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BURMA RELATED NEWS - July 22,
2001.
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HEADLINES
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AFP - ASEAN to hail "encouraging developments"
in Myanmar
AFP - ASEAN foreign ministers to adopt blueprint
to bridge rich-poor divide
AFP - Southeast Asian
governments under pressure from rights activists
AFP - Indian FM to stay away from Asian security
forum
Reuters
- Myanmar says landmark talks with Suu Kyi on track
Reuters
- Turmoil in Indonesia hangs over ASEAN meeting
Bkk Post
- Suu Kyi rains on Rangoon's parade ---------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday July 22, 6:10 PM
ASEAN to hail "encouraging developments"
in Myanmar
HANOI, July 22 (AFP) - Southeast Asian foreign ministers are set to hail "encouraging developments" in the bloc's most troublesome member Myanmar at their annual meeting here this week, according to a draft statement obtained by AFP Sunday. "We noted encouraging developments in the Union of Myanmar and appreciated
the efforts of the government of Myanmar towards these developments," the draft
statement expected to be adopted by ministers Tuesday said.
"(We) reiterated our support to the ongoing process of national
reconciliation in this country."
The release of dozens of political prisoners by the military junta in
Yangon in recent months has sparked mounting hopes that talks between the
generals and detained opposition leader Aung Sun Suu Kyi will lead to a
breakthrough.
During a visit to Singapore last week, Thai Foreign Minister Surakiart
Sathirathai said the developments "clearly indicate that there is movement or
positive development towards the direction we all like to see, towards
democracy, towards ... human rights."
Surakiart said he believed foreign governments should not intervene in the
process but "should stand ready to assist if requested and ensure that the
national reconciliation process will continue".
Aung San Suu Kyi has been held under de facto house arrest since September,
just before she embarked on landmark talks with the junta which may pave the way
for national reconciliation.
Progress in the talks will be vital for relations between ASEAN and the
European Union, whose external affairs commissioner Chris Patten is due to
attend a regional forum on Wednesday following the ministers' meetings.
The two regional groupings only resumed ministerial meetings last December
after a three-year boycott by the EU in protest over Myanmar's admission to
ASEAN in 1997.
That meeting was held in Laos, but the next meeting is due to be held in
Europe late this year, requiring a relaxation of the EU's visa ban on junta
officials.
In April, the EU renewed its sanctions against Myanmar for six more months,
stating that the human rights situation in the Southeast Asian nation remained
"extremely serious".
Nevertheless, EU ministers said they "sincerely hoped" that contacts
between the junta and Aung San Suu Kyi would lead to political
reconciliation.
Belgium, the current holder of the EU's rotating presidency, hopes to send
a new mission to Yangon to assess developments there before ministers review the
sanctions at the end of October.
The release of more political prisoners and "freedom of movement and
action" for political parties in Myanmar are "prerequisites" for the EU to lift
the sanctions, which also include an arms embargo and a ban on non-humanitarian
aid, Belgium's ambassador to Thailand, Pierre Vaesen, said this month.
The EU's policy towards Myanmar will also hinge on information from other
forthcoming visits, including a three-week International Labour Organisation
mission in September to investigate forced labour, he said.
Sunday July 22, 5:16 PM
ASEAN foreign ministers to adopt
blueprint to bridge rich-poor divide
HANOI, July 22 (AFP) - Southeast Asian Foreign Ministers will pledge at their annual meeting here this week to narrow the income gap in a region whose richest country is 100 times wealthier than the poorest. The move to bridge this yawning gap in one of the fastest growing regions
in the world is to form a "shield" against the "downside risks" of
globalisation, Thailand's Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai said.
"ASEAN simply cannot turn away from addressing the effects of globalisation
on the grass-roots economy," Surakiart said in a report circulated ahead of the
34th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting beginning Monday.
"Thailand firmly believes in the principle of "prosper the neighbour and,
by so doing, prosper ASEAN," he said.
Thailand is the only one of the six core members of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to share a border with the grouping's poorer
latecomers -- Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam.
"We will work together to bridge the economic divide through transportation
linkages within this sub-region in order to promote trade, investment and
tourism," Surakiart said.
Vietnamese Foreign Minister Nguyen Dy Nien said urgent action had to be
taken to narrow the disparity in living standards within an orgnization whose
richest member was "100 times" wealthier than its poorest.
At present, ASEAN's wealthiest state is Singapore with a per capita income
of more than 25,000 dollars. Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam have an average per
capita income of barely 250 dollars.
Nien said in information technology, a key sector of the knowledge economy,
"the disparity is a cause of concern."
Latest available statistics show the number of computers per 1,000
population is one unit in Laos, less than one unit in Cambodia and six in
Vietnam compared with 458 units in Singapore and 59 units in Malaysia.
In terms of Internet access, the new member countries -- whose combined
population is nearly half of Southeast Asia's 320 million people -- are left
even further behind.
Under the proposed ASEAN declaration, foreign ministers will pledge to
improve infrastructure and step up human resources development, information
technology and economic integration in Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar and Vietnam,
officials said.
"Closing the development gap between newer and older members of ASEAN has
become the "A" topic in the ASEAN agenda," said the grouping's secretary-general
Rodolfo Severino.
"We are discussing concrete measures to implement this," he said, adding
that they would be based on lessons learned in the process of European
integration.
Prince Mohamed Bolkiah, foreign minister of oil-rich Brunei, said bridging
the income gap in the region was essential but would take time.
"There are many factors over which we do not have control, especially the
global economic situation," he said.
Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said new ASEAN members needed
to speed up financial, investment and trade reforms to create competitive areas
for foreign investment that could drive economic growth.
ASEAN should move forward at the same pace to keep in tandem with the
speedy process of globalisation, said Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor
Namhong.
Sunday July 22, 11:50 AM
Southeast Asian governments under
pressure from rights activists
HANOI, July 22 (AFP) -
Southeast Asian governments, some of which are accused of stifling dissent and
holding political prisoners, are coming under pressure to set up a pathbreaking
mechanism to check human-rights abuses in the diverse region of 500 million
people.
Campaigners from non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are pushing for the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations to hasten an agreement to establish an
ASEAN human-rights commission.
Rights advocates, who have formed a regional working group, met at the
weekend in communist Vietnam with ASEAN senior officials on the eve of the
10-nation group's annual meeting here of foreign ministers.
They discussed the fate of a draft agreement they had presented in Bangkok
last year to create an independent, seven-member commission with powers to
investigate and hear complaints of alleged rights abuses.
The proposed commission, however, would only be allowed to make its
findings as "persuasive recommendations and not judgements" because it is not a
court of law, according to the draft, which the ASEAN governments have held back
for further study.
But in a region where talk about human rights still rattles some government
nerves, advocates admit it will take years to set up such a body.
The ASEAN countries diverge widely in economic development and political
systems, which range from democracies to communist and military regimes. ASEAN's
jealously-guarded policy of non-interference in members' internal affairs is
another hindrance.
"Some are thinking that you can come out with the protection and promotion
of these rights only after a certain level of economic and political development
has been reached," said Philippine human-rights lawyer Wigberto Tanada.
"I don't know if reluctance is the word to use because I can see that there
is readiness except (in) the timing, the pace that will be followed."
Another dilemma facing the NGOs is "how can we be able to push forward the
establishment of this mechanism without really doing violence to this principle
of non-interference", said Tanada, a former Philippine senator.
Within ASEAN, the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia have all emerged from
coups or decades of rule by strongmen to have lively and open political systems.
But another member, military-ruled Myanmar, is a pariah in the West for its
alleged large-scale human-rights abuses, including the detention of political
opponents.
Vietnam and Laos have communist regimes while other ASEAN countries --
Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia and Brunei -- have been attacked for applying
restrictions on press freedoms and opposition activity.
But rights campaigners say they are making progress simply in bringing the
issue, once a taboo in ASEAN, out into the open.
"We have been going on a step-by-step building bloc approach precisely
because of the policy of non-interference and the sentiment or the thinking that
human rights still seem to be matters of domestic concern rather than belonging
to the international domain," Tanada said.
Malaysian human-rights advocate Param Cumaraswamy said it may take between
five to 10 years to hammer out all the details of the proposed commission.
Asked about the slow government response to the NGOs' draft agreement,
Cumaraswamy told AFP: "I think this is typical of all governments when it comes
to human rights.
"Many years ago, ASEAN never had a human-rights culture. But because of the
discussion of human rights around the world, and with the UN also pushing for
human rights worldwide, ASEAN must address it," Cumaraswamy said.
Sunday July 22, 1:48 PM
Indian FM to stay away from Asian
security forum
HANOI, July 22 (AFP) - Indian
Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh is to stay away from an annual Asian security
forum here this week, the embassy said on Sunday.
"We don't know why he's not coming yet, just that he's not coming," First
Secretary S.K. Kalra told AFP.
"But if he's not coming it must be because he's too busy."
Singh had been due to take part in the regional forum of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations on Wednesday alongside heavyweight officials including
US Secretary of State Colin Powell and Russian Foreign Minister Igor
Ivanov.
He had also been due to take part in a post-ministerial conference with
ASEAN's 10 foreign ministers on Friday and a meeting of the Ganges-Mekong
Linkage Grouping, which also includes Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and
Vietnam, the following day.
But the meetings coincide with the first visit to India and Pakistan by the
new US assistant secretary of state for South Asia, Christina Rocca, which comes
hot on the heels of last week's inconclusive summit meeting between the regional
rivals in Agra.
Rocca was due to arrive in New Delhi later Sunday before heading on to
Nepal on Wednesday and Pakistan next weekend.
There was no immediate word on who would take Singh's place in Hanoi.
Sunday July 22, 10:34 PM
Myanmar says landmark talks with
Suu Kyi on track
HANOI (Reuters) - Myanmar's military government said on Sunday landmark peace talks with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi were on track, brushing aside concerns that her snub of a ceremony last week was a sign the dialogue was in trouble. "It has not stalled," Myanmar Foreign Minister Win Aung told reporters on
arrival in Hanoi for a regional meeting.
"It is progressing and on track."
The military government has been holding secret meetings with the detained
Nobel Peace prize winner since October, a development widely welcomed by the
international community.
Since the talks began the ruling generals have extended several olive
branches to Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD), which won the
country's last elections in 1990 by a landslide but has never been allowed to
govern.
More than 150 NLD detainees have been released and the party has been
allowed to reopen 18 of its branch offices. Attacks on the party in Myanmar's
state-controlled press have also ceased.
But no news on the progress of the talks has emerged -- the government says
the content of the dialogue is confidential, and Suu Kyi has been kept confined
to her Yangon residence since September, with only a handful of diplomats
allowed to see her.
Last week, the 56-year-old Suu Kyi declined to attend a national ceremony
marking the 1947 assassination by political opponents of her father,
independence hero Aung San, and eight other cabinet ministers. They were gunned
down during Myanmar's transition to independence from Britain, when Suu Kyi was
just two years old.
Despite her rift with the ruling generals, Suu Kyi had always attended the
Martyrs' day ceremony in recent years, and her failure to show up this year was
widely interpreted as a signal that the talks with the government had hit
problems.
Earlier this year, foreign diplomats in Yangon said the talks appeared to
have hit an impasse, but subsequent prisoner releases and a visit by United
Nations special envoy Razali Ismail, who helped broker the dialogue, stirred
hopes the negotiations were still on track.
Last week the government said it was surprised by Suu Kyi's decision to
stay away from the ceremony, and that the country regretted her absence.
Foreign ministers from the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN)
arrived in Hanoi on Sunday for a week of meetings that will also include key
regional players China, Japan and South Korea and ASEAN's dialogue partners in
the 23-member ASEAN Regional Forum, Asia's main security grouping.
Win Aung said he would brief his counterparts about developments in
Myanmar.
"Let's hope for the best," he said.
Sunday July 22, 11:09 PM
Turmoil in Indonesia hangs over ASEAN
meeting
By Andrew Marshall HANOI (Reuters) - A gathering of Southeast Asian foreign ministers aimed at rebuilding confidence and stability amid a new regional downturn got off to a bad start on Sunday when Indonesia's minister pulled out due to domestic turmoil. It was the second blow to the week-long series of meetings due to kick off
on Monday. Last week, North Korea said its foreign minister would not attend,
dashing hopes of a resumption of high-level talks with the United States and
South Korea.
An Indonesian official in Hanoi told Reuters Foreign Minister Alwi Shihab
cancelled his trip due to upheaval in Jakarta, where Indonesian President
Abdurrahman Wahid faces imminent impeachment for alleged corruption and
incompetence.
Political upheaval in Indonesia, the largest and most volatile member of
the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), threatens to overshadow the
group's annual meeting and strangle the region's already faltering recovery from
crisis.
ASEAN ministers are due to hold two days of meetings, followed by
discussions with key regional players China, Japan and South Korea, and then
with dialogue partners in the 23-member ASEAN Regional Forum, Asia's key
security grouping.
WIDESPREAD CONCERN
Ministers insisted that the absence of their Indonesian counterpart would
not devalue the meeting.
"It will not devalue, but it will be of concern to us. But we understand
the situation they are facing," Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar told
reporters.
Ministers said that, while Indonesia might be discussed, ASEAN's principle
of non-interference in the affairs of other members meant the bloc would not
play a role in defusing the crisis.
"I think all of us are concerned, but at the moment we don't see any
particular role that ASEAN will play in that particular matter," Thai Foreign
Minister Surakiart Sathirathai told reporters.
Indonesia's turmoil is the latest blow to the credibility of ASEAN, which
has been hobbled by disagreements and declining economic clout and increasingly
overshadowed by giant neighbour China.
In a weekend editorial, Thailand's Bangkok Post daily said the title that
host Vietnam had chosen for the meeting -- ASEAN: United, Stable, Integrated and
Outward-Looking -- read like a checklist of everything the group was not.
"The theme chosen for this year's meeting of foreign ministers could not be
more appropriate as it draws attention to all the qualities missing in ASEAN,"
the paper said.
"Cramped by economic downturns in major trading partners in the United
States and Japan, ASEAN must become more practical and forget about impossible
dreams."
NARROWING THE GAP
Top of the formal ASEAN programme is a resolution pledging to narrow the
gap between richer members and poor nations like communist Vietnam and Laos,
Cambodia and military-ruled Myanmar.
Thailand's Surakiart insisted the group could prove that it could stand
together and help poorer members.
"What we would like to achieve is to find a way that ASEAN can prove to the
world we are capable of further integrating in the economic field," he told
reporters on arrival in Hanoi.
But even the richer nations face renewed economic malaise -- Singapore is
in technical recession and most of the region is facing sharply slower growth.
Analysts question whether ASEAN is in any position to help poorer members catch
up.
Surakiart said the ASEAN Regional Forum meeting would discuss "preventive
diplomacy" to defuse regional conflicts.
But the list of divisions and disagreements is a long one.
China is in dispute with several ASEAN states over islands in the South
China Sea, and a Japanese history textbook has incensed China and South Korea
who say it distorts wartime atrocities.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, who arrives on Tuesday for his first
trip to the country since he served in the Vietnam War, will be seeking to
improve ties with China after a recent spy-plane row and to defuse a potential
argument with Japan over incidents involving U.S. servicemen stationed there.
Bangkok Post - July 22,
2001.
Suu Kyi rains on Rangoon's parade
Ducks ceremony in sign of displeasure Supamart Kasem
Aung San Suu Kyi's absence from a ceremony to mark the assassination of her
father and other leaders was a political statement showing her unhappiness with
the Burmese military junta, said a pro-democracy leader.
"The fact that she didn't attend is a signal that she isn't happy with the
junta, whose attempts such as the release of political prisoners are merely to
create a favourable image and make them eligible for financial aid," said Maung
Maung Aye, a senior member of the National Coalition Government of the Union of
Burma.
The NCGUB is an anti-junta coalition based at the Thai-Burmese
border.
The Martyrs' Day ceremony at the Shwedagon Pagoda was lacklustre this year
and even senior figures from the military junta-the State Peace and Development
Council (SPDC)-failed to attend.
The Burmese democracy leader has been held under house arrest since last
September, before opening talks with the government on a possible national
reconciliation dialogue.
- Maung Maung Aye said if Rangoon had been sincere, it would have released
some 1,500 political prisoners including Min Ko Naing, former chairman of All
Burma Federal Students Union.
The release of 51 people arrested last September had no merit because they
should not have been held in the first place, said U Maung Maung Aye, speaking
at the border area opposite Tak.
The freed political prisoners were arrested last September as they were
seeing off Mrs Suu Kyi as she left Rangoon to meet members of the National
League for Democracy.
- Maung Maung Aye said the military junta had yet to schedule a meeting
with UN special representative, Razali Ismail, expected in Rangoon this
month.
The junta had not really pushed for talks with the NLD to put an end to the
conflict, he said.
Karen National Union president Pado U Ba Thin Sein backed talks between the
State Peace and Development Council and the National League for Democracy.
He said if the dialogue yielded fruit it might pave the way for three-party
talks between SPDC, NLD and minority rebel groups.
The Karen National Union held talks with the SPDC in 1996, which collapsed
when Rangoon demanded they lay down arms.
Meanwhile, a senior NLD official said Mrs Suu Kyi had decided on her own
not to attend the ceremony.
Diplomats in Rangoon said her absence meant there was not much progress in
the talks between the NLD and SPDC.
The military junta said it was a pity that Mrs Suu Kyi did not show up, as
reconciliation looked promising.
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BURMA RELATED NEWS - July 21, 2001. ---------------------------------------------------------------- HEADLINES ---------------------------------------------------------------- AFP - Poor ASEAN members appeal to richer partners AFP - Activists push for Southeast Asian rights commission AFP - Cambodia to press for ASEAN integration amid concern about Indonesia Reuters - ASEAN finalises integration plan, stuck on Spratlys The Australian News - Martyr's Day no-show a 'bad sign' The Economic Times - India may sell 50,000t wheat to Myanmar ----------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday July 21, 4:38 PM
Poor ASEAN members appeal to richer partners HANOI, July 21 (AFP) - Poorer members of the diverse Southeast Asian bloc Saturday stepped up demands for their more advanced partners to intensify efforts to narrow the yawning gap in levels of regional affluence. "Narrowing down the development gap between member countries" would be one of the "major tasks" for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the years to come, Vietnamese Foreign Minister Nguyen Dy Nien said. ASEAN needed to create "a stable environment for the development of each country and the region as a whole", Nien told senior ASEAN officials as they wrapped up talks preparing for a meeting here of their foreign ministers from Monday. The ministers are due to adopt an Initiative for ASEAN Integration which has been one of the main priorities of Vietnam's year-long tenure of the regional grouping's rotating chairmanship. The initiative sets out the commitments of ASEAN's six core members -- Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand -- to help the integration of newcomers Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam. The bloc, a market of 500 million people, encompasses some of the world's poorest countries with one of the richest, Singapore. Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said "the most fundamental problem for ASEAN is how ASEAN people will seek ASEAN integration". "From my point of view ASEAN needs to reach as soon as possible full integration so it can move forward in this globalised world," he told AFP in Phnom Penh before leaving for Vietnam. Hor Namhong said this included the ASEAN Free Trade Area, which aims to bring down tariffs to between zero and five percent by 2003 for ASEAN's more developed members. "We have to implement what we have decided." The Vietnamese minister said the promotion of regional stability would be a top priority for the ministers' meeting, which comes against the backdrop of renewed turmoil in Indonesia with parliament at war with President Abdurrahman Wahid. The economic climate is also turning chilly with the US slowdown slamming the brakes on the technology sector that powered East Asia's export-led recovery from the 1997 crisis. Nien said ASEAN had set up a task force to look at integrating its less advanced members and that the foreign ministers were likely to issue a declaration pledging their support for the initiative. ASEAN Secretary General Rodolfo Severino, acknowledging the economic gap between members "is pretty wide", said the task force would take on board some of the lessons learned in the process of European integration. "We're trying to do the same thing," he told reporters after the officials' preparatory talks. "Not in the same way of course because in the EU there were transfers of massive resources but we are doing things differently -- basically through the building up of human resources, developing institutions, capacity building." Severino said areas of cooperation included infrastructure, human-resource development and information technology. "And we're also talking with the Plus Three countries in the interest of these purposes." The ministers' two days of talks will be followed by sessions of "ASEAN Plus Three" involving China, Japan and South Korea and the ASEAN Regional Forum, which will bring in heavyweights including US Secretary of State Colin Powell. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Saturday July 21, 7:00 PM Activists push for Southeast Asian rights commission HANOI, July 21 (AFP) - Non-governmental organisations held talks with Southeast Asian governments here Saturday on setting up a joint body to assess human-rights abuses in the region, whose nations range from democracies to dictatorships. NGO activists said they reminded senior government officials that they had submitted a draft agreement to set up a human-rights mechanism a year ago during the annual meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Bangkok. Wigberto Tanada, a spokesman for the NGOs which have banded into a working group to push for the establishment of the body, said ASEAN governments had referred the draft to several think tanks for further study. Tanada, a Filipino human-rights lawyer and former senator, said he hoped the think tanks would come up with their recommendations "within a few months". He said the different levels of political and economic development of the 10 ASEAN members, as well as their policy of non-interference in each other's affairs, were potential hurdles to the establishment of the rights commission. "Other regions already have their own human-rights mechanisms, in Europe, in the Americas, in South Africa and it is only Asia-Pacific that has no such mechanism," Tanada told reporters after the meeting, which came ahead of this year's ASEAN foreign ministers' gathering starting on Monday. "But realising that there is so much diversity in this Asia-Pacific region we are starting with the ASEAN sub-region and then later on expand," he said. According to the draft agreement, the commission would have the power to recommend to governments the adoption of measures in favour of human rights, to investigate violations and lodge complaints regarding alleged abuses. Param Cumaraswamy, chairman of the Malaysian working group, told AFP that some countries might object to the commission's powers to investigate abuses. "That will be a problem. Many governments find it a bit difficult. ASEAN does not like interference," he said. "But never mind, we will discuss it. But the important thing is that we need to continue discussions towards getting a common stand for a mechanism." Tanada said he found it surprising that the ASEAN officials welcomed their group at Saturday's meeting as human rights was a sensitive issue for ASEAN, which counts military-ruled Myanmar along with communist Vietnam and Laos among its members. "Government officials warmly welcomed us and were open on the issue," he told AFP. "We were surprised." ASEAN also comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. The London-based campaign group Amnesty International urged ASEAN and its security partners in the ASEAN Regional Forum, which also convenes in Hanoi this week, to put human rights firmly on the agenda. "Amnesty International has long argued that human-rights violations have been the root cause of much instability and violence in Southeast Asian countries, including Indonesia, East Timor, the Philippines and Myanmar," it said in a statement Friday. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Saturday July 21, 3:04 PM Cambodia to press for ASEAN integration amid concern about Indonesia PHNOM PENH, July 21 (AFP) - Cambodia will urge delegates to the ASEAN regional forum in Hanoi to press for full integration of member countries to help alleviate wealth disparities between rich and poor nations, Cambodian foreign minister Hor Namhong said Saturday. He also told AFP that Indonesia was a major concern and North Korea's absence was a possible sign Pyongyang was "very unhappy" with progress in talks with the US. "I think the most fundamental problem for ASEAN is how ASEAN people will seek ASEAN integration," he said before boarding a flight to Hanoi. Next week's meeting intends to tackle ways to hasten the integration of newer members Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam with the group's core nations of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Foreign ministers from the Association of South East Asian Nationswill also meet with delegates and counterparts from the United States, China, Japan, Russia and Australia. ASEAN, a market of 500 million people, encompasses some of the world's poorest countries with one of the richest, Singapore. Cambodia ranks among the poorest. "From my point of view ASEAN needs to reach as soon as possible full integration so it can move forward in this globalised world," Hor Namhong said. He said this included the ASEAN Free Trade Area, which aims to bring down tariffs to between zero and five percent by 2003 for ASEAN's more developed members. "We have to implement what we have decided." On Friday ASEAN secretary general Rodolfo Severino said integration would take time because the economic gap "is pretty wide". He added that "worries about the political situation in some ASEAN countries" had deterred investors. Hor Namhong echoed his concerns with regards to Indonesia but added that people must appreciate the ASEAN mandate that member countries do not interfere with the internal affairs of others. "I think everybody is very concerned about political stability in Indonesia but everyone has declared their support for Indonesia." "I hope they (the Indonesian government) achieve a compromise in order to avoid destabilisation which could lead to very negative actions in Indonesia." He also said North Korea's absence from the sidelines of the Hanoi meet was possibly due to "the negotiation process with the United States" adding it could be a signal that Pyongyang is "very unhappy". On Thursday, North Korea announced foreign minister Paek Nam-Sun would not attend the forum, dashing hopes for an early resumption of dialogue between the reclusive communist state and the US. Had North Korea attended, Hor Namhong said: "It could have led to better understanding between the two countries, we always promote dialogue and frank discussions." President George W. Bush suspended the US dialogue with North Korea after he took office. Last month he offered to resume talks on condition they be widened to include a reduction in North Korea's armed forces. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Saturday July 21, 3:25 PM ASEAN finalises integration plan, stuck on Spratlys HANO (Reuters) - Senior officials of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) finalised a draft plan to narrow the wealth gap between its members on Saturday but failed to reach agreement on disputed territory in the South China Sea. The Hanoi Plan of Action to narrow the development gap between ASEAN's 10 members is expected to be adopted formally next week by ASEAN foreign ministers in Hanoi at their annual meeting. The document identifies infrastructure, information technology and human resources development as the three main areas of help needed for new members Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam. Vietnamese Foreign Minister Nguyen Dy Nien, who on Saturday closed a two-day meeting of the ASEAN Standing Committee which discussed the draft, praised the plan, saying it would help alleviate poverty and raise the region's overall competitiveness. "Intra-ASEAN cooperation has been intensified through expediting the implementation of the Hanoi Plan of Action," he told the meeting. Senior officials from ASEAN's member states also discussed a proposed Code of Conduct in the South China Sea, where China and several ASEAN nations have disputes over ownership of the Spratly Islands and other territory. However, no agreement emerged for foreign ministers to approve next week, delegates said. ASEAN foreign ministers are set to meet from Monday in Hanoi and stay on to participate in the annual ASEAN Regional Forum, the region's main security forum, which kicks off Wednesday. Vietnam said last week more discussion was needed on the code of conduct, especially among ASEAN countries. However, Malaysia said the Hanoi meetings were not the appropriate forum to discuss territorial claims. The ARF groups the 10 ASEAN states with 13 other countries, including such regional powers as China, Japan and the United States. ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. ---------------------------------------------------------------- TheAustralian News Martyr's Day no-show a 'bad sign' By Kimina Lyall, South-East Asia correspondent, and agencies July 20, 2001 AUNG San Suu Kyi's failure yesterday to attend a key ceremony marking the death of her father has disheartened Burma's exiled activists, who interpret it as a sign reconciliation talks between the democracy leader and the ruling junta have stalled. Burma's ruling State Peace and Development Council has released 151 political prisoners since the talks with Ms Suu Kyi began last October, including 11 on Wednesday. In recent weeks, it has also allowed Ms Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy to reopen 18 offices in Rangoon. The positive signs led to speculation that Ms Suu Kyi herself could be released from house arrest. Leaked messages from inside Burma had suggested the military regime was preparing to release her to coincide with yesterday's Martyr's Day celebrations. It would have neatly coincided with next week's annual ASEAN foreign minister's meeting, at which Burma is expected to be informally questioned about the progress of the talks. Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar yesterday said Kuala Lumpur, which strongly supported Burma's entry into ASEAN in 1997, was "very happy with the development that's taking place in (Burma)". But activists in Thailand interpreted Ms Suu Kyi's no-show at the early morning ceremony as a sign the talks were not progressing well. "There could be two reasons," said Sonny Mahandar, foreign secretary of the All Burma Students Democratic Front, based in Thailand. "One, the SPDC didn't allow her to go . . . or two, she's not satisfied with the talks." Mr Mahandar, who was last night awaiting a report from inside Burma, said he thought either scenario augured bad news. "If she showed up it would have been a good sign for both sides, reflecting that they have understanding," he said. Ms Suu Kyi has not missed a Martyr's Day ceremony since 1995. She was elected Burma's leader in 1990 but the military junta refused to recognise the result. Ms Suu Kyi is not officially under house arrest, but has not been seen in public since she defied an order to remain in Rangoon last September. Although the talks have been shrouded in secrecy, the idea of forming a
joint NLP-SPDC government to draft a new constitution and work towards a general
election is thought to be high on the agenda.
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The Economic Times India may sell 50,000t wheat to Myanmar MUMBAI INDIA is likely to export about 50,000 tonnes of wheat to Myanmar in August-September, traders said today. “We received some enquiries from Myanmar traders about Indian wheat but they had some concerns about the quality of the grain,” an official said. But the Indian company had assured them about quality and sent samples, he said.They appear satisfied with the quality of our wheat.” India is also expected to export wheat to countries like Korea, the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia in the next two months, traders said. The Philippines firms today bought a total of 44,00 tonnes of Indian wheat at below $117 per tonne C&F, industry sources in Manila said. India is likely to export about 750,000 tonnes of wheat in the second quarter of the current fiscal year ending March 2002, traders said. The country sold about 700,000 tonnes of wheat on the world market during the first quarter. Since October 2000, India is estimated to have shipped 2.4 million tonnes of wheat. (Reuters) ---------------------------------------------------------------- |