|
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HEADLINE --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AP - Thai Imports Of Myanmar Livestock Halted On Anthrax Fears Asia Pulse - Fibre Optics Backbone Among ADB Plans for
Mekong Region
HealthAnswers - Increased Drug Production In Myanmar Poses Threat Monday, June 26 1:57 PM SGT
Fibre Optics Backbone Among ADB Plans
for Mekong Region
SYDNEY, June 26 Asia Pulse - A
fibre optics telecommunications backbone providing Internet and e-commerce
access to regions in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Southern
China will figure among projects to lift economic growth in the Mekong region,
ADB officials said here.
The fibre optics network will comprise thirteen transmission links arranged in three loops - East, West and North - to cover all six countries in the Mekong region. The East loop, given high priority in 1996, will connect exisiting facilities in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam with three new transmission links, laying the way for further interconnection in the 2nd and third stages of the project. The project is slated to be complete in four years' time. The officials, led by Deputy Director of the ADB's Infrastructure, Energy
and Financial Department (West) Preben Nielsen and Deputy Director of its
Programs Department Rajat Nag, were in Sydney to attend a Conference on
Australia and the ADB in the Mekong region held on June 23-24.
The ADB's Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) programme encompasses Cambodia,
Laos, Vietnam, Thailand and China, and differs from the individual country
strategies in concentrating on cross-border issues - an important component of
what Nag calls the "Peace Dividend," resolving political conflict through
economic growth after decades of unrest.
Its goals include increasing inter-regional trade and co-operation,
combatting environmental destruction by cracking down on traffic in wildlife and
illegal logging, establishing cross border transport systems and communications
networks.
Other on-going projects in the GMS include a US$195 million Bangkok-Phnon
Penh-Ho Chih Minh City-Vung Tau Road project, which will create a trans-Asia
expressway, boosting trade in the region.
One of the most contentious areas of ADB support in the Mekong region has
been the development of hydropower, with the plants' hard toll on the
environment and steep demands from local communities drawing criticism from
NGOs.
Nag said that due to the region's changing situation, environmental
concerns had become one of the top three priorities in the GMS programme along
with transport and energy.
Nielsen stressed the ADB was not involved in hydropower projects in the
Greater Mekong Subregion, and had refused to fund the Ho Chih Minh expressway
that would cut a swathe through one of the area's most precious biodiversity
areas.
The ADB recently set up a high level task force to focus on ways the bank
can work with NGOs to maximise benefits of shared and independent projects in
the region and mimimise conflict.
Nag said the ADB had been relying increasingly on NGOs for knowledge of
cultural and micro-economic detail.
In terms of the stringent environmental screening for every new project,
NGOs tend to have good networks of contacts and archives of issues and rural
infrastructure and can make sure that ADB contractors do not "step on the wrong
turtle," according to Nielsen.
Since resuming operations in the Greater Mekong Subregion in 1992, the ADB
has provided US$42 million in technical assistance to the GMS programme and
US$772 million in loan assistance and US$519 million in co-financing.
Australia is the fourth largest regional shareholder in the ADB, and the
fifth largest overall shareholder. Australian firms hold 12 per cent of the
ADB's contracts but take three percent of the tenders offered.
Nag said, however, that the average return on investment for Australian
firms had been 1.2 to the dollar.
ASIA PULSE
Monday, June 26 2:19 PM SGT
Increased Drug Production In Myanmar
Poses Threat
THAILAND, Jun 26 (HealthAnswers) - The surge in drug
production and trafficking from Myanmar could pose a serious threat to Thailand
and other countries in the region, warns the Thai army.
According to The Straits Times, the mass relocation of ethnic minorities within Myanmar over the last year has fuelled a massive increase in drug production. About 50 methamphetamine factories were recently been established inside
Myanmar close to the Thai border, and 10 others had been set up in Laos.
"This means that by next year they can produce more than two billion
tablets of Yaba (methamphetamine), which is three times more than last year,"
said a Thai regional spokesman. "We estimate 1999 output at 600 million
tablets."
Myanmar is the world's second-largest producer of illicit opium and heroin,
exceeded only by Afghanistan. The drugs often make their way through Thailand to
addicts in the United States, Western Europe and Australia.
Monday, June 26 9:17 PM SGT
Thai Imports Of Myanmar Livestock Halted On Anthrax FearsMAE SOT, Thailand (AP)--Thai authorities have stopped imports of livestock from Myanmar after an outbreak of anthrax among Thais who ate or touched infected goat meat, Thai officials said Monday.The meat of 300 goats which suddenly died two weeks ago on a farm in the northern Thai province of Pichit was given away and eaten by local people, infecting 18 people with anthrax, a bacterial infection. One is in a serious condition. Most of those infected had either cut up or handled the infected meat, said a nurse at Pichit provincial hospital, 290 kilometers (180 miles) north of Bangkok. The nurse declined to be named. Provincial health authorities have warned people in four districts in Pichit not to eat goat meat or drink water from canals, because it's feared some carcasses were dumped in waterways. Symptoms of anthrax include vomiting, diarrhea, fever, fatigue and skin infections and swelling. It is potentially fatal. One casualty interviewed by the Itv television network said others infected with anthrax in the province had not come for treatment as they did not want to be confined to hospital. Kha Naung Intrapome, head of the livestock department at Mae Sot, 370 kilometers (230 miles) northwest of Bangkok, said the goats had been legally imported through the border checkpoint there and were screened and vaccinated by his department last month. But he said it was not Thai government policy to vaccinate goats and sheep against anthrax, as those animals had not been known to be infected by the disease before. Imported cattle and buffalo are vaccinated against anthrax. A farmer reported that another 200 goats from Myanmar died in Mae Sot district last week. It was not clear what caused them to die. Other goats were suffering foot and mouth disease. Narong Graisawadi, deputy spokesman of the Ministry of Agriculture in Bangkok confirmed that after the anthrax outbreak it had ordered authorities in provinces on the Thai-Myanmar border to stop all livestock imports from Myanmar. It was not clear how long the ban would be in place or how effective it would be. Most cattle and other livestock that are imported to Thailand from Myanmar, also known as Burma, are smuggled, Narong said. Merchants in Mae Sot estimated that every year about 100,000 goats are imported or smuggled to Thailand from Myanmar, some for re-export to Malaysia and Singapore. |