Yangon Post 2006

Yangon Post No.53 (December 9)

• The ministries of Agriculture and Irrigation and Livestock and Fisheries held a co-ordination meeting in late November in Magway to conduct development study on sustainable agriculture and rural development for poverty reduction in the central zone. The Japan International Cooperation Agency will collaborate in initiating the study to be done in Magway, Mandalay and Sagaing divisions. 

Yangon Post No. 51 (November 25)

• The United Nations' FAO will establish a breeding project in one of breeding zones to be established near Naypyidaw. The project to be begun in next January will include breeding 0.1million milch cows and 1million fowls, and establishing a laboratory. 

• The United Nations Children's Fund will spend US$20,000 to promote better habits for health in rural areas. 

• A 16-member group comprised with officials from GMS countries' fishery departments visited here on November 13 under the grouping's fishery co-operation program.

• Temporary passports have been issued to Burmese labours illegally working in Thailand and they will also be made available for those working illegally in countries such as Malaysia and Singapore, an executive committee member of quarter peace and development council said.  

• Burmese students are also eligible to apply for scholarships under European scholarship program 2007-2013 that allocates (US$ or Euro) 50.5billion to Asian students.
  
  
  

Yangon Post No. 50 (November 18)

• Matpe price in Bayintnaung market drops to under K89,000 per three-basket bag in early this month. The price per bag was about K0.1million in early October.

Yangon Post No. 48 (November 4)

The Department of Labour's overseas employment office, which is previously situated in the first floor of six-story building in Strand Road, moves to Yarzadiri Street in Botahtaung Township. The office issues labour registration cards for those planning to work abroad.

Yangon Post No. 47 (October 28)

• Assets of the Myanmar Daewoo Electronic Company, a joint venture company of the Ministry of Industry No (2) and Korean Daewoo Group, will be auctioned on September 2.

• Under the privatisation program six state-owned factories will be auctioned to private sector and bidding proposals are to be submitted on November 30 only.

Yangon Post No. 46 (October 21)

• Fishery exporters will be confined up to K6million if their to-be-exported goods are found different from approved items.

• Business of freight forwarding services that are operating from Rangoon to Mandalay and Meiktila is still sluggish in this opening season due to the continuous heavy rainfalls throughout the country.

• Gold price becomes slightly up since October second week due to approaching of festive season.

• The Korean KBS broadcasting system is filming a tourism documentary that depicts the country's famous tourism sites. The documentary is to be broadcast in South Korea to help know their citizens who are planning to visit here.

Yangon Post No. 45 (October 14)

• Myanma Railways cancelled some of its Rangoon-Mandalay train operations as railway links near Kyaukse Township in Mandalay Division are covered with flooded water because of torrential rain. Water levels of rivers and creeks exceeded their danger levels because of continuous rainfall throughout the country. Due to the inundation some rail links in Sagaing Division are damaged while some railroads are temporarily closed.

Yangon Post No. 43 (September 30)

• Local fowl breeders will resume importing day-old-chicks from Germany, France and Australia. Ban on import of DOC is lifted since September 13.

• The United Nations Children's Fund held workshop on strategies on developing media tools for child protection from September 18 to 21 at Sedona Hotel.

Yangon Post No. 40 (September 9)

• The local and international non-government organisations require registering at the Ministry of Home Affairs for their operation. The ministry allows two-year operation for each registration. 

• Vehicle prices slightly increase during this week and high-end vehicles are traded more.

• The Traffic Rules Enforcement Supervisory Committee fines undisciplined locals who breach vehicle and pedestrian rules and it will also fine foreigners who do not follow the same rules and regulations.  

Yangon Post No. (September 2)

• Myanma Posts and Telecommunications is leasing more than 2000 GSM mobile phones in Ayeyarwaddy Division's Pathein since June.

• Burma's export earning growth rate is still less compares to other ASEAN countries even though it has achieved increased export earning of US$3.5billion in last fiscal year, said U Myo Oo, a deputy director general at the Ministry of Commerce.

• More closed circuit televisions (CCTV) will be installed at the central railway station in Rangoon for public safety. Twelve CCTV are already installed at the station.

• Eighteen coaches (the last of 130 coaches sent by China as goodwill present) arrived at Sule port on August 28.

• Forest-covered area in Burma is decreasing and the Department of Forestry and UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation collaborate in growing 70,000 acres special plantations in this fiscal year to help reduce deforestation.

• The Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation begins preliminary work on construction of the country's biggest hydropower dam project in Sagaing Division's Homalin with the assistance from Germany-based Colenco experts group. Design of the dam, which is expected to generate 6685million megawatts annually, is likely to complete next year. 

Yangon Post No. 30 (June 17)

• A more than 100-year old earthen pot made by Duck Worth Company in Manchester City's Old Trafford is found in Hlaingthaya Township. The pot embossed with 'Duck Worth Old Trafford essence distillery Manchester 1 gall' is owned by 93-year old Daw Mya Nyunt who is living in 123(B), Thakhin-phoe-hlagyi lane 6, ward 18 in Hlaingthaya.

• An iNGO, World Vision's micro-financing service in Hlaingthaya Township is beneficial for loan borrowers, and it would be of more assistance if the service was provided for the long run, the residents said.

• A central railway station will be built in Naypyidaw and the Myanma Railways will also launch new rail links to Meiktila and Mandalay from Naypyidaw.

• The Ministry of Information will auction its MRTV-3 new studio complex built on 9.187 acres land in Kamaryut Township.                    

Yangon Post No. 28 (June 3)

• Three women who attempted for trafficking in 20 females to Myawaddy and border towns were detained on May 20 at the Aung Mingalar highway terminal.  

• During the India-Burma trade cooperation committee meeting two sides discussed to open the third border checkpoint in order to increase bilateral trade.

• The highway buses entering into the Aung Mingalar highway terminal are checked with metal detectors and trained dogs in an attempt to provide for travelling people as well as protecting from terrorists.     

• Representatives from the ASEAN member countries and Australia have met at a workshop in Rangoon on May 23 held for protection of disease dissemination via birds.  

Yangon Post No. 27 (May 27)

• Bangladesh is raising taxation on some commodities exported from Burma via border checkpoints while it give tax exemption for rice, oxen, buffaloes and saltwater shrimps in which Burma restricted the first threes to export via border trade.     

• The World Intellectual Property Organisation's director, Mr Jorgen Bloomquist, said the research papers submitted at the two-day WIPO national seminar on copyright and related rights in the creative industries held on May 16 in Grand Plaza Park Royal Hotel were quite satisfactory.    

Yangon Post No. 26 (May 20)

• Trade volume in Muse 105^th mile border trade zone has reached US$340million in 2004-05 fiscal year. Normal trading system is mainly applied at the zone bordered with China, and bilateral trade volume at the zone will be as much as twofold once the transit trading system gets more developed.  

• The Myanmar Police Force and Railway Police Force seized smuggled commodities in May first week that include rubber slippers, cosmetics, children wears and bicycle tyres at the newly open Mawlamyine railway station.
  
  
  

Yangon Post No. 25 (May 13)

• Nepalese Mr Ramesh Shrestha will replace Mrs Caroll C. Long in June, as representative of UNICEF.

• Five-member group including three well-known novelists establishes a centre in North Dagon Township for providing accommodation, health and education cares for orphans living with HIV/AIDS, and contributions of the interested persons are invited for continuity of the centre. 

Yangon Post No. 24 (May 6)

• A floating university, MV Explorer, that carries more than 1000 students, lecturers and professors has arrived Rangoon's Thilawa Port on March 16. The students and teachers have visited Bagan, Mandalay, Inle and Bago during their stay in Burma. 

Yangon Post No. 23 (April 29)

• Chinese authority agreed early this month to establish oil pipeline from its Kunming to Sittwe to ease the heavily depending on oil from Middle East and Africa.

• Burma earned US$70,700 from export to Bangladesh via two border checkpoints during March third week and has $53,200 trade surplus as its counterpart earned $17,500 only from export to Burma during the same period.

• Sales are cool in Bayintnaung wholesale market and apart from the increased price of broken rice prices of other rice varieties unchanged compared to the prices before water festival.       

Yangon Post No. 22 (April 8)

 ·         The Indian and Bangladesh companies will establish joint venture company for manufacturing tractors and they expect to export about 3,000 tractors to Burma.

·         Saltwater shrimps farming increases throughout the country in an attempt to penetrate the international market, and saltwater shrimp are farmed in more than 0.25million acres. Burma earned US$346.921millon from fisheries products export in 2004-05 fiscal year.

·         Watermelons and muskmelons prices, which are exported to China via border checkpoint, are up since March second week.

·         Onion price is down about K200 per viss during this month due to increased supply of summer harvest crop. 

·         Burma gained trade surplus since 2002-03 fiscal year because of the government policy that allows importing the required products only.

The international standard hotels are successfully built within 60 days in Naypyidaw hotel zones, and four hotels are

Yangon Post No. 21 (April 1)

 ·         An Australian travel and tours company has signed an agreement with Singapore-based Eastern and Oriental Express to provide luxury tour services in Burma and Southeast Asian countries. The agreement included the introduction of a seven-day US$5,999 river cruise in Burma.

·         The Ministry of Information’s Press Scrutiny and Registration Division has permitted the new publishing licences for 28 journals and 15 magazines.

Yangon Post No. 20 (March 25)

 Total Company regularly provides health care, education and meal costs for children at the Department of Social Welfare’s three youth training centres in Rangoon

Yangon Post No. 18 (March 11)

• The appropriate practice for the children development workshop organised by the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement, United Nations Children's Funds and the Israeli embassy in Rangoon began on March 6.

Yangon Post No. 15 (February 18)

• The Inland Water Transport will operate nine ships for the Maw-tin-zun Pagoda festival held in Pathein. Five ships are planned for daily operations while the rest for charters.

• The Indonesian women group led by the wife of the Indonesian ambassador to Burma visited Hnin-zi-gone home for the aged and donated presents to the residents at the aged home.      

• The Queensland College in London held an education seminar on February 2 at the International Business Centre in Hlaing Township.

• The delegates from the China's Yunnan Province visited Burma for collaborating in the fisheries sector. Previously most Chinese companies bought Burmese fisheries products via Singapore and it is working to buy directly from Burma in order to boost the bilateral trade. 

Yangon Post No. 14 (February 11)

• The Myanmar Women Development Association in Bahan Township, which is accommodating more than 80 female orphans, said it was in need of the educational aid facilities. The association, which has established since 1947, opens the nursery, tailor shops and bakery to support the orphans.

• A group of writers opens late last month a K1million library, which houses more than 4,000 books, at the leprosy centre in Hlegu Township.      

• A money broker was arrested in front of the Nan Shweli restaurant in Maha Bandoola Street on January 27 for trading US dollars and FEC illegally. He was found with US$33, FEC360 and K350,000. 

• Aung Dagon Company collaborates with the local farmers in Sagaing Division for growing onion with the contract farming system.        

• Mythuns (Nwar-naut) are commercially raised in Chin State and in order to expand the mythun breeding government has granted K85million loans to the farms.

• Local non-government organisations held a meeting on January 21 in collaboration with officials from the cultural village for the development of the mangrove ecosystem.
  
  
  

Yangon Post No. 13 (February 4)

• The Minister for Information Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan said about 2million books only were published annually and the number of publications should be considered compared to the country's population of more than 54million. Though the Ministry has permitted licences for1231 magazines and 157 journals to publish 168 magazines and 127 journals only were in operation, the Minister said. Regarding with the press scrutiny system, the Minister said press scrutiny system existed in any country and the publications, which did not harm the nation's security, individuals, religions and national races, would only be allowed to publish.

• Thirty-two companies last year exported US$487890 worth about 1110 tonnes of local brooms via normal trade.             

Yangon Post Vol. 2, No. 4 (January 28)

• The owner of a farm in Taikkyi Township who drove out the wild elephants that entered into his farm was attacked by an elephant. The accident is reported as a first elephant's attack in the area.

• The Myanmar Anti Narcotic Association begins its this year project on combating HIV/AIDS for since January. UNDP and GFATM support the project

Yangon Post Vol. 2, No. 3 (January 21)

• Fire broken out on December 29 in Kawthiung Township has destroyed 695 shops and the Myanma Insurance will give out K0.6millions each to the owners of 68 shops that had fire insurance.  

• The writer urged the authority concerned to inspect the electricity lines for protecting fire occurred because of the electricity problems.

• Singapore dockyard is recruiting general worker via Thukhasusan labour recruiting agency. A worker has to work for two years with S$520 per month.

• A local company is planning to market German AFT Company's fire extinguishers.

• A fund to provide meals for poor patients is set up at the Yangon General Hospital in January. There also is more than K22million for fund to provide medicine for the patients and well-wishers can donate for the funds.

• Myanmar Red Cross Society will open training in collaboration with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies for blood-related diseases and services for blood donors from January 30 to February 1 in Rangoon's 13 townships.

• The ASEAN-ROK workshop and exhibition on traditional artefact is held at the National Museum from January 16 to 22.     

Yangon Post Vol. 2, No. 2 (January 14)

• The general course on intellectual property right is open on January 3 with the arrangement of UMFCCI and WIPO.

• With the collaboration of the Korea International Co-operation Agency the Myanma agriculture equipment showroom will be open daily except on water festival holidays.   

• Plastic transformed from the empty bottles of the purified drinking water by heating is exported to neighbouring countries especially to China where it reproduced plastic ropes and refined raw material.

• The Ministry of Labour is conducting the six-week labour skill training since last November for those who want to work in Malaysia.      

Yangon Post Vol. 2, No. 1 (January 7)

• An international Red Cross conference approved one more symbol of the Red Cross societies around the world in addition to the existing red cross and crescent symbols.  

• Seitphyu Taung youth development parahita monastery, one and half miles far from Golden Rock Pagoda, is accommodating total of 656 ethnic children. The monastery has to spend more than K50,000 a day for the children, and local donors as well as some international organisations often support the monastery.