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BURMA RELATED NEWS - November
20, 2001.
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HEADLINES
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- BBC - Burma's economic crisis
deepens
AFP - Thailand funds crop substitution in
Myanmar drug areas
AFP - Thailand aims to start partial free trade
with Japan
AFP - Myanmar denies withdrawal of high-value
currency notes
Reuters - Myanmar frees four more opposition
party members
Reuters - U.S. considers taking Myanmar rebel
twins
Asia Pulse - Asean Army Chiefs Plan Joint Action
Against Terrorism
ABC online - New project to repatriate Burmese
girls from Thailand
The Guardian - Burma's
rebel twins will be given a new home in the United States
Bkk Post - Editorial - Armies launch Asean offensive
Bkk Post - Thailand a
transit point for smugglers
Xinhuanet - ASEAN Integration Workshop Opened in
Cambodia
Xinhuanet - Thailand Allots 20 Million Baht for
Crop-Substitution Programs
Xinhuanet - Myanmar's Rubber Export Decreases in
First Eight Months
Xinhuanet - Anti-Drug Teams Sent to 400
Villages Along Thai-Myanmar Border
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- BBC - Monday, 19 November,
2001, 16:52 GMT
Burma's economic crisis deepens by the BBC's Larry Jagan from Bangkok Burma has not escaped the economic fall-out from the attacks on the United
States and Washington's war on terrorism.
The fall in consumer confidence in America will also affect Burma's exports
to the US, while the general downturn in international travel will have an
adverse impact on Burma's tourist industry.
The latest symptom of financial crisis has been a run on the country's
large kyat notes.
"No one wants to hold thousand or five hundred kyat notes for fear that the
government is planning to withdraw them from circulation," said a Burmese
businessman.
Decades ago the Burmese had withdrawn large denomination notes overnight,
devaluing many people's savings instantly.
Shoring up confidence
But the government has been quick to intervene.
"As long as the military government is in charge, there will be no
withdrawal of the official currency notes, be it the 1,000 kyat note or the 500
kyat note," the country's deputy chief of military intelligence Major General
Kyaw Win said at the weekend.
While the government's intervention has stopped the panic selling of the
large kyat notes, it has not stemmed the fall of the value of the kyat on the
informal market.
"It's been sliding downwards for several months now," said a Rangoon-based
analyst.
"It's virtually in free-fall against the dollar," he added.
'Rampant inflation'
The exchange rate is now more than eight hundred kyat to the dollar. Money
changers in Rangoon expect it to fall even further in the next few weeks.
"The country's rampant inflation has also caused many people to buy
dollars, gold and imported cars as a hedge against price increases," said a
Rangoon-based journalist.
The price of cars has more than doubled in the last two months.
The fall in the kyat is also forcing the prices of imported goods like
medicines and cosmetics to rise.
A recent visitor to Rangoon said many women were no longer buying
cosmetics.
"Residents in the capital are continuously complaining about rising
prices," said an Asian diplomat in Rangoon.
Expensive food
Eggs, vegetables and peanut oil have all more than doubled in the last two
months.
"One egg," complained a resident, "now costs more than 30 kyat."
Although meat prices have only increased marginally, many families have
given up eating meat to be able afford the other essential foodstuffs, which
have increased astronomically.
Rice of course has remained relatively stable because of government
intervention to control its price.
The military authorities have long feared that large price increases in
rice would provoke food riots.
Humanitarian crisis?
Privately UN officials fear a massive humanitarian crisis is looming.
They estimate that one child in three is already malnourished.
If the economic crisis remains unchecked, they fear that this could double
with the next 12 months.
The situation they say is particularly critical in the countryside.
Power shortages
On top of this, the residents of Rangoon are increasingly facing power
shortages.
According to one resident, people in residential areas have had no
electricity for more than eight hours a day, almost everyday for the last four
weeks.
The acute lack of diesel has caused the closure of two major fertiliser
factories in the past month, a Burmese economist based in Singapore told the
BBC.
An international petroleum company executive, who knows Burma well, says if
the Generals do not do something soon, "by March next year, the lights in
Rangoon will go out".
Business exodus
Many businessmen are also now complaining about the economic crisis.
More than half of the Singaporean businessmen have left in the last 12
months.
Diplomats say there are now only 85 Singaporeans now compared to more than
300 two years ago.
Many of the South Koreans are also now planning to leave.
Conciliatory?
The military government is increasingly worried about the country's
spiralling inflation and the falling value of the kyat.
Analysts believe the government's conciliatory attitude towards the
international community has been prompted by the realisation that only
international financial assistance, increased foreign trade and investment can
save Burma from economic collapse.
The country's deputy foreign minister, Khin Maung Win, has privately told
diplomats that economic recovery will only come when the country has solved its
political problems.
The international community is hoping that the Burmese military authorities
realise that this can only mean agreeing to some form of power-sharing with the
country's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Monday November 19, 6:51 PM
Thailand funds crop substitution in Myanmar drug areas BANGKOK, Nov 19 (AFP) -
Thailand has set aside almost half a million dollars to fund crop substitution
programs in drug-infested areas along the border with Myanmar, a Thai minister
said Monday.
Prime minister's office minister General Thamarak Issarangkun Na Ayutthaya
said a tripartite meeting between Thailand, Myanmar and ethnic Wa leaders, who
control a semi-autonomous region in Myanmar, would discuss the plan.
Thailand hopes to encourage members of the Wa ethnic group who live along
the mountainous border to change from growing opium to other economically viable
crops, he said.
"Thailand has given initial funding of 20 million baht (450,000 dollars)
for a crop substition program in the Wa-controlled area," Thamarak told
reporters, adding that the project would begin in the border town of Mong
Tum.
He added that Thailand will also send experts to assist the Wa in the
border area to support local farmers who have switched to traditional crops as a
means of pressuring others still involved in the narcotics trade.
The crop substitution plan would also be aimed at drug traffickers
operating in the region.
"The program could curb major drug dealers and make drug trafficking more
difficult," Thamarak added.
Myanmar is one of the world's main producers of illicit drugs, which come
from the opium-rich Golden Triangle region where the borders of Myanmar,
Thailand and Laos meet.
Cheap methamphetamine pills, known in Thailand as ya baa, or crazy
medicine, have replaced opiates as the drug of choice in recent years.
An estimated 800 million tablets were trafficked in Thailand last year, up
from 100 million in 1998, mostly from jungle laboratories on the Myanmar side of
the border, according to the United Nations.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday November 20, 5:56 PM
Thailand aims to start partial free trade with Japan TOKYO, Nov 20 (AFP) - Thai
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said Tuesday he had proposed a partial free
trade agreement (FTA) between Japan and Thailand by leaving politically
sensitive goods for future talks.
"Thailand proposed grouping trade products into three groups -- the first
is for products with no controversy and for which we will be able to start free
trade," Thaksin told reporters after talks with Japanese government leaders
here.
The second group of products would be those whose problems could be settled
through negotiation, while the third would be politically "sensitive products"
whose liberalisation could come later, Thaksin said.
The Thai leader was elaborating on a proposal made to his Japanese
counterpart Junichiro Koizumi to study the possibility of an FTA in a meeting a
day earlier.
He did not identify specific products, but rice could trigger hot debate
given Japan's rice farmers constitute a strong support base for the ruling
Liberal Democratic Party in return for which they are protected from cheap
imports.
The premier, on a four-day visit to Japan, also met with Economy, Trade and
Industry Minister Takeo Hiranuma on Tuesday.
Koizumi made no direct reply to the proposal at Monday's meeting, but
reports said Hiranuma sounded positive.
"It is a very interesting and good proposal," Jiji Press quoted Hiramuna as
telling Thaksin. "We would like to take it seriously."
On October 20 Japan and Singapore announced they had completed talks to
launch a bilateral free-trade accord, the first ever for the world's second
biggest economy.
Thaksin also said Asian nations should launch informal talks for closer
trade and investment relations.
"I hope five or six (Asian) nations will be able to hold informal talks as
a pathfinder, and Thailand is ready to provide a venue," he said through a
translator.
At an annual summit in early November, Thailand and nine other Association
of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) agreed with China to set up the world's
largest free trade zone based on population.
ASEAN leaders set a 10-year target date to achieve the ambitious goal but
Chinese premier Zhu Rongji, who first floated the idea of the FTA, said it could
be achieved within five years.
Thaksin said he hoped the agreement would have "an 'early harvest'
provision, which would enable those who are ready first to go ahead, while those
who are not would wait."
He also said grouping products, just as in his proposal to Japan, would be
possible.
Under-developed new ASEAN members -- Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam
-- would be granted "unilateral free trade rights" from China so their
industries would not by hurt by more competitive Chinese goods, Thaksin
said.
As for Myanmar's ruling military junta, Thaksin said "not meddling in is
also important," arguing Thailand has adopted the policy of helping the nation
democratise through dialogue rather than sanctions.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday November 18, 3:46 PM
Myanmar denies withdrawal of high-value currency notes AFP - Myanmar's military
government has denied widespread speculation that it will withdraw the largest
denominations of the local currency, the kyat, from circulation.
Deputy chief of military intelligence Major General Kyaw Win said 1,000 and
500 kyat notes would remain in circulation as long as the ruling junta was in
power.
"As long as the military government is in charge, there will be no
withdrawal of the official currency notes, be it the 1,000 kyat note or the 500
kyat note," he told reporters late Saturday.
Rumours that the 1,000 kyat note would be cancelled by the government
stirred panic in Yangon, where residents fearing the devaluation of their cash
went on spending sprees.
"The rumor started in the border areas where reports of counterfeiting
cropped up and traders were refusing to accept the 1,000 kyat notes," Kyaw Win
added.
Local businesses appeared to benefit from the attempts to unload the notes
and have enjoyed brisk sales over the past several days.
"We managed to sell practically everything that was in stock," one Yangon
businessman said to a colleague.
Taxi drivers in the Myanmar capital have also felt the effects of the
currency furore, saying they have been hard pressed to make change for the
unwieldy 1,000 kyat notes.
"It was rather tedious making change for all these notes but it appears
they're not taking any chances," one driver told AFP, adding that all of his
morning fares had been paid in 1,000 kyat notes.
The jitters over the rumoured currency withdrawal reflects the mood in
Myanmar where the economy remains enmired in crisis despite government
assurances that the military state is on a growth track.
Myanmar citizens in the towns and cities endure annual inflation rates as
high as 50 percent for basic commodities in addition to constantly changing
rules on rationing of items like gasoline amid the depreciation of the
kyat.
Myanmar also uses a dollar-denominated currency notes called Foreign
Exchange Certificates, which have plummeted in value against the greenback and
prompted the government to limit licenses for their distribution.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday November 20, 2:35 PM
Myanmar frees four more opposition party members YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar's
military government freed four more political prisoners on Monday, bringing to
190 the number of opposition activists freed over the last year, the government
said in a statement.
The ruling generals have been releasing members of the National League for
Democracy (NLD) since they began secretive landmark peace talks with NLD leader,
Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, in October 2000.
The NLD says the pace of releases is too slow and is worried by lack of
progress in the talks, which are still said to be only at a "confidence building
stage".
The government rejects this and says it will continue to release prisoners
when appropriate in an effort to build confidence in the talks with the NLD.
The NLD won Myanmar's last election in 1990 by a landslide but was never
allowed to govern. Instead, its members have been detained, harassed or placed
under house arrest. Suu Kyi has been held in de facto house arrest for more than
a year.
Amnesty International says there are more than 1,500 political prisoners in
Myanmar's jails. The government disputes this, saying most of the prisoners
cited are in jail for criminal offences rather than political acts.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Monday November 19, 6:40 PM
U.S. considers taking Myanmar rebel twins BANGKOK (Reuters) - The United
States is in the final stages of accepting for resettlement the young,
gun-toting twins who led a ragtag band of rebels in Myanmar's border jungles
until their surrender earlier this year.
A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok told Reuters on Monday the
Immigration and Naturalisation Service (INS) was dispatching a team to interview
Johnny and Luther Htoo next week.
"The INS will be sending a team to interview the twins next week," said the
spokesman, who declined to be identified. "But I can't say how long it will take
before they are given permission to leave for the United States."
He said the interview was one of the final stages before being granted
permission to resettle. No more details were given.
The boy soldiers -- believed now to be in their early teens -- led the
God's Army ethnic Karen guerrilla group for years. The two fought against the
Myanmar army with scores of followers who believed they had mystical powers.
The pair and 12 others surrendered to Thai authorities in January, after a
crackdown by border patrols who cut off their food supply lines.
The twins, who became famous as a result of pictures showing them toting
assault rifles and smoking cigars, told a news conference at the time that their
fighting days were over.
The Htoo brothers as well as their mother, sister and the 12 other former
fighters are now living in a Thai border patrol police camp, 100 km (60 miles)
southwest of Bangkok.
Ratchaburi provincial governor Gomate Daengthongdee told Reuters that
Thailand's National Security Council and the United Nations' refugees agency had
set a schedule for them to leave for a third country at the end of this year.
"According to our policy, we plan to send them to a third country by the
end of this year, but the final schedule and destination depend on the UNHCR
(United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees)," Gomate said.
He said it was likely they would go to the United States as they had been
through several rounds of interviews by U.S. officials.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Monday November 19, 9:09 AM
Asean Army Chiefs Plan Joint Action Against Terrorism MANILA, Nov 19 Asia Pulse -
Amid global uncertainty in the aftermath of the Sept 11 terrorist attacks on the
United States, ASEAN army chiefs have forged a joint plan of action to counter
terrorism in the region.
They have recognized the real and present danger posed by international
terrorists led by the Al-Qaida network of Osama bin Laden, the suspected
mastermind in the series of plane hijacking and crashing the aircraft on
populated areas in New York and Washington on that fateful day, that stunned
America and countries across the globe.
Though far short of a military alliance as the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations continues to adhere to non-interference in the internal affairs of
a member country, nonetheless, the six-point declaration was more than enough
that ASEAN is solid in their common stamd against the specter of
terrorism.
The declaration was read by Lt. Gen. Jaime S. de los Santos, commanding
general of the Philippine Army, at the end of the Second ASEAN Chiefs of Armies
Multilateral Meeting (ACAMM II) at the EDSA Shangri-la Hotel in Mandaluyong City
over the weekend.
The army chiefs from Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Laos,
Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines, have recognized that terrorism
is a threat to international peace and stability that must be crushed.
The conference was timely as it was held a little over two months after the
Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States that killed over 4,500 people of
various nationalities.
A year before the terrorists' suicide plane attacks that destroyed the
World Trade Center in New York and partly burned the Pentagon in nearby
Washington, the ASEAN chiefs of armies during a meeting in Petchaburi Province
in Thailand, condemned terrorist acts as utterly immoral and illegal.
"Mindful of the recent global incidents and in consonance with the recent
declaration, there is an immediate need to address these pressing concerns,
otherwise, the same will adversely affect regional security and economic gains,"
the joint declaration said.
The Army organization in every ASEAN country plays a crucial role in
combating terrorism.
In their declaration, the Army chiefs pointed out that terrorists use force
and violence with qualms against persons or property to intimidate and coerce,
thus posing a grave threat to peace and security in the region.
The ACAMM II conference last Friday was a follow-up of the 7th Summit in
Bandar Seri Begawan in Brunei wherein the ASEAN leaders reaffirmed their
commitment to foster common understanding and concrete collaboration to counter
transnational crimes, particularly terrorism.
In their joint declaration, the 10 ASEAN chiefs of armies agreed to
imnplement a six-point plan of action against terrorism, namely:
1. Review, strengthen and share our respective Army's mechanisms to combat
terrorism.
2. Enhance information/intelligence exchange to facilitate the smooth and
efficient flow of information regarding terrorist activities and/or
organizations;
3. Develop regional building programs to enhance existing capabilities of
ASEAN Armies to detect, monitor and counter terrorist acts;
4. Discuss and explore practical ideas and initiatives to increase ASEAN
Armies role in and involvement with the international community, including
extra-regional partners within existing frameworks;
5. Strengthen cooperation at bilateral and multi-lateral regional levels in
combating terrorism in a holistic and comprehensive level; and
6. Consider to undertake such steps as are necessary to conduct a
multi-lateral simulation activity on emergency response to terrorism.
"We, the Chiefs of Armies of ASEAN, do hereby pledge to remain seized with
the matter, and on other regions and countries to work in the global struggle
against terrorism," the declaration said.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Australian Broadcasting Corporation
(20/11/01, 11:57:14 AEST) New project to repatriate Burmese girls from Thailand The military junta in Burma will, for the first time, co-operate with the
repatriation of young women sold into prostitution in Thailand.
A Thai official says Burmese girls will be rehabilitated and then sent home
through official channels under a new aid project.
Last month, 35 girls were returned home in a transfer organized through the
project by the international aid group, World Vision, to prevent trafficking in
women and children.
Previously, girls sent back to the border and left to fend for themselves
would often return to Thailand. Now they can be received by the Burmese
Department of Social Welfare.
The new project will help girls rescued from Thai brothels and bars by
sending them to a shelter in Bangkok where they can get schooling and vocational
training for a few months before they are ready to go back to Burma.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Guardian
Burma's rebel twins will be given a new home in the United States Reuters in Bangkok Tuesday November 20, 2001 The United States is preparing to take in the young armed twins who led a
ragtag band of rebels in Burma's border jungles until they surrendered earlier
this year.
A US embassy spokesman in Bangkok said the immigration and naturalisation service would be sending a team to interview Johnny and Luther Htoo next week. "I can't say how long it will take before they are given permission to
leave for the US," he said, but added that the interview was one of the final
stages before permission to settle in the US was given.
The boy soldiers - believed to be in their early teens now - led the God's
Army ethnic Karen guerrilla group for several years. They fought against the
Burmese army with scores of followers who believed they had mystical powers.
They and 12 others surrendered to the Thai authorities in January, after
border patrols cut off their food supply lines.
The twins, who were made famous around the world by pictures showing them
carrying assault rifles and smoking cigars, told a news conference at the time
that their fighting days were over.
They are living with their mother, sister and the 12 other former fighters
in a Thai border patrol police camp 60 miles south-west of Bangkok.
The provincial governor said that the Thai national security council and
the United Nations' refugees agency had set a schedule for them to leave.
"According to our policy, we plan to send them to a third country by the
end of this year, but the final schedule and destination depend on the UNHCR
[United Nations high commissioner for refugees]," he said.
He added that it was likely that they would go to the US, as they had been
interviewed several times by US officials. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - November 20,
2001.
Editorial - Armies launch Asean
offensive
Just a week after the leaders of Asean waffled over concrete steps against
terrorism, the region's top army commanders showed more unity and efficiency.
All 10 of the generals met in Manila, for only the second time in the history of
the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. At the end of their two-day
conference, the men had an action plan and a timetable to put it into
action.
The remarkable feature of this military co-operation is that _ so far, at
least _ the men in green are not asking for either special powers nor baskets of
money. Nor does the plan they concluded seem likely to obstruct honest citizens
or tourists. Rather, the military men have taken practical steps that could make
the region safer, without restricting civil liberties or the mood towards
expanding freedoms.
The regional militaries, in short, will work together to gather, collate,
share and act upon terrorist information. They will form a theoretically
limitless network of bilateral and multilateral groups, inside Asean and with
interested outside military leaders. They are prepared to work among themselves
or with foreign countries or military-related organisations. And they will
conduct anti-terrorist exercises _ in classrooms, on table-top simulations and
in the field.
The generals deserve both congratulations and support in their programme.
Nothing but hard work lies ahead. If their plans are successful, citizens of
Asean will never know it. The plan is to discover, root out and trample
terrorists and their cells before they threaten anyone. The Asean armies have
the ability to prevent cross-border operations by extremists.
After the Manila meeting, the generals say they have the will. This is the
important part. Terrorists and other dangerous groups _ drug traffickers,
bandits, kidnappers _ have exploited international borders. Last year, the Abu
Sayyaf of the Philippines raided a resort in Malaysia to take hostages. Bandits
in southern Thailand have long received support from across the frontier.
Earlier this month, a car bomb was discovered right in the border town of Sungai
Kolok.
The meeting in the Philippines vowed to begin the war games within the
month. They will begin with table-top simulations of possible terrorist attacks.
There are no shortage of possibilities, from mass murders by Abu Sayyaf and the
New People's Army of the Philippines, to bombers in Jakarta, to mass killings of
villagers by Burmese drug dealers. None of these are theories _ all have
occurred recently.
The idea of such war games is to evaluate the speed and efficiency of
information, as much as testing responses. Once a terrorist attack is under way,
the army can only respond, usually in the role of disaster relief. This new
programme will put intelligence gathering and response times to the test as
details emerge of the terrorists' plans _ before a catastrophe.
The plans for Asean military action will, and should, bring contact outside
the region. Adm Dennis Blair, the US Pacific commander, said last week his
country would like to sit in on any anti-terrorist planning. China and India
should be considered, as should Japan, which is sending troops to Afghanistan.
Indeed, Japan may even be ready to assume the leadership role it should have
taken two decades ago.
The Asean military leaders, including Thai Army Commander-in-Chief Gen
Surayud Chulanont, deserve credit. Their political masters showed trepidation
and hesitation during the summit in Brunei early this month. The army chiefs
have decided that international action is needed against an international
menace. No single action or group is going to end extremism or violence. But the
10 Asean army chiefs should have full support as they start a serious campaign
to make life tough for drug traffickers, international criminals and
terrorists.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - November 20,
2001.
Thailand a transit point for smugglers
200,000 abused by trade each year
Supamart Kasem
Thailand has become a transit point for human smuggling of thousands of
children and women each year, a women's rights advocate said yesterday.
Saisuree Chutikul, chairwoman of a government sub-committee combating the
smuggling of women and children, said about 200,000 people in Asia were annually
smuggled and forced into the sex trade or used as slave labour.
Of these, 35,000-40,000 were young people, largely from hilltribe villages
in Thailand, China's Yunnan province, Burma, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, she
said.
Most of them were victimised by their own parents, sex procurers or illegal
job brokers.
The rest were adults from the same areas, as well as from Eastern Europe
and Russia. Many entered the sex trade of their own free will because of
poverty.
``They were forced to provide sex services in return for low wages or
forced into slave labour. They have been sent to workplaces and brothels here
and abroad including America, Japan, Germany, Australia and even Africa.
``Thailand is a transit point for the smuggling of human cargo from
neighbouring countries to those countries,'' Mrs Saisuree said.
She said 150 youngsters and women, including 95 Burmese, had been rescued
from people smugglers this year in Thailand.
Most had been sent back home after counselling, but 45 were still awaiting
questioning.
Mrs Saisuree gave a lecture on pepople smuggling at yesterday's launch in
Mae Sot district of the World Vision Foundation's project to combat the trade
along the Thai-Burmese border.
Foundation director Chusak Wuthiwaropas said the three-year project would
be run in Chiang Rai's Mae Sai district, Tak's Mae Sot district, and Ranong
province, with the private sector's co-operation.
Target groups were hilltribe women and those from other ethnic minority
groups, youngsters and underprivileged people in border areas, he said.
Activities would range from information gathering and dissemination to
repatriation of victims and would begin in January, he said.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- ASEAN Integration Workshop Opened
in Cambodia
Xinhuanet 2001-11-20 13:01:41 PHNOM PENH, November 20 (Xinhuanet) -- A workshop on ASEAN (the Association
of Southeast Asian Nations)Integration was opened here Tuesday morning to
formulate a work plan for narrowing the development gap within ASEAN by
assisting new member countries: Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam.
Addressing the opening ceremony of the workshop held at the Hotel
Inter-Continental, Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong stressed that they
need to work together in the ASEAN spirit in order to further enhance their
regional resilience and strengthen their regional grouping in light of the
dramatic changes in world politics and global economies.
The workshop is very important as it will jointly discuss the project work
plan, project strategies, and project priorities in order to help narrow the
development gap within the region, especially between the new and original
members of ASEAN, he added.
Hor stated that in order to set clear directions on achieving the regional
integration, the workshop would focus on key priority areas of human resource
development, infrastructure, information and communication technology, and
regional economic integration.
The workshop is scheduled to be ended on Thursday.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thailand Allots 20 Million Baht
for Crop-Substitution Programs
Xinhuanet 2001-11-20 12:35:02 BANGKOK, November 20 (Xinhuanet) -- Thailand set aside 20 million Baht
to fund crop-substitution programs in drug-infested area along the Thai-Myanmar
border, the Nation newspaper reported Tuesday.
Thamarak Isarangura, Thai Prime Minister's Office Minister was quoted as
saying that Thailand wanted to encourage members of the Wa ethic group, who live
and control a semi-autonomous region along the mountainous border, to change
from opium to other economically viable crops.
Thailand had given initial funding of 20 million Baht for a
crop-substitution program in the Wa-controlled area, he said, adding that
Thailand would also send experts to assist the Wa farmers who had switched to
traditional crops as a means of pressuring others still involved in the
narcotics trade.
He said a tripartite meeting between Thailand, Myanmar and ethic Wa leader
would also discuss the crop-substitution plan.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar's Rubber Export Decreases
in First Eight Months
Xinhuanet 2001-11-20 10:29:35 YANGON, November 20 (Xinhuanet)
-- Myanmar exported 16,200 tons of raw rubber in the first eight months of this
year, a 6.35-percent decrease from the same period of 2000, the latest data of
the official Economic Indicators show.
The earning through the export of raw rubber during the period was
registered at 8.04 million U.S. dollars, reducing by 13.17 percent compared with
the corresponding period of 2000.
Meanwhile, during the eight-month period, the country imported rubber goods
worth 21.87 million dollars, 19.68 percent less than the same period of
2000.
Myanmar has been striving to extend the cultivation areas of rubber which
is one of its major industrial crops and one of its major foreign exchange
earners.
A latest report said the country has extended the rubber plantation area
from two divisions and states to four with the increase of the hectarage from
81,000 in 1994 to 182,250 at present.
In Myanmar, 2.62 million hectares are reportedly suitable for rubber
growing.
Of the country's present rubber plantations, 13 percent is owned by the
state and 87 percent by the private sector, while of the rubber production, 15
percent is by the state and 85 percent by the private enterprises.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Anti-Drug Teams Sent to 400
Villages Along Thai-Myanmar Border
Xinhuanet 2001-11-19 11:22:58 BANGKOK, November 19 (Xinhuanet) -- The Internal Security Operations
Command (ISOC) of Thailand had sent 65 anti-drug teams to fight spread of drugs
in about 400 villages along the Thai-Myanmar border, the Bangkok Post reported
here Monday.
ISOC spokesman Burapa Tawichi was quoted as saying that the teams had not
only conduct psychological operations in methamhetamine-infested villages but
also had opened 240 camps to train community leaders to fight the spread of
drugs.
According to the officer, the amount of spread pills which seized along the
border dropped to 2.03 million pills in October, compared to 3.54 million in
September.
In total, 73.27 million speed pills had been seized this year, the Bangkok
Post said.
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