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BURMA RELATED NEWS - April 05
& 06, 2002.
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HEADLINES
----------------------------------------------------------------- AFP - Singapore, US open up trade pact to
ASEAN
Reuters - Out-of-step Myanmar faces ASEAN pressure to
change
AFP- ASEAN finance ministers leave Myanmar after
3.5-4.0 percent growth tipped
Reuters - Myanmar sets new dates for U.N.
visit
Bernama - M'sia Can Expect Larger Enrolment Of Myanmar
Students, Says Ambassador-Designate
Xinhuanet - India-Myanmar-Thailand Meeting on Transport
Linkages Ends in Yangon
----------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday April 7, 9:20 AM
Singapore, US open up trade pact to ASEAN SINGAPORE, April 7 (AFP) -
Singapore and the United States are opening up a planned free trade agreement
(FTA) to other Southeast Asian countries in a bid to boost trade and investment
and promote reforms and economic integration in the region.
An industrial zone in the Indonesian island of Bintan will become the first
beneficiary of the innovative accord, expected to be completed this year, and
officials say the deal is to be extended to other parts of Indonesia and
Southeast Asia.
But membership will come with a price -- countries must meet stringent
criteria on customs, labour and tariff standards.
US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick, Washington's chief commercial
negotiator, has proposed a tempting rider in the US-Singapore FTA called the
Integrated Sourcing Initiative.
Under the initiative, information technology (IT) products made by foreign
and local companies in Bintan, or any other country included in the future, will
be accorded the same tariff and non-tariff benefits as products made in
Singapore when they enter the US market.
For starters, more than 100 categories of IT products from Bintan will be
covered, Zoellick said.
Already, the offer has prodded Indonesia to take steps to carry out reforms
such as slashing tariffs, cutting red tape, reducing customs paperwork and
improving working conditions in factories -- all of which would have taken time
on the negotiating table if there were no incentives.
Officials hope that other ASEAN countries -- most of which have the US as
their major export market -- would take the same steps after they see the
benefits.
"Several issues have been taken by the government of Indonesia to make
Batam and Bintan more attractive for investors," Indonesian Minister of Industry
and Trade Rini Suwandi told reporters at the weekend in Bintan.
A team will be formed to manage Bintan as an industrial zone, with inputs
from international advisers, she said.
For Batam, another industrial region near Singapore, a bill has been
drafted for submission to parliament making the island a free trade area,
Suwandi added.
Bintan hosts 35 light and medium industries ranging from electronics,
electrical, textile and garments and plastic mouldings, and employing 13,000
people. In 2001, total exports from these companies were valued at 283 million
US dollars.
Only 110 hectares (272 acres) of the 500-hectare industrial estate -- about
75 minutes away by boat from Singapore -- has been developed. The industrial
zone in turn is just a 45-minute drive from five-star resorts on the
island.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has launched a free
trade area covering a market of 500 million people, and while tariffs on most
goods have been lowered to between zero and five percent, analysts said there
was a need to tear down non-tariff barriers.
Zoellick, visiting Bintan with Suwandi and Singaporean Trade Minister
George Yeo over the weekend, said the US-sponsored initiative "is expected to
facilitate trade and regional integration."
In an interview with AFP in February, European Trade Commissioner Pascal
Lamy said regional integration goes beyond tariffs. It involves the
harmonisation of trading rules, transport agreements, technical standards, as
well as food safety standards.
However, efforts to harmonise such rules in ASEAN have been hampered by the
uneven states of development of its 10 members nations ranging from centrally
planned economies like Myanmar and Vietnam to more affluent Singapore and
Malaysia.
Singapore's Yeo said he hopes the inclusion of more countries under an FTA
with the US will improve ASEAN's competitiveness against China, which has
grabbed the bulk of foreign direct investments in Asia.
Zoellick said that the initiative will "create an opportunity for investors
to come to Indonesia, or Thailand or Singapore or Malaysia and to operate within
a much larger marketplace."
----------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday April 7, 7:11 PM
Out-of-step Myanmar faces ASEAN pressure to change By Dominic Whiting YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar's
military rulers, marching completely out of step with regional efforts to boost
trade and investment, could soon face pressure from Southeast Asian allies to
embrace political change, diplomats say.
Myanmar has been a troublesome partner in the Association of South East
Asian Nations (ASEAN) ever since it joined in 1997, and its generals went a
stage further last week by announcing a ban on all foreign trading firms, most
of which are from ASEAN states.
The move, which Yangon said was aimed at protecting local businesses, has
raised hackles in ASEAN, which is trying to ensure sustained growth by
liberalising trade and investment.
Thailand's Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai brought up the issue with
his counterpart Win Aung on Saturday and Thai officials said ASEAN would try to
persuade Myanmar to reverse the decision.
They said Win Aung had replied that foreign trading firms would have to
enter joint ventures with Myanmar companies if they wanted to continue
operating.
Although ASEAN is still far from a collection of model open economies and
sticks to a policy of non-interference in the affairs of member states,
Myanmar's increasingly introspective line is testing its patience, diplomats in
Yangon say.
"UNFRIENDLY ACT"
"A number of the firms are from ASEAN, especially Singapore," said one.
"It's going to be taken as a very unfriendly act...another in a long string of
insults to investors and traders."
"It hurts ASEAN's investments -- they don't have a lot of spare money --
and ASEAN's reputation."
Foreign businesses in Myanmar already face pressure from human rights
groups who say their presence props up the military regime, and are hampered by
offbeat economic policies which blend mysticism and communist-style central
planning.
"People have been pulling out for five years," said a Western diplomat.
"You can make money on deals -- gems, petrochemicals, teak or drugs -- but fixed
investment isn't worth it."
Foreign business people in Yangon warn the ban will cause imports of
essentials such as medicines to dry up. Exports of Myanmar's main agricultural
produce, grains and pulses, will also suffer and jobs will inevitably be lost,
they say.
Myanmar is already slipping down the ranks of the world's poorest
countries, but its ruling generals deny anything is wrong. They say frequent
day-long power cuts are due to newly prosperous people buying electrical
appliances. A slumping currency and near hyperinflation are blamed on
speculators.
Shunned by the West, the generals value the legitimacy ASEAN membership
confers, and clearly revelled in their role as hosts to a weekend meeting of the
group's finance ministers, even if their uniforms and medals looked curiously
out of place among the sober business suits of visiting delegates.
Escorted to the meeting by scores of machinegun-wielding soldiers, military
intelligence chief Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt told ministers Myanmar's
economy was "vibrant" and should grow by more than six percent annually in the
next five years.
But countries like Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, which invested heavily
when Myanmar began opening its economy in the early 1990s, are starting to see
it as a burden which not only offers poor returns, but hurts ASEAN's ties with
Western countries pressing for change.
"These countries have bigger fish to fry," said the Western diplomat.
"Their relations with other countries -- the EU, Japan and United States -- are
very important."
MAHATHIR MAGIC?
Western diplomats predict that as ASEAN patience with Myanmar wears thin,
key members will start to put pressure on the regime to press ahead with
political change.
The junta has been engaged for the last 18 months in U.N.-brokered talks
with Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy
(NLD), which swept democratic elections in 1990 by a landslide but was never
allowed to rule.
Although the junta has released more than 250 political prisoners since the
talks started and eased some restrictions on the NLD, progress has been
painfully slow. Suu Kyi herself remains under house arrest and up to 1,600
political prisoners still languish in jail.
Diplomats say Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad is perhaps the only
figure who could persuade Myanmar's generals to move forward in the talks.
He is thought to have much influence among Myanmar's top brass and is the
main backer of compatriot and U.N. envoy Razali Ismail, who is due to visit
Yangon again on April 23.
Diplomats say Mahathir could quietly encourage change without it appearing
to be imposed from outside. "He's the elder statesman of ASEAN and he's
combative as far as ASEAN's relations with the West are concerned," one said.
"And Malaysia should be an attractive model for them, as in many ways are
China and Vietnam. The models there mean you preserve national unity and get
development as well."
----------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday April 7, 5:07 PM
ASEAN finance ministers leave Myanmar after 3.5-4.0 percent growth tipped YANGON, April 7 (AFP)
-Southeast Asian finance ministers departed Myanmar after a meeting where they
tipped regional growth of 3.5-4.0 percent in 2002, due to global recovery and
integration of member nations' economies.
At the conclusion of their annual talks, held in the Myanmar capital for
the first time, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) ministers
said the outlook for the global economy has now improved.
"We are confident that, after registering moderate growth in 2001, the
ASEAN economies will grow more strongly at 3.5-4.0 percent this year," they said
in a joint statement released Saturday.
"This is based on the projected recovery of the global economy, our sound
domestic macroeconomic policies and ongoing structural reforms, and the closer
economic cooperation that ASEAN has fostered."
The ministers said the global slowdown, exacerbated by the September 11
terrorist attacks, had hampered the grouping's efforts to sustain economic
recovery in the wake of the 1997-98 financial crisis.
"External demand, particularly the demand for electronic goods, which has
underpinned strong export growth in our economies since 1999, slowed
significantly," they said.
That factor, together with a general decline in foreign direct investment,
resulted in modest growth of 2.8 percent for ASEAN countries in 2001.
However, positive developments in the United States pointed to a brighter
year ahead, they said.
"Although the outlook for the Japanese economy remains uncertain, there are
signs of a turnaround in the US and some European economies in the first
quarter."
"The signs point towards a gradual recovery in the global economy, with
increased momentum in the second half of 2002. We therefore expect our exports
to perform better in 2002."
Asian Development Bank president Tadao Chino told the meeting that the
impact of the attacks on the United States and the subsequent Afghan conflict
had been less disruptive than expected.
"There is a growing consensus that the region will experience a moderate
rebound this year, in contrast to the gloomy picture one foresaw in the
immediate aftermath of the 11 September attacks," he said.
"Going forward, this year's moderate rebound in the region's growth is
expected to strengthen in 2003."
At their two-day meeting, the 10 ministers looked at strategies to achieve
better integration and cooperation in a region of wide wealth disparities.
They reviewed the progress of financial cooperation measures including the
"Chiang Mai Initiative" as well as liberalisation of the financial services
sector and development of capital markets.
The Chiang Mai Initiative proposes linking the international reserves of
ASEAN countries with those of China, South Korea and Japan, to avoid a
repetition of the 1997-98 crisis when currencies came under speculative
attack.
Six bilateral swap agreements have already been signed, with a combined
size of 14 billion dollars, and eight more are being negotiated.
The ministers also agreed to launch a third round of negotiations on
financial services liberalisation, which is expected to be concluded in
2004.
ASEAN secretary-general Rodolfo Severino downplayed the low-level
representation from dialogue partners China, Japan and South Korea, saying their
finance ministers would meet the group in Shanghai next month.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
----------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday April 7, 8:26 AM
Myanmar sets new dates for U.N. visit By Aung Hla Tun YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar has
set new dates for a visit by a United Nations special envoy who is seeking to
spur on talks between the military rulers and opposition leader Aung San Suu
Kyi, a Myanmar government minister said on Saturday.
U.N. special envoy Razali Ismail, a Malaysian diplomat, will visit for four
days near the end of the month, after Myanmar's ruling generals last month
postponed his trip due to an attempted coup by relatives of ageing former
dictator Ne Win.
"He is coming here on April 23," Deputy Foreign Minister Khin Maung Win
told Reuters on the sidelines of a trilateral meeting between Myanmar and
neighbours India and Thailand.
Stopping Razali's visit in March raised fresh fears about the state of
talks between the military regime and Nobel Peace Prize winner Suu Kyi, whose
National League for Democracy (NLD) won elections in 1990 but has never been
allowed to rule.
However Myanmar said at the time that Razali, who played a key role in
persuading the military government to start talks with Suu Kyi in October 2000,
would be able to visit this month.
Razali has made regular visits to the country to evaluate progress in the
talks but diplomats say both he and the NLD have been frustrated by government
foot-dragging on political change, especially over the release of Suu Kyi, who
has spent most of the past decade under house arrest.
Diplomats say they do not believe Razali's visit will bring any
breakthrough in the talks.
Myanmar said he would face no restrictions in his movements.
"As usual, he is free to see anyone and to go anywhere during his stay
here," said another senior Myanmar Foreign Ministry official, who declined to be
identified.
Myanmar military intelligence arrested a son-in-law and three grandsons of
Ne Win along with three senior military officers last month, accusing them of
plotting to overthrow the junta.
Ne Win, 92, and his daughter Sandar Win have been confined to their house,
and the military say they have interrogated 100 suspects in the coup plot.
But many diplomats are sceptical a coup was planned, saying the allegations
and arrests may stem from disagreements in the government over how to deal with
Suu Kyi.
They say the crackdown could be part of a power struggle between Army chief
Maung Aye and Military Intelligence chief Khin Nyunt, officially number two and
three in the junta.
State run newspapers have run photographs of the pair inspecting troops
together in an apparent effort to play down suggestions of a rivalry.
Khin Nyunt is seen as Ne Win's hand-picked choice to lead Myanmar but also
as more moderate than Maung Aye, who is seen as a hardliner resistant to a
political settlement with the NLD.
Some observers say the regime wants to sideline Ne Win, who ruled Myanmar
with an iron fist from 1962 to 1988 so that it can move ahead with a
power-sharing deal with Suu Kyi.
Since the talks with Suu Kyi began, the military has freed more than 200
political prisoners but has shown little sign of loosening its vice-like grip on
power.
----------------------------------------------------------------- April 07 , 2002 12:07PM
M'sia Can Expect Larger Enrolment Of Myanmar Students, Says Ambassador-Designate KUALA LUMPUR, April 7 (Bernama)
-- Malaysia can expect more Myanmar students to enrol in local private tertiary
institutions here following last week's roadshow by Taylor's College in Yangon,
the Malaysian ambassador-designate to Myanmar Datuk Cheah Sam Kip said.
In a statement released to Bernama from Yangon, Cheah said that Myanmar was
in fact one of the top five countries sending its students to Taylor's College.
According to Cheah, Taylor's College currently has more than 600
international students at its campuses.
Last week, Cheah opened the Taylor's College education fair in Yangon. Also
present at the opening ceremony were the Myanmar Director General of Education,
U Tin NyO (rpt:U Tin NyO) and the college principal and chief operating officer,
Anucia Jeganathan.
Cheah expressed confidence that such an initiative by Taylor's College
would create new opportunities for educational cooperation between Malaysia and
Myanmar.
"I hope to see more Myanmar students studying in Malaysia as this will
contribute to greater understanding and friendship between the two countries,"
Cheah added.
----------------------------------------------------------------- India-Myanmar-Thailand Meeting on
Transport Linkages Ends in Yangon
Xinhuanet 2002-04-07 11:20:32 YANGON, April 7 (Xinhuanet) -- The one-day ministerial meeting on transport linkages of three nations -- India, Myanmar and Thailand ended here Saturday evening with a press release issued. The press release said the ministers discussed a wide range of issues pertaining to transport linkages among the three countries, including the possibility of building a new highway linking the three nations and promoting cooperation between Southeast Asia and South Asia. The ministers called for trilateral cooperation to develop and promote cooperation in multi-model transport and other linkages with a view to enhance trade and investment, tourism and people-to-people contact so as to further contribute to the economic development of the three countries and the two regions. The ministers stressed that such cooperation shall be supportive and complimentary to the economic cooperation among Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand, to Mekong-Ganga Cooperation and ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations)-India dialogue. The release went on to say that the ministers agreed to cooperate on such areas as construction of a highway from Moreh in India to Mae Sot in Thailand through Bagan in Myanmar to be completed within two years; promotion of a highway from Kanchanaburi in Thailand to Dawei deep seaport in Myanmar and shipping links to seaports in India; promotion of trade, investment and tourism through facilitation of movement of goods and people across borders; cooperative efforts on human resources development and transfer of technology; and collective efforts in acquiring funds and advisory services from countries, regional organizations and international financial institutions for the transport linkages. The ministers also agreed to hold the ministerial meeting of foreign ministers annually and set up two task forces -- one on financing and the other on technical matters -- to be chaired by Thailand and India respectively. The three-nation ministerial meeting on transport linkages, hosted by Myanmar, was attended by Minister of External Affairs of India Shri Jaswant Singh and Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Myanmar and Thailand U Win Aung and Surakiart Sathirathai. ----------------------------------------------------------------- |