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BURMA RELATED NEWS - January
13, 2002.
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HEADLINES
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Reuters - Myanmar to improve trade for
entry into AFTA
Reuters - Japan and Singapore sign free trade
agreement
AFP - Hundreds of Thai gamblers flee after bomb
blasts in border casino
Xinhuanet - Myanmar to Have More Electricity in
Next Five Years
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Saturday January 12, 9:52 PM
Myanmar to improve trade for entry into AFTA YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar's
military government is trying to boost cross border trade in preparation for
joining the Association of South East Asian Nations' (ASEAN) free trade area by
2006.
State-run newspapers reported on Saturday the government would also help
promote economic and development cooperation with its major ASEAN trade partners
-- China, Japan, South Korea, India and Pakistan.
"Border trade will continue to develop as long as friendly relation is
maintained with five neighbouring countries," General Khin Nyunt, the powerful
Secretary One of the ruling State Peace and Development Council, was quoted as
saying.
Khin Nyunt said he called on the government to help promote the
participation of private sector in international trade.
The private sector carried out about 51 percent of total trade volume in
the first half of current fiscal year.
Volume of foreign trade grew to $4.2 billion at the end of the third
quarter of 2001/2002 fiscal (April-March) from $3.7 billion for the same period
in the 1998/1999 fiscal year.
"Plans are in progress to introduce the account trade system between
Myanmar and Thailand, and Myanmar and Malaysia," he said.
Khin Nyunt said the trade sector now contributed about 23.9 percent of
Myanmar's gross domestic product, and could rise to 24.5 percent in the
2005/2006 fiscal year.
Myanmar joined ASEAN, comprising its major trade partners, in 1997 and
embarked on a market economy in 1998 after the ruling military government seized
state power. Observers say the pace of market reforms has been sluggish since
the late 1990s.
ASEAN was formed in 1967 as an economic grouping to provide a bulwark
against communism. Its current members are Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, Laos,
Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, the Philippines and Singapore.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday January 13, 6:45 PM
Japan and Singapore sign free trade agreement By George Nishiyama SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Japan and Singapore signed a free trade agreement
(FTA) on Sunday, a first for Tokyo which is seeking to forge similar deals with
other Southeast Asian nations.
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, in Singapore on the last leg of
a week-long tour of the region, signed the agreement with his Singaporean
counterpart Goh Chok Tong, after the two discussed Tokyo's new Asian policy and
bilateral issues.
The agreement, the Japan-Singapore Economic Agreement for a New Age
Partnership (JSEPA), aims to promote more exchange of goods, people, services,
capital and information, and bring down the economic border between the two
countries, the Japanese government said in an statement.
All of Japan's exports to Singapore will be free of tariffs, as will 94
percent of those from Singapore to Japan.
In 2000 Japan was Singapore's third biggest trading partner, after Malaysia
and the United States, with total trade worth some S$57.9 billion ($31.42
billion), according to Singapore's Ministry of Trade and Industry.
Under the deal, qualifications of skilled workers will be mutually approved
by both countries, and standards set for communication and electronic goods to
promote smoother trade.
On the movement of capital, the accord will enable investors to enjoy
reciprocity in preferential treatment in order to build an investor-friendly
environment, the Japanese statement said.
TRAILING CHINA
Japan hopes to forge similar deals with the rest of the 10-member
Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), the centrepiece of Tokyo's
regional policy.
During stops in the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia, Koizumi
explained his proposal for an economic cooperation framework among Japan and
ASEAN, widely seen as Tokyo's bid not to lag behind China.
In November, China agreed with ASEAN to establish a free-trade area within
10 years.
But signing FTAs is no easy task for Japan, given strong domestic
opposition by farmers and other protected businesses. Even completing the trade
agreement with Singapore, which has no significant agricultural exports, faces
domestic opposition.
"It's no secret that in Japan, like many countries, agriculture is the most
sensitive issue," a senior government official accompanying Koizumi said.
The prime minister has said throughout his tour that his vision of a free
trade framework will not be built overnight, and unlike China, Japan has not set
a time frame for concluding the free trade zone with ASEAN.
"We don't think that it is the right moment for us to propose an FTA, as
another country has proposed," the government official said, adding cooperation
in various areas should be sought first.
Japan and Thailand, a major exporter of agricultural goods, notably rice,
agreed during Koizumi's trip to start talks on an FTA but no dates were set, and
discussions with South Korea and Mexico, which have also proposed FTAs, have
made little headway.
ASEAN comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
The Japanese leader will give a speech on Monday in Singapore again
outlining Tokyo's new regional policy.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday January 13, 12:58 PM
Hundreds of Thai gamblers flee after bomb blasts in border casino (AFP) - Two Cambodian security
guards were seriously injured as hundreds of Thai gamblers, including an
influential politician, fled a border casino after it was rocked by two bomb
blasts, Thai police said.
They said the two blasts hit the lobby of The Princess Casino and Hotel on
Saturday in Poipet, 100 metres from Cambodia's western border with
Thailand.
"Two bombs went off some 15 minutes apart as more than a hundred Thai
gamblers were forced to return to Thailand, including Chalerm Yoobamrung and his
family," Major Seksan Aunsamran, police commander of the Thai border province of
Srakeaw, said.
"I met Chalerm and his family and I facilitated his return to Thailand. He
said that he had panicked and would rather be back home after the blasts,"
Seksan said.
Chalerm's son Duangchalerm, a murder suspect, is missing amid a nationwide
manhunt that has involved international police agencies.
He was charged with the murder of a police officer last October.
The Bangkok Post reported Chalerm's presence had fuelled speculation that
he was making a clandestine visit to his son.
Thai prosecutors have also laid charges against Duangchalerm's two sons
over the killing of the same policeman.
Chalerm resigned his post as deputy leader of the New Aspiration Party
after the charges were laid. He remains a member of parliament.
Thailand has no extradition treaty with Cambodia but Thai authorities have
asked for cooperation from Phnom Penh in hunting down Duangchalerm and have
requested his extradition if he is arrested there.
"Police are coordinating with Cambodian police to investigate
Duangchalerm's whereabouts in Cambodia.
"He could be sent back to Thailand if found, as a traditional practice
between the two countries," Police Lieutenant General Noppadol Somboonsap told
reporters.
The two Cambodian security guards were hospitalised on the Thai side of the
border after suffering serious injuries from the blasts.
The National Intelligence Agency said Thais were wagering some seven
billion baht (156 million dollars) each year at 18 casinos strategically
situated next to busy border checkpoints.
It said an estimated 500,000 gamblers visited casinos in Cambodia Myanmar
and Laos each year.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar to Have More Electricity
in Next Five Years
Xinhuanet 2002-01-13 09:54:02 YANGON, January 13 (Xinhuanet)
-- There are so far over 10 hydro-electric power projects under implementation
in Myanmar, aimed at easing the country's electricity shortage problem,
according to the country's state-run Myanma Electric Power Enterprise (MPPE).
As part of the projects, a total of 470 mw of generating capacity will be
added to the country after five of the projects are successively completed by
the end of 2004.
Of the five projects, a 30-mw one near Kantbalu in northwesternSagaing
division is expected to be put into service early this year, while another two,
which are of 280 mw and 25 mw in capacityand located respectively near Pinmana
in northern Mandalay division and Nyaunglaybin in southern Bago division, are
due to open in 2003.
The remaining two, which are of 75 mw and 60 mw and are respectively
situated in central Magway division's Saytottaya and southern Bago division's
Phyu, will be commissioned in 2004 as planned.
According to official statistics, the installed generating capacity of the
MPPE remained at 1,172 mw so far and electric power generated totaled 2.418
billion kilowatt-hours in the first half of 2001.
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