
MPE is currently operating three
refineries with a total refining capacity of 57,000 barrels per day. Thanlyin
refinery with a capacity of 25,000 bbls/day is situated near Yangon river and
processes imported low sulphur crude (from Malaysia) and condensates. The other
two refineries?Chauk and Thanbayakan?are situated in upper Myanmar near oil
fields.
Officials said that IOC may take up revamping Thanlyin refinery
along with changes required in the refinery configuration to process high
sulphur crude (which is a cheaper crude) besides looking at cost effective ways
of transporting crude oil to the Thanlyin refinery.
--------------------------------------------------------------
The Guardian
Suu Kyi's plight prompts
US sanctions against Burma
Julian Borger
in Washington
Wednesday July 16, 2003
The US House of
Representatives voted almost unanimously yesterday to impose a trade blockade on
Burma in protest at the detention of the pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
The vote, by 418 votes to two, would make an embargo a virtual
certainty. A blockade has already been overwhelmingly approved by 97 votes to
one in the Senate, and the White House has indicated that President Bush would
sign the trade ban into law.
The vote comes in the same week that the
Foreign Office wrote to British tour operators asking them to stop arranging
holidays to Burma because of the regime's human rights record.
The House
bill would ban imports from Burma for three years, expand the current ban on
travel to the US by members of the military government and codify the existing
policy of opposing new international loans or technical assistance to the
country.
The Senate has backed an indefinite embargo, but US businesses
have complained that sanctions should be made temporary because, once imposed by
Congress, they are difficult to lift.
The differences between the Senate
and House bills will have to be reconciled at a joint meeting on the issue, and
the Senate is expected to seek a rapid compromise.
"The US and Europe
are united in our support for Burmese democrats and we are determined to squeeze
the military dictatorship," Senator John McCain said yesterday.
Ms Suu
Kyi, a past winner of the Nobel peace prize, has been held by Burma's military
government since May 30, after her motorcade was ambushed by government
loyalists. Her National League for Democracy won an election in 1990 but was
blocked from taking power. She has spent more than half the time since then
under house arrest.
The US had been on the point of imposing sanctions
when the restrictions on Ms Suu Kyi's movement were lifted in May last year.
After her arrest Ms Suu Kyi was held in the infamous Insein prison near
Rangoon under conditions that the UN described as "absolutely deplorable", but
the junta was this month reported to have transferred her to another,
undisclosed, location.
Last year the US bought $356m (£221m) worth of
goods from Burma, mostly textiles, clothing, and footwear, and sanctions are
likely to have a devastating impact on the country's economy.
The EU has
also threatened to impose sanctions in the wake of the detention. However, the
military junta has said it will not respond to pressure.
An article
published by several pro-government newspapers has warned: "This blind and
prejudiced meddling in Myanmar's [Burma's] home affairs, supporting one side
while opposing the other by America and its west European allies, have adversely
affected the nation's internal stability."
Tom Lantos, the California
Democrat who sponsored the sanctions bill, said: "It is clear that dialogue is
dead, national reconciliation is dead and it is equally clear that we must adopt
a new approach toward Burma and that new approach must include economic
sanctions."
--------------------------------------------------------------
VOA News
Thailand Won't Increase
Pressure on Burma
Gary
Thomas
Bangkok
16 Jul 2003, 10:12
UTC
Thailand says it will not ratchet up pressure on Burma for
democratic change, despite new calls from the United States that it do so. The
U.S. House of Representatives passed tough economic sanctions against Burma
Tuesday. But Thailand is balking at taking a tough approach to its neighbor.
Thailand says it will continue to engage in what it calls a
"constructive dialogue" with Burma's ruling generals. Last-minute language added
to the U.S. congressional sanctions bill calls on Burma's neighbors, China and
Thailand, to stop what it termed "economic and political patronage of the
Burmese dictatorship."
But Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Sihasak
Phuangketkeow told VOA that Thailand prefers dialogue as a way of bringing about
democratic change in Burma. "We believe that the approach should be through
somehow having a dialogue with the present regime and working towards the
present regime to see how we can move towards this end goal of democratization,"
he says.
He also says Thailand's proximity to Burma - also known as
Myanmar - rules out talking tough to the generals. "We are not in a position
like the U.S. The U.S. is not next door to Myanmar. We are next door to
Myanmar," he says. "And so our position will have to be dictated by that
reality."
The U.S. bill was passed primarily as a protest against the
continued detention of Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma's Nobel laureate and democracy
activist. She has been held by the government since a May 30 clash between her
supporters and a government-backed mob. The government has refused to disclose
where she is being held or when she is to be released.
The new sanctions
- which must still be reconciled with a U.S. Senate version and signed by
President Bush before they become law - ban Burmese imports, freeze Burmese
assets in the United States, and mandate U.S. opposition to any international
loans or assistance to Burma.
The Burmese government denounced the
sanctions Wednesday as harmful to the population, saying it would have a
damaging effect on health care and education.
Burma exported about $356
million worth of goods to the United States last year, most it clothing and
footwear.
Exiled Burmese dissidents welcome the sanctions. Aung Moe Zaw,
general secretary of the National Council of the Union of Burma, says he
believes they will hurt the ruling generals where it hurts - in the wallet.
But Aung Zaw of the exile newspaper The Irrawaddy says it is difficult
to gauge how the general population of Burma will react to the sanctions. "I
think a lot of dissidents in and out of Burma welcome that decision, these new
sanctions imposed on Burma. But inside, you know, it's hard to know what the
general population, how they feel about it."
The U.S. move is expected
to increase pressure on European countries to adopt similar measures.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Bangkok Post - Wednesday 16 July 2003
Mae Sot may get alien zone
Supamart
Kasem
The House committee on labour will ask the government to
speed up the proposed establishment of a border economic zone in Mae Sot to
allow business operators to hire foreign labour.
Committee chairman
Premsak Piayura said the zone would help absorb some of the alien workers
pouring out of Burma.
``The premier also has an idea of building an
economic dam. It would stop alien workers from entering the inner areas to a
certain extent,'' he said.
Mr Premsak is evaluating alien labour
management in the industrial and agricultural sectors in Tak.
His
entourage crossed the border to discuss the proposed zone with Burmese
authorities, led by Myawaddy governor Lt Col Myint Tu.
Mr Premsak said
the Burmese authorities had agreed with the proposed zone and called on the Thai
government to protect Burmese workers' rights.
The committee would also
ask the government to allow employment of alien workers in factories in the
border provinces of Chiang Rai, Tak, Ratchaburi and Ranong.
This follows
the government deciding not to renew the work permits of foreign workers in
factories.
``The border provinces are the major production bases. If the
government wants to restructure the border economy, it should allow the
factories to hire these workers.''
Local administrations should have a
say in management of alien labour, and he would ask the national committee on
alien labour management and the Interior Ministry to discuss the
matter.
Mr Premsak said the government should also push for
implementation of an agreement to import workers from Burma, Laos and Cambodia.
Thailand had signed a memo of understanding with the three countries.
--------------------------------------------------------------
The Nation
GAS PIPELINE DISPUTES: 'Expert panel is the
only solution'
Published on Jul 16, 2003
The
government should set up an expert committee to resolve disputes over the
contract for the Thai-Malaysian gas pipeline, like the panel set up for the
Yadana pipeline in Burma, an activist suggested yesterday. This is the best,
indeed only way to deal with so controversial an issue, Suriyasai Katasila,
secretary-general of the Campaign for Popular Democracy said, quoting the
conclusion of a meeting of top non-governmental organisations yesterday.
A committee made up of five representatives of pipeline opponents and
the project-owner, the Petroleum Authority of Thailand (PTT), should be allowed
to go through full versions of four pipeline contracts to seek a solution on
behalf of the public, Suriyasai said.
While the PTT insists the project
is economically worth the investment, opponents disagree and have called for
years for the pipeline contracts to be made public, but the PTT has rejected
this, insisting they be kept secret. Recently the PTT bowed to a request to send
copies of the contracts to the Human Rights Commissioners and the House
Committee on Energy, but these were incomplete versions, Suriyasai said, with
many significant parts deleted.
"So the expert committee is the
solution, for all the PTT will fear it," he said.
Meanwhile in Songkhla,
Amad Tohtayong, a pipeline opponent arrested last Monday, was freed on bail
yesterday.
Amad is one of many villagers arrested in relation to the
controversial bloody clash with police in Hat Yai in December.
He was
bailed by a lecturer at Prince of Songkhla Unversity's Faculty of Nursing,
Pramote Thongsuk, one of 1,400 academics nationwide who signed a petition
calling for the project to be revised and volunteered also to use their
positions to bail out any opponents arrested.
"Academics not only in the
South but nationwide agreed to do this," Pramote said.
Local police are
closely monitoring leaders of the pipeline opponents.
Since the Hat Yai
clash, arrest warrants for 12 activists and 22 village leaders have been issued,
and 20 of them have been freed on bail, including Amad. Yesterday afternoon some
40 students from three Southern universities rallied on foot and by bicycle in
Songkhla town to urge residents to push for the pipeline scheme to be
revised.
--------------------------------------------------------------
The Nation
Substitution crops pushed
Published on Jul 16, 2003
The upcoming five-country
ministerial meeting on drug suppression will issue a demand that industrialised
countries buy more drug-substitution crops in order to prevent illicit drugs
from flooding the five nations' markets.
Thailand will host anti-drug
delegates from Burma, Laos, China and India from Tuesday to Friday in Chiang
Rai, Narcotics Control Board Deputy Secretary-general Rasamee Vistaveth said.
The meeting will call for rich countries to allow greater access for
drug-substitution crops in their markets from the Golden Triangle.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Asian Tribune
Date :
2003-07-16
Disgraced Burmese Commander Gets 75 years of Jail
Term
Wei Hsaitang, a former Burmese crack force
commander, who was arrested early last year, has been sentenced to 75 years
imprisonment, said a Shan businessman in Tachilek, quoting Wa sources.
Two days before the Wa crisis meeting on 7 July, Wei was seen paraded
around in the Wa capital of Panghsang in a truck. The former commander of
Mongyawn, who is also known as Ta Htang, was then lashed to a wooden cross in
front of the United Wa State Army?s supreme headquarters, he said.
He
received 30 years for the killing of 6 subordinates who opposed his plan to
mutiny and 45 years for manufacturing counterfeit Chinese and Burmese banknotes.
Ta Poy, his former assistant, got 20 years. ?Sources, who are close relatives of
Wei and Bao Youxiang (the supreme leader), said there were also 1 westerner and
2 Hong Kong men who were given 10 years each,? he added.
Wei, former
commander of the crack Independent Regiment (Duli tuan) and, just before his
arrest, commander of 417th Division, was a rival to Wei Hsuehkang, commander of
171th Military Region who is no blood relation of his. Wei?s younger brother is
Hsuehying, who is responsible for the day-to-day affairs of the military force
along the Thai border.
?Rangoon authorities had requested Panghsang that
Ta Htang be turned over to them,? he said. ?But the Wa leadership simply refused
to comply.?
- Shan Herald Agency for News -
--------------------------------------------------------------
Asian Tribune
Date :
2003-07-16
Myanmar expresses interest in Prachuab road
links
Prachuap Khiri Khan, July 15, (TNA) Myanmar has
expressed an interest in creating cross-border road links in this southern
province of Prachuap Khiri Khan, and has also hinted that it might jointly
invest in the construction of a land bridge aimed at linking deep sea ports in
the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Thailand.
Deputy Governor of Prachuap
Khiri Khan province, Mr. Thaworn Phothisombat, said today that a private sector
company was currently waiting persmission to survey the 195-kilometre route
linking Mu Dong, Tennessarim and Myeik in Myanmar, a link that would run between
the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea.
He said that the company had
already asked the province to take machinery and surveyors across the Singkhorn
checkpoint, and that Rangoon had reiterated to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
its committment to constructing the route.
While the province was now
waiting for official clarification from the agencies concerned, both the public
and private sectors had already liaised with Myanmar customs and immigration
officials, he said.
Mr. Thaworn said that Myanmar had also expressed
considerable interest in Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra?s vision of
constructing a land bridge linking Bang Saphan and Pokpien, with the eventual
aim of constructing a road linking deep sea ports on the Gulf of Thailand and
the Andaman Sea.
The project would require the construction of a new deep
sea port in Pokpien, which would link up with Thailand?s Mae Ramphueng Port, the
largest deep sea port in the country.
Thailand is also in the process of
constructing a new Bt700-million deep sea port nearby to transport goods other
than those from the steel industry, but the programme has had to be temporarily
suspended due to economic difficulties suffered by the private sector contractor
concerned.
Mr. Thaworn said that Myanmar was particularly interested in
projects requiring sustainable investment.
He expressed hope that if the
land bridge project was successful, it would greatly benefit the region?s steel
and petrochemical industries by reducing the transportation time for shipping
fuel oil from the Middle East to the Korean Penninsula, China and
Japan.
Noting that the Singkhorn border crossing had been a trade route
since ancient times, he said that the link would also benefit border trade
between the two countries.
--------------------------------------------------------------