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BURMA RELATED NEWS - February
01, 2002.
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HEADLINES
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- AFP - Singapore minister urges ASEAN economic
integration to face China's threat
Asia Pulse - Asean Free Trade Area a Means to
Peace, Welfare:Indonesian Pres
Asia Pulse - Lancang River to Become Southeast
Asian Energy Base: Economists
Xinhuanet - Myanmar
Releases Five More NLD Members
Xinhuanet - Myanmar Calls for Observance of WTO
Rules
Xinhuanet - Myanmar Exposes 194 Drug-Related
Cases in December 2001
Xinhuanet - Myanmar Produces More Paper Products
in 2001
Bkk Post - Troops told
to make friends
Bkk Post - Surakiart
going to Rangoon for talks
ST - War on drugs set to hot up in Golden
Triangle
BBC - States stay on money laundering
list
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday January 31, 5:10 PM
Singapore minister urges ASEAN economic
integration to face China's threat
JAKARTA, Jan 31 (AFP) -
Southeast Asian countries must hasten economic integration if they want to be
able to compete with China, Singapore's Trade Minister George Yeo said Thursday.
"China presents a huge challenge to Southeast Asia. If we do not move
quickly to integrate ASEAN, we may be completely overshadowed by Northeast
Asia," Yeo told a symposium on the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA), which came into
force on January 1.
Yeo said ASEAN should reduce non-tariff barriers to trade, streamline
customs procedures and push for liberalization of services.
"To strengthen our hand in the global game, we must broaden and deepen our
economic integration. We should work towards the idea of an ASEAN Economic
Community of independent nations," he said.
"Although much progress has been made, much remains to be done.
"We cannot be internationally competitive in manufacturing if our services
are not competitive. Manufacturing efficiency depends on an economy's total
efficiency and services contribute a major part to that total system
efficiency," he said.
Yeo said ASEAN was "unlikely ever to move as far as Europe" in economic
integration.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) groups Brunei, Cambodia,
Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and
Vietnam.
China's rapid economic growth will pose a threat to some sectors in ASEAN
in the short term but will in the end benefit the region, Yeo said.
"China's prosperity will help bring prosperity to Southeast Asia. The
(proposed) ASEAN-China Free Trade Area will give ASEAN preferential market
access for ASEAN exports and investments into China," he said.
He said a study estimated that under such a free trade area ASEAN's exports
to China would grow by 48 percent and the region's gross domestic product (GDP)
would grow by an additional 0.9 percent. China's GDP would grow by 0.3
percent.
In November China and ASEAN agreed to create the world's most populous free
trade bloc within 10 years, covering two billion consumers.
Yeo said the rapid emergence of China as an economic power since the early
1990s had moved foreign investment in Asia northwards.
"In 1990 China accounted for less than 20 percent of total foreign
investments in developing Asia while Southeast Asia took 60 percent.
"Today, the numbers are reversed. With the accession of China into WTO (the
World Trade Organization), Northeast Asia is now all the rage," Yeo said.
However the minister said Southeast Asia was of strategic importance to the
United States, Japan, China, Australia and Europe.
"Since we have no nuclear weapons and pose no threat to them, all of them
want to be our friends. This puts us in a very good position," he said.
He said the September 11 terror attacks on the US had "increased strategic
interest by the US in Southeast Asia, not seen since the end of the Vietnam
War".
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday February 1, 12:11 PM
Asean Free Trade Area a Means to Peace, Welfare:Indonesian Pres JAKARTA, Feb 1 Asia Pulse - The
ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) should serve as an avenue for the creation of
prosperity and peace among its member countries, Indonesian President Megawati
Soekarnoputri said Thursday.
"AFTA is not the final goal because what is more important is the
prosperous life of the ASEAN members," she told participants of an AFTA seminar
here.
She called on all ASEAN member countries to strengthen their cooperation to
achieve the desired ends.
"I also call on Indonesia's business community to be bold in competing with
their counterparts in the ASEAN and global markets. They should not only
entrench themselves in the domestic market," Megawati said.
The seminar, whose opening ceremony was attended by Industry and Trade
Minister Rini'S Soewandi, was participated in by about 400 businessmen and
delegates from 10 ASEAN member countries.
Meanwhile, Rini said the implementation of AFTA is no longer a matter of
"ready or not ready" for Indonesia or other ASEAN member states.
All ASEAN members should be pro-active in helping one another because each
of them has its own strengths and weaknesses, she said.
AFTA has officially been made effective in six ASEAN member countries since
the beginning of the year - Indonesia, Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia, Singapore,
the Philippines, and Thailand.
Each of the six countries which had signed the Common Effective
Preferential Tariff (CEPT) has reduced tariffs to 0 per cent to 5 per cent on at
least 90 per cent of its tariff lines in the Inclusion List.
A total of 40,911 tariff lines, representing 92.9 per cent of the Inclusion
List of the first six members, have tariffs of 0 per cent to 5 per cent. The
average CEPT tariff rate for the six countries has gone down to 3.21 per
cent.
By next year, 42,377 tariff lines representing 96.2 per cent of the
Inclusion List of the six countries would have tariffs of 0 per cent to 5 per
cent.
The ASEAN's total exports reached US$353.3 billion in 1999, and $423.6
billion in 2000. Intra-ASEAN exports amounted to $77.5 billion in 1999, and
$97.9 billion in 2000.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has 10 members -
Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos,
Myanmar and Vietnam.
Southeast Asia was once known as an economic miracle in the Asia-Pacific
region, but this has changed since countries in the region, like Thailand,
Indonesia, and Malaysia, were crippled by the Asian financial crisis in
1997.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday February 1, 11:43 AM
Lancang River to Become Southeast Asian Energy Base: Economists KUNMING, Feb 1 Asia Pulse - The
Lancang river in southwest China's Yunnan Province will become an energy depot
not only for China, but also for southeast Asian countries, Chinese economists
predicted.
China plans to build eight hydroelectric power stations in the middle and
lower reaches of the river, the fifth longest in the country, with a combined
installed capacity of 15.55 million kw, according to an announcement jointly
made by the China State Power Corporation and Yunnan Provincial Government
recently.
Upon completion, the eight hydroelectric power stations will generate 74.1
billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, sources said.
Construction has recently started on the 4.2-million-kw Xiaowan
Hydroelectric Power Station, the country's second largest after the Three Gorges
power station on the Yangtze river.
The Lancang river starts in Tanggula Mountain on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau
and runs a total of 4,500 kilometers, flowing from Tibet into Xishuangbanna, in
Yunnan province, joining the Mekong River, and flowing on to the South China Sea
via Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.
Yunnan province has been listed as a major power source for China's massive
west-to-east electricity transmission project. And the development of hydropower
on the Lancang river is a key part of China's efforts to exploit local
hydroelectric resources.
In 2001, Yunnan province sent 900,000 kilowatts of electricity to the
coastal province of Guangdong, an economic powerhouse in southern China, said
sources with the Yunnan Provincial Power Group Company.
After 2015, Yunnan will send 8 million kilowatts of electricity annually to
Guangdong and other places in China.
According to a bilateral agreement, Thailand will buy 1.5 million kilowatts
of electricity from China from 2013 and another 1.5 million kilowatts starting
in 2014.
In accordance with a bilateral agreement signed in 1999, Yunnan started
sending electricity to Laos this month.
The area irrigated by the Lancang river and its water volume only account
for 20.7 per cent and 14.5 per cent of the total of the Lancang-Mekong River as
a whole, but the river possesses a potential reserve of 36.56 million kilowatts
of hydropower resources. Of this total, some 70 per cent is concentrated in
Yunnan.
Theoretically, the amount of potential hydropower that can be tapped in the
Mekong river stands at 37 million kilowatts. Of this total, 51 per cent is in
Laos, 33 per cent in Cambodia and 16 per cent is distributed in Thailand and
Vietnam.
Experts said that construction of large hydroelectric power stations on the
Lancang river is cost-efficient. They calculated that the combined installed
capacity of the eight planned power stations on the Lancang is 5.5 per cent more
than that of the 11 power stations to be constructed on the Mekong.
However, the total investment to the eight Lancang power stations only
accounts for 33.5 per cent of the investment for the 11 Mekong power
stations.
As early as 1946, China had built a hydroelectric power station with an
installed capacity of 400 kilowatts on the Xi'er river, a tributary of the
Lancang. Several power stations have also gone into operation on the Lancang
river.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar Releases Five More NLD Members
Xinhuanet 2002-01-31 20:04:53
ã??ã??YANGON, January 31 (Xinhuanet) -- The Myanmar government Thursday released five more members of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), said an official Information Sheet. ã??ã??The five, released from "various correctional facilities", are identified as U Ohn Myint, U Ar-Kar, U Maung Seint, U Shwe Aye and U Tin Win. ã??ã??It was the second batch of political prisoners released since January 9
this year amid confidence-building dialogue between the government and the NLD
initiated in October 2000.
ã??ã??The release has brought to 212 the total number of the NLD's political
prisoners freed in the country since January 2001, reaching up to almost half of
the total NLD members being detained,it added.
ã??ã??Meanwhile, the NLD, which was the winner in the 1990 general election,
demands the government release Aung San Suu Kyi, the party's general secretary,
and all other political prisoners in the country and guarantee the rights of
free activities for all legal political parties.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar Calls for Observance of
WTO Rules
Xinhuanet 2002-01-31 12:29:28 YANGON, January 31 (Xinhuanet) -- A high-ranking Myanmar commerce official has called on all member countries of the World Trade Organization (WTO) to observe the rules of the organization which provides a multilateral trading system, stressing the importance of the rules for them especially for the small- and medium-sized economies. Brigadier-General Pyi Sone, Myanmar Minister of Commerce, made
the call here on at the opening ceremony of a three-day training workshop on WTO
agreements and trade and investment opportunities for Myanmar, official
newspaper The New Light of Myanmar reported Thursday.
"All the members have to follow the obligations of these rules
and also all the members have rights to safeguard their economic sovereignty,"
he emphasized.
He maintained that the rule-based multilateral trading system
can guide the disciplined trade all over the world, saying that it
also can accelerate the global trade liberalization and trade volume as well. "Because of the current downturn of the global economy, we are
facing a growing concern for protectionism especially by the developed country
members though the commitments for market access and special and differential
treatment are given to the developing WTO members," he said.
He stressed the need under such situation to foster expansion
and diversification of trade for the economic development and to know more than
ever about the WTO trading principles and trade opportunities.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar Exposes 194 Drug-Related
Cases in December 2001
Xinhuanet 2002-01-31 10:18:38 YANGON, January 31 (Xinhuanet) -- The Myanmar authorities exposed a total of 194 narcotic-drug-related cases in December 2001, seizing 49.688 kg of opium and 2.1473 kg of heroin, according to the Myanmar Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control Thursday. The seizure, made by army units, police and the customs, also
includes 2.949 kg of marijuana and 469,593 tablets of stimulant drugs.
Following the declaration of its Mongla region in eastern Shan
state as an opium-free zone in April 1997, Myanmar began in 1999 implementing a
15-year drug eradication plan in three phases each lasting for five years.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar Produces More Paper
Products in 2001
Xinhuanet 2002-02-01 09:40:31 YANGON, February 1 (Xinhuanet) -- Myanmar produced 17,839 tons of all sorts of paper in the first ten months of 2001, 24.96 percent more than the same period of 2000, the latest data of the country's Central Statistical Organization show. During the period, Myanmar imported 59.79 million U.S. dollars
worth of paper goods, an increase of 40.48 percent compared with the
corresponding period of 2000, to meet its domestic demand.
In 2000, the country produced 16,894 tons of paper and
imported 48.1 million dollars worth of paper manufactures.
There are three state-run paper plants in Myanmar under the
Ministry of Industry No.1 respectively located in the country's
Mon state, Bago and Yangon divisions. They are producing stationery and print paper, exercise books, brown paper, packing paper and tissue paper. A new newsprint paper factory in Mandalay division, set up in
April 2001 with the assistance of the Tianjin Machinery Import and Export
Corporation of China, will produce 7,500 tons of paper annually.
Besides, Myanmar is also building a 200-ton-daily-capacity
bleached bamboo pulp factory in Ayeyawaddy division's Thabaung township, buying
machinery from China. When completed, the plant will produce 60,000 tons of the
pulp yearly.
Meanwhile, Myanmar plans to add more paper and pulp mills of
50 to 500 tons daily capacity in different states and divisions during the
five-year-plan period from 2001-02 to 2005-06.
Myanmar's per capita consumption of paper is 2.6 kilograms and
its total domestic paper demand in the present fiscal year of 2001-02 ending
March is 117,600 tons. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - February 01,
2002.
Troops told to make friends
Wassana Nanuam
Military units along the border have been instructed to improve relations
with Burmese soldiers stationed opposite them by organising meetings and
parties.
Defence Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh is also planning exchange visits
between Thai and Burmese reporters, Gen Sanan Kachornklam said.
The first Thai visit would be to Rangoon and the office of the state-run
New Light of Myanmar daily.
Gen Sanan said the two moves were part of a new push to improve bilateral
understanding.
The defence minister's chief adviser, Gen Pat Akkanibutr, would lead a team
of 4th Infantry Division officers to meet and make friends with Burmese troops
in Myawaddy on Tuesday. They were expected to discuss border problems and ways
of improving ties.
``We are confident that, from now on, there will be no more border
skirmishes between Thai and Burmese soldiers, since all know each other well,''
Gen Sanan said.
``Burma insists no more shells from Burma will land on Thai soil.''
Gen Chavalit was also pushing for the setting up of a Thai-Vietnamese
cultural and economic association, similar to the cultural and economic
association link with Burma.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - February 01,
2002.
Surakiart going to Rangoon for talks
Repatriation, fishing venture on agenda
Achara Ashayagachat
Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai is going to Burma next week for
follow-up talks on repatriation of illegal Burmese workers, joint fishery
venture, drug suppression, and trade, the ministry's spokesman said.
Mr Surakiart earlier said he would give Burmese army chief Gen Muang Aye,
vice-chairman of the ruling State Peace and Development Council, a formal
invitation to visit Thailand.
During the Feb 6-8 visit, Mr Surakiart will also meet Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt,
the council's secretary one, in Rangoon.
The minister's talks with his Burmese counterpart, Win Aung, will take
place in the coastal city of Ngapali, the spokesman said.
Mr Surakiart's party will comprise officials from various agencies
including the Fisheries Department, the Highways Department, the National
Security Council, the Interior Ministry, and the Labour Ministry.
The two foreign ministers will sign an agreement on avoidance of double
taxation designed to boost bilateral trade and investment.
Burma and Thailand agreed at the Jan 8-9 meeting of the Joint Co-operation
Commission in Phuket to work out arrangements for repatriation of illegal
Burmese immigrants.
Initially, Rangoon agreed to set up a pilot holding centre in Myawaddy,
opposite Tak's Mae Sot border town. Thailand would next week ask for the opening
of one or two additional reception points.
A fresh round of registration of illegal migrant workers in Thailand will
take place from Feb 25 to March 24, after which those unregistered will be
rounded up and repatriated.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Straits Times - February 01,
2002.
War on drugs set to hot up in Golden Triangle But narcotics agents fear the world's new focus on fighting terrorism may undercut their efforts, especially if much-needed funding dwindles By Edward Tang THAILAND CORRESPONDENT BANGKOK - The battle against opium production in the Golden Triangle is
likely to intensify as poppy plantations gear up for a major harvest to meet
demand for the drug.
With the decline in production in Afghanistan - now in the throes of
reconstruction after the war - Myanmar and Laos have become major opium
producers.
The two countries and Thailand make up the Golden Triangle - a hilly region
notorious as a safe haven for drug lords and for its vast supply of poppy
plants, which are used to make opium.
Of the three, Thailand has had the most success in opium eradication. But
its porous borders with Myanmar and Laos, coupled with Bangkok's developed
international air links, have made it a major transhipment point for drug
smugglers.
With the world focus firmly on the war on terrorism, anti-narcotic
officials are concerned that the drug problem could worsen, especially if
financial support for their work dwindles.
'The Golden Triangle would become the world's largest opium source,' said
Mr Thirapat Santimetaneedol, deputy secretary-general of the Thai Narcotics
Board.
Opium production in the region was expected to increase to 3,000 tonnes
from 1,000 tonnes last year, he said.
The countries making up the Golden Triangle depend heavily on international
donations to carry out drug-control operations.
Of the five major donors who contribute 80 per cent of the budget, two -
the United States and Britain - are deeply involved in the anti-terror
campaign.
Thailand receives 25 million baht (S$1 million) annually from the US as a
subsidy for its anti-drug operations. These include destruction of poppy
plantations and crop substitution for jhill tribal people, who depend on opium
production for a living.
Meanwhile, Mr Jean-Luc Lemahieu, who heads the Yangon-based office of the
United Nations International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP), has called for more
assistance for drug suppression in Myanmar.
He said the country had replaced Afghanistan as the world's number one
opium producer.
Much of the 900 tonnes of opium produced in Myanmar last year were from
areas controlled by the militant Wa tribe, he said. The current annual
assistance of US$12 million from the UN was insufficient to tackle the growing
problem.
'If we want to see a drastic impact on the opium situation, we need a
threefold to fourfold increase,' he said.
The problem in Myanmar is made worse by allegations that the government
shelters drug lords and officials accept bribes.
Laos, the second-largest opium producer today, estimates it needs US$80
million to develop a comprehensive opium-eradication programme.
But the tiny Indochina state, which has pledged to be opium-free by 2005,
has had limited success so far.
Laos and Myanmar are listed among the world's poorest nations and opium
production is often regarded by their people as the means to survive.
To reduce production, those growing opium must be offered alternative crops
to farm, Mr Lemahieu said.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- BBC - Friday, 1 February, 2002, 14:15
GMT
States stay on money laundering list Scrutiny of terror funding is still being tightened
Nineteen countries and territories are to continue suffering under the
stigma of being listed as havens for money laundering.
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the 29-member body which runs the blacklist, said none of the 19 had made enough progress in enhancing their regulatory structures or information sharing to be delisted. Blacklisted
Cook Islands Dominican Republic Egypt Grenada Guatemala Hungary Indonesia Israel Lebanon Marshall Islands Myanmar Nauru Nigeria Niue The Philippines Russia St Kitts & Nevis St Vincent & the Grenadines Ukraine At the same time, the FATF said its work to strengthen measures to block
terrorist finances was proceeding according to plan.
By June, it said, the eight recommendations it made after the 11 September
attacks should be in place across its membership.
And it invited non-members to join the process, promising that members
would offer technical assistance to get their financial regulatory structures up
to scratch.
Even countries with strong deterrents already in place against money
laundering could have trouble tracking terrorist funds, the FATF believes.
Normal money laundering is about financial gain, and - of course - involves
money sourced from illicit activities.
But money destined to support terrorism often has entirely legitimate
origins - and the lack of an acquisitive motivation means that there is rarely
any overt change in financial behaviour on the part of the recipient.
Hopes deferred
The blacklist ruling dashes the hopes of the Philippines, which is
threatened with sanctions if it does not get its house in order.
Nauru, a tiny island in the Pacific accused of being a conduit for billions
in Russian mafia money, already has all its transactions with member states
heavily scrutinised - the first time in the FATF's 12-year history that
counter-measures have actually been applied.
Speaking after the FATF's plenary session in Hong Kong, its president,
Clarie Lo, said that a number of the 19 non-cooperating countries and
territories (NCCTs) were making progress.
Hungary and St Kitts were both invited to come up with plans of how
promises to improve their oversight systems will work in practice, in time for
the next FATF session in June.
Hungary's system of anonymous bank accounts is being dismantled, a key
requirement for delisting.
Even so, no-one had yet done enough to be removed from the list, Ms Lo
explained.
In the Philippines case a senator had come to Hong Kong specifically to
lobby for removal.
"The FATF noted that the Philippines had enacted the anti-terrorist act in
September 2001," Ms Lo said.
"However, there are still some deficiencies that need to be remedied before
we can consider any form of delisting.
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