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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BURMA RELATED NEWS - OCT - 07, 2000. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HEADLINE
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AP- Asian Econ Mins Agree To Push For Early
WTO Trade Round
AP - Strong Earthquake Hits Myanmar-China
Border
AFP - East Asian
economic ministers appeal for stable oil prices
The Independent Bangladesh
- Bangladesh urges Myanmar to facilitate early return of
refugees
CNN - Myanmar general says
no risk of popular uprising
The People's Daily -
Business - Chinese Company to Build Petroleum Gas Factories in
Myanmar
ABC online - UN envoy to
visit Burma
The Nation - Ministers sign
deal to boost tourist arrivals
The Straits Times- Call for
martial law on Myanmar border
The Straits Times - Myanmar
crackdown threatens key talks
Saturday,
October 7 7:50 PM SGT Asian Econ Mins Agree To Push For Early WTO Trade Round CHIANG MAI, Thailand (AP)--Southeast and Northeast Asian economic
ministers agreed Saturday to adopt a common position and push for a new round of
World Trade Organization negotiations that will address the needs of poor
countries.
Ministers from China, Japan and South Korea held talks with counterparts from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations on expanding economic cooperation, rounding off an annual ASEAN gathering in northern Thailand. "We should be trying to reconcile our agenda so that at
least together we may be able to provide momentum for the new round to gain more
support," Thai Deputy Prime Minister Supachai Panitchpakdi, the future director
general of the WTO, told a news conference.
"We want to see an agenda from the side of the developing
countries," he said.
A joint press statement stressed the need for poor
countries to have improved market access in industrial goods, agriculture and
services and improvement of rules on anti-dumping -a key issue that led to the
collapse of the Seattle WTO talks last year.
ASEAN has repeatedly stressed this week the need for
greater economic cooperation among its 10 members: Thailand, Singapore, Brunei,
Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines.
It has also pushed to expand ties outside the region,
including Europe.
But these efforts have been overshadowed by some emerging
doubts over the grouping's own commitment to free trade as it claws back from
the Asian economic crisis of 1997.
On Friday, ministers rejected an ambitious proposal for
establishing a $1 trillion free trade zone with Australia and New Zealand, due
to political and economic reservations among states such as Malaysia, Indonesia
and the Philippines.
They opted instead for "closer economic cooperation"
although a joint study had strongly recommended the move saying it would provide
nearly $50 billion in additional gross domestic product over the next 20 years.
Earlier in the week, ASEAN had to cobble together a
protocol for coping with countries seeking delays in tariff-cut requirements of
the ASEAN Free Trade Area, or AFTA, after Malaysia had backtracked on
commitments for the auto industry.
Ministers have said these developments are a step forward
and a sign of ASEAN's growing "maturity" as it increasingly seeks to forge
economic ties, above and beyond the strategic and political interests that
brought it together three decades ago, originally as an anti-communist bloc.
But it has also underscored the continuing economic
uncertainties facing Southeast Asian countries. Many have suffered a dip in
foreign investment this year and suffered stock market losses amid renewed
political and security worries, especially in Indonesia.
Ministers on Saturday agreed on the need to stabilize high
oil prices that have hurt Asian and other economies.
Saturday, October 7 7:49 PM SGT
Strong Earthquake Hits Myanmar-China Border HONG KONG (AP)--A strong earthquake jolted the
Myanmar-China border, the Hong Kong Observatory said Saturday.
The 5.3 magnitude quake was centered about 320 kilometers (198.85 miles) northeast of Mandalay, second biggest city of Myanmar, also known as Burma. It struck at 6:39 p.m. (1209 GMT) Friday, the observatory
said.
An official of the seismological department in the Myanmar
capital of Yangon said residents in Mogaung felt the tremor but no injuries were
reported. The official spoke on condition of anonymity.
Mogaung is located in Kachin State, which borders
China.
Saturday, October 7 3:51 PM SGT
East Asian economic ministers
appeal for stable oil prices
CHIANG MAI, Thailand, Oct 7 (AFP) - East Asian economic ministers on Saturday
called for stable world crude prices and pledged to champion a better deal for
developing countries under any new round of global trade
negotiations.
The ministers from 10 ASEAN countries and China, Japan and South Korea agreed to a proposal by Japanese Minister for International Trade Takeo Hiranuma to urge oil producers to raise output. "Japan proposed that we should make a request to the oil procuders to take action that would contribute to the stabilisation of the oil market and we were able to gain the consent of the countries participating in today's meeting," Hiranuma told a news conference. In a joint statement, the ministers "noted the risks posed by oil price volatility" to world economic growth and the region's recovery from financial crisis. "In the light of rising world demand, they called for appropriate increase in supplies and other necessary measures to promote long-term price stability in the mutual interest of consumers and producers," the statement said. Hiranuma, South Korean Trade Minister Duck-soo Han and Chinese Vice Minister for Trade Keren Zhou met with the ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) at the end of the group's annual meeting in this northern Thai city. ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indoesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Hiranuma repeated Japan's plans to release six million barrells of heating oil onto the international market. "We have this inventory in Japan," he said. "Of course, while this would have to be undertaken purely on a private sector basis, Japan also suggests that we could contribute to the stabilisation of crude oil prices by supplying to the international market this inventory of gas (heating oil)." Malaysian Trade Minister Rafidah Aziz said what mattered most was that prices, which have surged to 10-year highs, should stabilise at a level worked out between producers and importers. Economists have warned that volatile prices could undermine economic growth and backfire on the producers themselves. On the WTO talks, the ministers said there was a need for a "balanced agenda" that would take into consideration the interests of developing countries. They "emphasised the need for improved market access in industrial goods in addition to agriculture and services, as well as the improvement and development of rules and disciplines such as anti-dumping agreement." Thai Commerce Minister Supachai Panitchpakdi said that while individual countries have different agendas, the regular dialogue between ASEAN and its three Northeast Asian neighbors can be used to narrow these down. "As a group we were thinking that it might be a good idea if we could try to use this forum to narrow down and to reconcile the different stances," said Supachai, who takes over as head of WTO in 2002 under an agreement to split the terms. Most countries were "seeing eye to eye" on the need to amend anti-dumping laws, he said. "But in order to help promote a new round and to create enough support and momentum, we think it might be a good idea for the 10 plus 3 group to try to discuss the possibility of having a joint position on this matter." The ASEAN ministers met with European Union Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy on Friday to discuss the launching the new WTO talks. During the four-day meeting, the ASEAN ministers agreed to start the consultation process for the possible merging the ASEAN Free Trade Area with a free trade zone covering Australia and New Zealand. The consultations, which will be on the level of senior officials, will start next year. The ministers also endorsed a protocol which would allow ASEAN members to temporarily delay commitments to cut tariffs on certain sectors they feel would need more time to prepare for competition.
The Independent
Bangladesh - Oct 5, 2000.
Bangladesh urges Myanmar to facilitate early return of refugees by Staff Reporter Bangladesh on Monday renewed its call to Myanmar for
facilitating early return of refugees that still remained on Bangladesh soil, to
their homes with dignity and safety.
Dr Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, Ambassador and Permanent
Representative of Bangladesh in Geneva, made the appeal while speaking at the
fifty-first session of the Executive Committee of the United Nations High
Commission for Refugees (UNHCR).
He was leading the Bangladesh delegation to the session
that commenced in Geneva on the day.
He welcomed the growing consensus on the need for
international solidarity and burden-sharing and said burden-sharing must not
only be limited to the provision of assistance to refugees. It should also be
directed to assist host countries in dealing with the negative impact of refugee
inflows on their ecology, infrastructures and economy.
The session also observed the fiftieth anniversary of the
founding of UNHCR. It was addressed by the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, the
World 8Food Programme Executive Director Catherine Bertini and High Commissioner
Sadako Ogata, who is leaving office later this year, according to a message
received in Dhaka.
CNN - Myanmar general says no risk of popular
uprising
October 6, 2000 Web posted at: 7:09 PM HKT (1109 GMT) CHIANG MAI, Thailand (Reuters) -- A senior member of
Myanmar's ruling military government said on Friday there was no risk of his
administration being swept from power by a popular uprising like the revolt in
Yugoslavia.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a regional trade
meeting in Thailand, Brigadier-General David Abel denied the country had been
ruined by international economic isolation and insisted that democracy would one
day be restored.
"In my personal opinion there is no risk at all," Abel
said when asked if he was worried there could be a Belgrade-style uprising on
the streets of Yangon.
Myanmar has faced mounting international condemnation this
year over its treatment of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her National
League for Democracy (NLD), which won elections in 1990 by a landslide but has
never been allowed to govern.
Suu Kyi has been confined to her home and cut off from
contact since the authorities forcibly stopped her from leaving Yangon by rail
last month. A bid to leave the city by car in August led to a nine-day roadside
stand-off.
"MUST BE CRAZY"
Abel, minister at the office of the chairman of the ruling
State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), said Suu Kyi's efforts to leave the
city were publicity stunts timed to coincide with important world meetings, such
as the U.N. Millennium summit.
"You must be crazy to just go and sit in a field with a
tent," he said. "These roadshows are timed for world meetings. That is
insignificant, but if something happens to her they would put the blame on us.
So we have to be responsible."
Abel said he was unruffled by fears a planned meeting of
Southeast Asian and European Union foreign ministers in Laos in December might
collapse because of Europe's anger at Myanmar.
"If they are not going to come to Vientiane it's up to
them."
He repeated Myanmar's opposition to ASEAN mediation in the
country's political stalemate.
"This is our internal affair," he said. "Why is the world
so worried about it?"
Abel said reports that Myanmar was facing rampant
inflation and economic stagnation were false. He said inflation was running at
seven percent and economic growth in the year to end-March was 10.9 percent,
with a similar growth rate expected this year.
Most independent economists estimate Myanmar inflation at
about 30 percent a year and say the country's annual economic growth is probably
in the low single digits.
Abel said foreign exchange reserves were enough to last
six months, but added that while this was not ideal, Myanmar was self-sufficient
enough to deal with its economic difficulties and had not been badly hurt by
international sanctions.
"In times of crisis we can sustain ourselves," he said.
He conceded that one problem was the exchange rate.
Myanmar's official exchange rate has been pegged at around six kyat to the
dollar for 36 years. The black market rate fell to record lows of around 415 to
the dollar last month.
"One very big challenge is the exchange rate. Normally a
currency is always realigned when the need arises, which should have been done
all along," he said.
But he said Myanmar had been unable to devalue the kyat
because the World Bank and International Monetary Fund had refused to provide
assistance.
Abel said the country had made strong economic progress
despite its problems.
"There is no poverty, there is no starvation, there's no
unemployment," he said. "There is law and order, there is peace. You can walk on
the streets at night. There is no problem. You cannot do that in New York. You
can go anywhere you like. A lady can drive alone in her car at night from Yangon
to Mandalay."
He said the government was still working on drawing up a
constitution for the restoration of democracy.
"We are not power crazy. We just want peace, we want a
stable country, we want the economic situation to be stable," he said. He said
that while military government "might be good for the moment," the military
wanted to return power to the people. But he said Yangon would not cave in to
foreign pressure.
"We are not worried about what the United States thinks of
us, or what the UK thinks of us," Abel said.
The People's
Daily
Saturday, October 07, 2000, updated at 14:30(GMT+8) Business - Chinese Company to Build Petroleum Gas Factories in Myanmar A Chinese company has reached an agreement with the
Myanmar government to build two mobile liquefied petroleum gas factories in the
country.
The agreement for building the two factories in Myanmar
was signed here on Friday by Vice-president Zhou Lixian of China National
Machinery Import & Export Corporation (CMC) and Managing Director U Kyaw
Shein of Myanmar Petrochemical Enterprise under the Ministry of Energy.
The signing ceremony of the agreement was attended by
Second Secretary of Myanmar State Peace and Development Council
Lieutenant-General Tin Oo, Deputy Prime Minister Vice-Admiral Maung Maung Khin
and Chinese Ambassador Liang Dong.
Out of the two factories, the smaller one will produce
14.88 tons of liquefied petroleum gas a day and the bigger one 47.86 tons a day.
The two factories will be built at a cost of 13 million
U.S. dollars by CMC Dong Fang International Trading Company Limited of China.
The factories are to be built with the aim of using
liquefied propane and butane contained in the natural gas produced from oil
fields in Myanmar, using them at industries and distributing them as
wood-substitute fuel.
ABC online - Oct 7,
2000.
UN envoy to visit Burma United Nations envoy Razali Ismail will visit Burma next week to discuss
human rights abuses with the military government.
A U-N resolution adopted last December deplores continuing human rights
violations in Burma - including extra-judicial, summary or arbitrary executions,
enforced disappearances, rape and torture.
Last week a state controlled newspaper said Burma can and must find its own
solutions - taking into account its history, geo-political position, culture and
traditions.
Meanwhile opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi remains under house arrest
following another attempt to defy the junta's ban on travel outside the capital.
The Nation - Oct 7,
2000.
Ministers sign deal to boost tourist arrivals TOURISM ministers of Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Burma yesterday signed a
pact to work together to promote tourism in their countries.
An office to promote tourism in the four countries will be set up in
Thailand. It will work out ways to improve travel routes, as well as solve other
tourism-related problems.
Initially, tour packages would be offered, said PM's Office Minister Adisai
Bhodaramik.
"We'll need to map out a public relations plan and conduct roadshows
overseas, mainly in Europe," he said.
"We anticipate a huge number of European tourists next winter.
"Initially, we could offer almost 100 packages, which are both two-in-one
and four-in-one packages," said Adisai who oversees the Tourism Authority of
Thailand.
Cooperation between the four countries should result in more tourist
arrivals, he said.
Thailand projected a 10 per cent annual increase in tourist arrivals, while
Laos, Cambodia and Burma anticipated increases of between 30 and 40 per cent, he
said.
The Straits Times - Oct 7,
2000.
Call for martial law on Myanmar border BANGKOK -- The Thai Senate plans to ask the government to declare martial
law along parts of the Thai-Myanmar border to fight amphetamine smugglers, a
senator has said.
Maha Sarakham Senator Witthaya Masena, the Senate foreign affairs committee
spokesman, said his committee and the Senate committees on local administration
and military affairs had agreed that the government should declare martial law
in border areas.
He said the three committees had visited border areas in northern provinces
and were told the situation was getting worse.
Interior Ministry officials and drug-suppression officers in the provinces
had told the committees that about 95 per cent of residents in some villages
along the Thai-Myanmar border were addicted to amphetamines.
The spokesman said the three Senate committees believed imposing martial
law would better empower the authorities to fight drug trafficking.
--The Nation/Asia News Network
The Straits Times - Oct 7,
2000.
Myanmar crackdown threatens key talks Yangon's latest clampdown on democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi means
breakthrough talks between Asean and the EU may not go ahead
CHIANG MAI -- The renewed crackdown by Myanmar's military junta on
pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has endangered breakthrough EU-Asean talks
set for December, officials admitted yesterday.
We are concerned about its effects on the meeting in Laos, but it depends
on new developments as the date approaches,'' said one senior Asean official on
condition of anonymity.
We hope that the EU will not allow the developments in Myanmar to keep
Asean-EU ties hostage.''
As well as Myanmar, Asean includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos,
Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Another official said Asean remained hopeful that its policy of engaging
Myanmar, instead of isolating it, would bear the desired democratic reforms.
The officials were speaking on the sidelines of a meeting of Asean economic
ministers in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai also being attended by
European Union Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy.
The officials were responding to remarks by Mr Lamy, who reiterated
yesterday the EU's condemnation of Myanmar's crackdown against the Suu Kyi-led
opposition.
We are extremely concerned by the developments in the country and what has
happened recently does not help at all,'' he said.
Asked whether the Asean-EU meeting would go ahead as scheduled in the
Laotian capital of Vientiane, he said: ""I don't know, it's too soon to say yes
or no.''
Ministerial meetings between the EU and Asean were suspended after Myanmar
was admitted to the regional organisation in 1997 amid protests by the Europeans
and the United States.
Asean has a policy of non-interference in the internal affairs of member
nations, a stance which has consistently rankled the EU and Washington.
However, in April the EU decided its stance against the junta should not
affect its long-standing relations with Asean, and it agreed to attend the
ministerial meeting in Vientiane.
You all know we have a huge problem there and that the EU has consistently
deplored the continual violation of human rights by this regime,'' Mr Lamy said.
We have a clear position. It has not shifted an inch since it was taken by
the ministers.''
Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, and other leaders of her National
League for Democracy have been placed under de facto house arrest since last
month in a renewed clampdown by Myanmar's military rulers against political
dissent. --AFP
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