BURMA RELATED NEWS – APRIL 29, 2011
Apr 29th, 2011
By WILLIAM C. MANN, Associated Press – Thu Apr 28, 6:16 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AP) – A government agency’s annual report on violations of religious rights added Egypt on Thursday to the list of the world’s 14 worst violators.
The situation there for religious minorities, especially Coptic Christians, has deteriorated markedly, even since former President Hosni Mubarak resigned in February, the report said.
China also is on the list of worst violators, compiled by the Commission on International Religious Freedom, and in his opening remarks as he released the report, commission Chairman Leonard Leo accused China of trying to hack into the commission’s emails.
“They’re trying awfully hard to read our private emails,” Leo said. “So let me, if I may, take a brief moment to address these esteemed authorities publicly: For your reading enjoyment, you can go to our website and see all of our reports on your government.
“It’s http://www.uscirf.gov … and I’m sure you will find what you need.”
The others on the list of “countries of particular concern” are repeats from last year: Myanmar, also known as Burma, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.
The Egypt report said the commission was “acutely aware that the success of Egypt’s current political transition depends on its full respect for the rule of law, including respect for fundamental human rights, of which religious freedom is critical.”
The report said the government “engaged in and tolerated religious freedom violations” before and after Mubarak’s departure.
“In his waning months, religious freedom conditions were rapidly deteriorating, and since his departure, we’ve seen nothing to indicate that these conditions have improved,” the report said.
Because of the new designation, the report recommended that the U.S. take money from aid to Egypt earmarked for military use and use it “to enhance physical protection for Copts and other religious minorities.
The report also includes annually a watch list of countries the commission considers to require close monitoring because of violations committed or tolerated by their governments.
This year’s list was the same as last year’s except for the movement of Egypt onto the “countries of particular concern” list. Those still on the watch list are Afghanistan, Belarus, Cuba, India, Indonesia, Laos, Russia, Somalia, Tajikistan, Turkey and Venezuela.
Congress established the commission in 1998 to compile the reports for use by the president, the secretary of state, and the House and Senate.
As it has in previous years, the commission complained that the Obama administration, as the Bush administration before it, ignores its advice.
State Department spokeswoman Heidi Bronke Fulton denied that.
“We certainly take the USCIRF recommendations into account when we designate our own list of Countries of Particular Concern for violations of religious freedom.”
1 hr 30 mins ago
YANGON (AFP) – A friend of Aung San Suu Kyi has been appointed as an adviser to Myanmar’s president, he told AFP on Friday, vowing to aid “co-operation” between the democracy icon and the government.
U Myint, one of nine experts in economics, politics and law appointed earlier this month, opposes sanctions on the military-dominated country in line with the views of its rulers.
The 73-year-old believes that Nobel Peace Prize winner Suu Kyi still has a “beneficial” role to play in the country’s economy, but said she should perform that role outside the political sphere.
He said he would not become a “mediator” in talks between Suu Kyi and the government, but added: “There could be a way for them to work together on the economy. I will try for their co-operation in this area.”
U Myint appeared at a ceremony held by Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy in December.
Supporters of trade and financial sanctions say they are the only way to pressure the military rulers of Myanmar, where there are about 2,200 political prisoners.
But a controversial November election — which led a new nominally-civilian government to take power last month — and Suu Kyi’s subsequent release from house arrest have reignited a debate about the measures.
Opposition leader Suu Kyi, whose stance on sanctions had appeared to soften, said last month that measures against the junta should remain until “something has changed here”, in an interview with a German newspaper.
By Aung Hla Tun | Reuters – Thu, Apr 28, 2011 7:41 PM IST
YANGON (Reuters) – Myanmar and China have agreed to build a rail link connecting Southwest China with the Indian Ocean, officials and local media said on Thursday.
The railroad will be built in five stages over the next three years and will stretch for total of 1,215 kilometres (755 miles), from the Kyaukphyu deep-sea port in Myanmar’s Western Rakhine State to China’s Yunnan province, a senior official from the Ministry of Rail Transport told Reuters.
“The entire project also includes construction of a highway running parallel to the railroad,” said the official, who requested anonymity.
The road and rail will run parallel with two giant pipelines currently under construction that will carry 12 million metric tons of crude oil and 12 billion cubic meters of annually into China within the next two years.
The railway is part of a wide-ranging network to connect southwest China with its Asian neighbours through a system of railways, roads, power grids, telecommunication networks, oil and gas pipelines and ports.
China is Myanmar’s biggest political ally and is set to become its biggest investor through a series of energy and infrastructure projects currently underway of planned for the next few years.
China enjoys close trade and economic ties with Myanmar, with little competition for contracts as a result of wide-ranging Western sanctions on the country’s new government, which critics say is a front for the old military regime.
Trade across the porous Yunnan-Myanmar border has flourished in recent years, but the rail link is just one part of an ambitious scheme that will put the provincial capital of Kunming at the centre of a regional free trade zone.
Fri Apr 29, 2011 2:04am GMT
BANGKOK, April 29 (Reuters) – Thailand’s PTT Exploration and Production :
* Says its PTTEP International Ltd subsidiary is pulling out of Exploration Block M4 in Myanmar after completing exploration work.
* The termination will be effective from May 1, 2011.
* PTTEP currently has investments in three other exploration projects, Myanmar M3, M7 and M11, in Myanmar, one development project, Myanmar Zawtika, which is expected to begin production in 2013, and two joint venture projects in production phase, Yadana Project and Yetagun Project.
Matthew Smith
Senior Consultant, EarthRights International
Posted: 04/29/11 10:22 AM ET
Apparently even dictators celebrate Earth Day. On Tuesday, the authorities in military-ruled Burma passed a law banning the production, storage, and sale of polythene bags in the country’s main city Rangoon, effective April 22. The decree was announced by the state-run newspaper and heralded as a move to combat non-degradable waste in the impoverished former capital.
That the authorities brought the law into force on Earth Day demonstrates what most activists have long understood about Burma: the ruling generals and their cronies aren’t impervious or ignorant to the opinions and trends of the international community, despite their deplorable human rights record. They care what the world thinks of them.
But the ban also demonstrates how change can and will come to the military-ruled country, i.e. from within. The ban isn’t so much a reflection of the regime’s environmental-mindedness or the international community’s influence as it is a testament to Burma’s youth, who have long campaigned for environmental protection inside and outside the country.
I spoke to Ko Shwe today, an ethnic Karen man working with the Karen Environmental Social Action Network, a group working with ethnic communities in Burma on the responsible management of natural resources, environmental protection, and cultural preservation, something particularly important for Burma’s besieged ethnic nationalities. Ko Shwe explained, “Many young people have organized themselves and founded small unofficial environmental organizations in the country. They produce books and leaflets on everything from global warming to water conservation, to the problems with plastic bags. They’ve encouraged people to use their own bags,” he said.
For what it’s worth, their efforts seem to have had some legislative effect.
The new law comes into effect two years after a similar ban was enacted in Mandalay, Burma’s second-largest city, no doubt also in response to the quiet work of dedicated youth.
Last month, Mandalay’s ban was enforced for the first time, but not without a certain authoritarian musk. A Chinese market vendor was jailed for 15 days for possessing plastic bags at her shop in Yadanarpon market.
While this was the first time the authorities enforced the environmental law, it’s not the first time they’ve enacted and implemented environmental policies. Others have been more uniquely authoritarian.
For years, the military rulers have forced communities to plant jatropha, also referred to as kyet su in Burmese, as part of a nationwide biofuel program designed to provide a low-grade fuel alternative and a new export. That’s forced labor of the green variety, or “green by gunpoint,” as my colleagues at EarthRights International have mockingly called it.
In 2008, the Ethnic Community Development Forum (ECDF) published the definitive report on forced jatropha farming in Burma, called “Biofuel by Decree: Unmasking Burma’s Bio-Energy Fiasco.” The excellent but underreported 44-page publication explains that since 2005, the ruling elite has demanded that each state and division in Burma plant 500,000 acres of jatropha, or eight million acres total. That’s roughly the size of Belgium.
The Army implemented the plan. Craven regional commanders and their vulnerable minions forced marginalized villagers — many living on less than a dollar a day — to abandon their means of subsistence and plant jatropha, a move that amounted to a direct threat to food security in an already deeply impoverished countryside.
The ECDF documented how the Army fined, arrested, and threatened villagers with death for failing to meet unreasonable planting quotas or for expressing dissent. At the time the report was published, nearly 800 “jatropha refugees” had already fled Southern Shan State into Thailand.
The International Labour Organization has routinely condemned and combatted the pervasive use of forced labor in the country. For years, my colleagues and I have documented every manner of it, from villagers being forced to maintain roads, to building military barracks, to planting jatropha. In 2009, EarthRights International published the 106-page report “Total Impact,” which found that since 2006 every village along the infamous Yadana natural gas pipeline to Thailand was subject to forced jatropha farming.
Progressive environmentalism or not, it’ll take a lot more than banning plastic bags on Earth Day for Burma’s military rulers to become responsible members of the international community.
They could start by ending government policies that lead to widespread and systematic human rights violations, some of which no doubt rise to the level of crimes against humanity.
Published on April 29, 2011
Around 1,000 Burmese workers at a chicken processing factory in Phetchabun on Wednesday evening launched a protest against alleged physical abuse by Thai security guards.
They briefly held two Thais hostage, before setting them both free.
Bueng Samphan police are detaining and questioning 30 protest leaders while the number of protesters had reduced by half as of press time last night. The Burmese workers insisted they would talk only with Saha Farm CEO Panya Chotitawan, who has not yet responded publicly to their demands.
The protesters, armed with sticks and metal water pipes, were gathered inside the factory compound. A number of shotguns used by security guards and a pistol belonging to a policeman, who was detained and later released, are reportedly in their possession.
Rescue workers took over the security mission from a large number of policemen after the situation eased, with nonprotesters and families allowed to leave the factory to get food and supplies, as of press time last night.
Provincial governor Kongekwilas Rujiwatthanaphong said the dispute was an internal solvable conflict until the workers held people hostage.
Three vehicles and two motorcycles, which are the company’s property, have been pushed into a pond.
The protest began Wednesday evening with Burmese workers accusing a security guard of beating their colleagues. They took him hostage.
A factory manager and policeman who were talking to them were also held and later released, after the protestors demanded direct talks with Panya, while still detaining the guard.
A Karen worker said a large number of Burmese workers were beat up regularly by security guards. They were guarded by men armed with rifles all the time during their transport within Thailand, under the supervision of a female employment agent known only as Lek.
A villager living nearby confirmed the abuse and showed sympathy for the workers. “The workers have been treated like they are not human,” said the person, who asked not to be named.
By Zin Linn Apr 28, 2011 11:34PM UTC
Burma’s President Thein Sein has shaped a 9-member President’s Advisory Council recently. The council was formed on 11th April 2011 and publicly order was issued on 19th April 2011. The 9-member council has been shaped in three sections.
First section was formed as ‘Advisory Council on Politics’ and headed by Ko Ko Haling, 56 years old retired-colonel, an existing advisor to the News and Periodicals Department of Ministry of Information. His team was made up with Dr Nay Zin Latt and Ye Tint.
Second section was formed as ‘Advisory Council on Economics’. It will be headed by U Myint, a former Chief of Least Developed Countries Section, Development Research and Policy Analysis Division with the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific (UNESCAP). Other two members are Set Aung and Dr. Tin Hla Bo.
Third section was formed as ‘Advisory Council on Law’ headed by Retired Senior Police Officer Sit Aye followed by Daw Khin Myo Myint and Than Kyaw. Sit Aye has a law degree and he is a graduate of the Police Officer Intake-1. Sit Aye has had a remarkable career working as joint-secretary for the Ministry of Home Affairs’ Working Committee on Trafficking in Persons and heading the Financial Intelligence Unit. He also supervised the Transnational Organized Crime unit while acting as a member of the Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control.
Since there was no such a council in the past decades, it could catch public attention to some extent. Actually, U Myint is the center of attention because he is a famous political moderate and also a good friend of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The appointment of an associate of Suu Kyi to a high-level position in the new government is an extraordinary case as the outwardly civilian government is controlled by her military-backed opponents. Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy refused to take part in last year’s unfair polls and Suu Kyi remains key opposition against the ruling faction.
Next interesting point is that U Myint is an astonishing frank critic of the military regime’s disappointed economic track record. He used to discuss and point out the causes and consequences of corruption, especially in the context of a least developed country with considerable guideline and central bearing.
In one of his papers published in 2000 – Corruption: Causes, Consequences and Cures – he underscored, “Corruption places severe constraints on a country’s capacity to undertake economic reforms. This is because reforms require greater transparency, accountability, free and fair competition, deregulation, and reliance on market forces and private initiative, as well as limiting discretionary powers, special privileges, and price distortions – all of which will reduce opportunities for economic rent on which corruption thrives. The rich and the powerful, the main gainers of a corrupt system, will therefore oppose reforms.”
So, people are wondering whether U Myint’s advices are accepted by the President Thein Sein’s cabinet which has been formed with former corrupted ministers.
Burma had been under military rule since 1962 and a namesake change of civilian government happened after last November election. The country turned into one of the poorest in Asia under mismanagement and corruption of military regime. As there is no hope for future under military, many intellectuals left the country that caused lack of experienced economic executives.
President’s Advisory Council will be expected to be expended later for assorted sectors such as the environment, education and health.
However, observers are suspicious of the President’s motives and they dare not believe that good advices of the council will be taken into account properly.
By Zin Linn Apr 30, 2011 12:17AM UTC
The United Wa State Army and its ally National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA) also called Mongla, were informed by the Burma Army yesterday, 28 April, to depart from their bases outside designated territories by tomorrow, 30 April, quoting informed sources from the Sino-Burma border, Shan Herald Agency for News (S.H.A.N.) said.
The messages were informed by phone calls by separate regional commands: The order to UWSA in Panghsang was come from commanding officer of the Northeastern Region Command (Lashio), while order to Mongla was informed by commander of the Triangle Region Command (Kengtung). According to a source close to the Mongla leadership, the Burma Army would attack Wa and Mongla posts at anytime they wanted if the ethnic troops failed to withdraw their bases by the given time limit.
The United Wa State Army (UWSA) has reportedly ordered all of its frontline units on 24-hour alert along the Salween river, a shared border with its ally the Shan State Army (SSA) ‘North’. The UWSA have alerted all of its troops to be ready to defend Wa State, although they do not want war. They will not fire the first shot, said a senior Wa officer.
SSA ‘North’ has been combating Burmese armed forces currently since the junta raises ultimatum to accept BGFs program. Shan State Army (SSA) ‘North’ has been fighting with the Burmese Army since 13 March. It was given ultimatum to surrender by the end of last March and to pull out from all their bases deploying in areas outside its main base. The latest skirmishing between the two apparently took place in Kehsi Township twice.
The Burmese Army has had at least 30 killed and 100 wounded, while the SSA has had four killed and eight wounded, according to SSA sources.
According to the latest information, Shan State Army (SSA)-North’s core base Namlao in Tangyan township, the gateway to its ally the United Wa State Army (UWSA), was seized by the Burma Army on 15 March after heavy fighting between the two sides for almost half a day, according to sources from the SSA.
The Burma Army allegedly accused them of breaching their 1989 agreement that they would not make recruitment or expand their territories. Currently, the UWSA leaders are still holding an emergency meeting to discuss the ultimatum.
In the meantime, the NDAA has already pulled out from two of its tactical bases in Wan Kho and Pong Hiet in Shan State East’s Mong-yawng township by the side of the west bank of the Mekong. Wan Kho base was taken by the Burma Army on 27 April. And NDAA troops in Pong Hiet were reported to have pulled out yesterday, Shan Heral Agency for News said.
According to a Burma Army backed militia source, the Burma armed forces came with strength of hundred soldiers and enclosed the group in the morning without firing a shot. After the NDAA troops left the area in the evening, Burmese soldiers from Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 573 based in Mongphyak has taken over the post.
In March 2010, Chinese defense officials made effort to repair the worsening relationship between the UWSA and the ruling military junta which demanded repeatedly the Wa accept its Border Guard Force plan. Despite the fact that details are lacking, sources say China is making another attempt to convince the Burmese junta of the futility of war against the UWSA.
Recently, two of the anti- Border Guard Force groups – United Wa State Army (UWSA) and National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA) – were reportedly advised by China not to join in with any groups opposing the military junta. If not they would be under attacks similar to the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and Shan State Army (SSA) North, according to a Sino-Burma border source.
Chinese officials suggested that unless (UWSA) and (NDAA) get involved with the new ethnic alliance, the military junta will leave the two alone, a source said. The report has to be confirmed by Wa or Mongla authorities yet. Even if correct, it might be also a ploy by the junta. The junta doesn’t have the strength to make offensive towards several ethnic groups at the same time, observers believe.
At present, the military junta has spread out more troops along the Salween River to break off possible relationships between the UWSA and SSA ‘North’. The SSA is active on the west of the Salween while the UWSA is on the east.
Cornell News Service – Lieberman’s ‘They Call It Myanmar’ shows the hidden Burma
By Daniel Aloi
Filmmaker and senior lecturer in physics Robert H. Lieberman risked imprisonment and deportation while making his most recent documentary, shot illegally and clandestinely in Burma over a 30-month period. Cornell Cinema is showing the film, “They Call It Myanmar: Lifting the Curtain,” May 3 at 7 p.m. in Willard Straight Theatre.
Lieberman shot more than 120 hours of video and interviewed hundreds of people to produce the 90-minute documentary — a portrait of the Burmese people and their country, which is mostly unknown to the rest of the world, rich in resources and ruled by an oppressive military regime.
“It’s a very unusual country because of its isolation, and the Burmese are very different from the rest of southeast Asia,” Lieberman said. “They have an incredible sense of humor, and despite the oppression, they smile, and it’s a genuine smile.”
Lieberman’s previous films include “Green Lights,” shot in Ithaca, and “Last Stop, Kew Gardens,” about the Queens, N.Y., neighborhood of his youth.
He says “Myanmar” is “an impressionistic film … it shows you what the Burmese look like and how they live and how they eat. It puts a human face on Burma.”
Lieberman made four trips to Myanmar, starting with a post in 2008 to the American Embassy in Rangoon as a Fulbright senior specialist, training young directors to produce commercials, including public service ads for tuberculosis prevention. On a subsequent trip, he taught film production at the fine arts university in Rangoon.
“I knew you weren’t allowed to film,” Lieberman said. “These assignments were my chance to film. The first trip, I was nervous about bringing equipment, so my wife wrapped my microphones and cables in Christmas wrapping.”
He began filming in December 2008, several months after a cyclone killed more than 100,000 people in Myanmar.
“I decided not to make a political movie, but I discovered [that] to understand Burma, and its people, you cannot avoid touching on the politics,” Lieberman said. “The fear is all-pervasive. People are really scared in ways that people in other oppressive countries are not.”
His interview with former opposition leader Aung Sang Su Kyi occurred late in the filming, soon after her release from more than 15 years of house arrest.
“She unwittingly melded right into the film,” Lieberman said. “I started to ask her questions that took her for a loop; they’re not the questions journalists would ask. I asked her to just ‘tell me about Burma.’ She said, ‘What? I can’t tell you in five minutes. I can’t do it in five hours.’ She started, and we had our narration for the film.”
Lieberman had others help him smuggle his footage (on hard drives) out of the country.
“For all their censorship and control, the authorities can’t prevent information coming in from the outside,” he said. “They don’t want to let journalists in. The regime really seems to be indifferent to world opinion. They basically govern by terrorism. And I really wonder if I am ever going to be allowed to go back — I know another filmmaker who is blacklisted.”
The film still needs some final post-production touches, and Lieberman is adding titles and subtitles. He screened it in Washington, D.C., recently for invited guests from the State Department, nongovernment organizations, the Voice of America, Radio Free Asia and others; and he plans to show it in Norway and at major film festivals before seeking distribution.
“This was meant for a general audience, for the average person to understand,” he said. “If we succeeded, this could be a mainstream movie.”
Information: http://theycallitmyanmar.com, http://cinema.cornell.edu.
The Christian Post – War Feared in Burma’s Christian-Majority Kachin State
By Anugrah Kumar|Christian Post Contributor The Burmese army plans to go to war with a powerful ethnic militia in Kachin State which could be devastating for around a million Christians living in the war zone.
Independent Burmese media is reporting that both the country’s military and the Kachin Independence Army, which demands greater autonomy for the state, are preparing to fight a fierce battle.
On April 20, Kachin News Group reported that the Burmese army had decided to attack the KIA, labeling the militia as the “government’s main domestic enemy.” Two days later, a report in The Irrawaddy detailed the training and recruitment programs being held in full swing by the KIA.
“It is clear that the central government, in the wake of last fall’s elections, feels it has gained the stability and legitimacy to move against the ethnic militias,” said Joshua Kurlantzick from the American think-tank Council on Foreign Relations in an article.
The CRF fellow for the Southeast Asia said the Burmese army was perhaps trying to “intimidate the militias” so that they disarmed themselves and joined a border guard force “but it’s unlikely to work.” “The militia groups have little to gain from joining a border guard force, so the regime probably would have to make them submit. And that could be bloody.”
Over 90 percent of the 1.2 million Kachins are Christian. While a majority of the Kachin people are in favor of autonomy, only few have taken up arms. The Kachin State is the northernmost state of Burma bordering China in the north and India in the west.
Like us on Facebook In 1947, a year before the country’s independence from British rule, the Burmese government under General Aung San (Aung San Suu Kyi’s father) reached the Panglong Agreement with the Kachin and other minorities accepting in principle full administrative autonomy for the Frontier Areas. However, General Ne Win, who captured power through a military coup a few years later, refused to honor the agreement. None of the subsequent regimes made the country a true federation either.
In November 2010, the junta regime held the country’s first “democratic” election in two decades due to international pressure for political reforms. However, ethnic minorities – who live in highlands near the country’s borders – have seen little change as they still have little administrative control over their own homelands.
About two-thirds of the country’s population is ethnic Burman, mostly Buddhist, concentrated in the country’s central and upper plains.
Lajawn Ngan Seng, Kachin State’s chief minister appointed by Burma’s military-dominated parliament, is a Buddhist. Seng was picked for the post “because of his membership in the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party, and his religion, Buddhism, Kachin News Group reported in February.
Prior to the election, the junta had asked all ceasefire groups to transform into the border guard force, but the KIA and most other insurgent groups refused to do so.
The country’s new constitution states that there will be only one army in Burma, making a showdown between the Burmese army and the KIA and other armed groups inevitable. There are indications that the confrontation could happen soon.
According to an investigative report by The Irrawaddy, the KIA is training hundreds of students from villages and towns across Kachin State to defend their villages in case of a war.
The villagers are being trained in “combat fighting, Chinese language, first-aid and leadership skills with the intention of organizing thousands of militia troops spread out across Kachin State.”
In response, the Burmese army has issued arrest warrants for anyone suspected of attending the course. “Searches at checkpoints going in and out of KIA territory have become more vigorous, as has the level of questioning,” The Irrawaddy reported.
The Kachin militia has built over 40 new buildings in case an emergency evacuation of Laiza, KIA’s headquarters, becomes necessary. “The Burmese army has also been making preparations. In recent months, over 20 KIA liaison offices have closed their doors and all official communication with the regime has ceased.”
A KIA official told The Irrawaddy that the United Nations and other members of the international community should act as mediators in the dialogue between the Burmese government and the insurgents. “If there are no international observers, then Burma will never get peace.”
The decades long stalemate continues and it is only a matter of time when the war will break out. Some local analysts believe fighting may start after the rainy season is finished next month.
In a ceremony organised at the border town of Moreh on the Indian side, Major General DS Hooda, AVSM, VSM, General Officer Commanding of Red Shield Division handed over two Tata JCB 315V (Back Hoes) to the Myanmar Army officials.
A number of Indian Army officers, who are part of Indo-Myanmar Border Liaison Meeting Delegation being held at Myanmar from today, along with Myanmar Army officials attended the function.
The equipment was presented to Brig Gen Aung San Chit, Commander RCC, Kalay of Myanmar army.
This gesture by the Indian Army will strengthen co-operation between the two neighbours for future growth and amiable relationship according to a PIB (Defence Wing) official.
The ceremony culminated with Major General Hooda handing over the keys of the engineer equipment to the Myanmar authorities.
By ANI | ANI – Fri, Apr 29, 2011 12:33 PM IST
Moreh (Manipur), Apr 29 (ANI): In an endeavor to ensure the success of its Look-East policy and make the northeast a big trading hub in the future, a panel discussion on improving exports between India and Myanmar through Moreh, the land custom station on the Indo-Myanmar border, was organized at the Moreh Trade Centre recently.
Director General of Foreign Trade, Arup K Pujari, headed the high-level 13-member delegation from India, while U Hla Maung, President, Union of Myanmar Border Trade Chambers of Commerce, represented Myanmar.
The main agenda for the discussion was the hardships faced by traders and the people while moving goods along the National Highway 39 due to the presence of many check points.
“Centre has been thinking of improving the facilities in Moreh for quite sometime. Before coming here, I had a discussion with Minister of Home Affairs, Division of Border Development and DoNER (Development of North Eastern Region) officials regarding the difficulties existing here,” said Pujari.
“I find this as a great platform for discussion as members from all walks of life have come here,” he added.
Goods between both sides are transported through roads. Earlier, the NH 39 that connects Imphal to Moreh was in a bad condition, but now the Public Works Department (PWD) has taken up its repairs.
The visiting delegation also inspected the construction work on the road.
“We are constructing this National Highway- 39 with the help of Central Government. They are funding its construction,” said Sarat Singh, a PWD employee.
The Indo-Myanmar Border Trade Agreement was signed on January 21, 1994, and border trade through Land Customs Station (LCS), Moreh, was opened on April 12, 1995.
Under the trade agreement, 22 items can be exchanged that include agricultural produce, grocery, clothes, furniture, electronics and plastic products. India’s exports to Myanmar increased to US 207.97 million dollars in 2009-10 from US 110.7 million dollars in 2005-06. The imports went up from US 1,289.80 million dollars in 2009-10 from US 525.96 million dollars in 2005-06.
“During this discussion, we will try to find out the problems that hamper trade especially the exports from India. And, we will also come up with the measures for improving the export from India towards Myanmar side,” said O Nabakeshwor Singh, IAS, Principal Secretary, Commerce and Industries, Government of Manipur.
Representatives of many trade organizations like AMEA (Association of Machinery and Equipment Appraisers), NEFIT (North East Federation of International Trade) IMBTU (Indo-Myanmar Border Traders’ Union) EXIM (Export and Import) Manipur, FAMIECCI and BTCCM also participated in the seminar.
These organizations collectively submitted a memorandum to the Director General of Foreign Trade for upgrading the trade exchange facilities at Moreh.he event was organized under the aegis of Department of Commerce and Industries, Government of Manipur, and Shelliac and Forest Products Exports Promotion Council (SHEFEXIL).
14:21, April 29, 2011
A Myanmar-China border trade fair was launched in Myanmar’s Muse 105th Mile Border Trade Zone Friday, aimed at enchanting the bilateral trade between the two countries.
With a total of 230 booths from the two sides, the three-day fair was inaugurated by Vice Governor of Yunnan province of China Gu Chaoxi and Union Myanmar Deputy Minister of Commerce Dr. Pwint Hsan.
Other surrounding countries such as India, Thailand, Laos and Bangladesh also joined the fair.
The two countries’ joint committee for border trade will meet at the fair with a briefing on investment in Myanmar.
Myanmar-China border trade fair is held annually on alternate base as the last was held in Ruili, southwest China’s Yunnan province linking Myanmar’s Muse.
According to China site’s official figures, Myanmar-China bilateral trade hit 4.44 billion U.S. dollars in 2010, a 53.2- percent increase over the previous year, with China standing as the second largest trading partner of Myanmar.
The two countries’ border trade amounted to 1.054 million dollars in the first seven months (April-November) of 2010-11, accounting for 83 percent of Myanmar’s border trade, according to the Myanmar’s official statistics.
Myanmar’s export to China through border trade stood at 567 million dollars, while its import from the neighbor was registered at 486 million dollars, according to the commerce ministry.
In 2010, China’s investment in Myanmar also rose rapidly, garnering the top place for the first time in Myanmar’s foreign investment line-up with 12.3 billion dollars.
There are 170 Chinese companies investing in Myanmar according to the figures. Source: Xinhua
//29 Apr 2011
An outbreak of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) was reported in Naypyidaw District in early April, according to the Myanmar Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Department.
Independent press agency Mizzima News, ran by Myanmar journalists located in Thailand and India, report that the Naypyidaw District Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Department is educating the public about the disease, which causes reproductive failure in breeding stock and respiratory tract illness in pigs.
On April 7, 100 pigs out of a total of more than 300 pigs at two pig farms in Pobba Thiri and Zabu Thiri townships in Naypyidaw were infected with the disease. Ten of them died.
Four days later, the pigs were diagnosed with PRRS. Authorities say there is no treatment for the disease and no prophylaxis.
Naypyidaw
There are an estimated 100,000 pigs in the district around the country’s newly built capital city Naypyidaw, according to the Health Department. The new capital, is located 320 km north of the previous capital Rangoon.
Similarly, in March, the disease was reported in Aungmyetharsan, Chanayetharsan, Mahaaungmye, Chanmyatharsi, Pyigyitagun, Amarapura and Madaya in the Mandalay region, where more than 1,000 pigs died of the disease.
Dr Tun Myint Soe, the deputy head of the Amarapura Township Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Department, told Mizzima that, currently, there is no PRRS in Amarapura.
Amapura
“There is no spreading of PRRS in Amarapura. The spread of PRRS was stopped by the intense heat,” he said. A veterinarian in Pyigyitagun Township told Mizzima that the disease is still spreading in small pig farms in some townships, including Myitnge, Sintkai, Myinchan, and Pyinoolwin in Mandalay region.
“At first, the disease was spread among small farms in urban areas,” he said. “Later, the weather was colder. Now the new outbreak has occurred in suburban areas. The death rate is high.”
Veterinary department
Earlier this month, the Mandalay Division Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Department distributed insecticide and disinfectant to large pig farms and small scale domestic pig owners free of charge and provided bio-technology control methods during field trips to inspect farms. The disease was first reported in February in the Mandalay area.
The World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) earlier issued an emergency warning in Myanmar on the spread of PRRS.
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, April 28 2011: The 43rd Indo-Myanmar border liaison meeting between Indian Army officers and Myanmarese Army officers has begun from today at Myanmar.
The meeting will continue till May 2 .
According to a statement issued by PIB Defence Wing, a 12-member Indian Army delegation under the aegis of HQ 3 Corps led by Major General DS Hooda, AVSM, VSM, GOC HQ 57 Mountain Division left today for Myanmar to attend the meeting.
The Indo-Myanmar border liaison meeting is a landmark event where representatives of both the Armies interact and exchange views on matters relating to security of border areas and measures to be initiated to control insurgency in both countries.
The event also gives an opportunity to all the delegates to know each other personally and help in further strengthening the friendly bond and co-operation between the two countries, the statement added.
Meanwhile, Red Shield Division of India Army has today handed over earth moving machineries to the Myanmarese Army.
This gesture of the Indian Army to assistance Myanmar in road construction is expected to strengthen co-operation between the two neighbours for future growth and and an amiable relationship, PIB Defence Wing said in another statement.
In a simple ceremony organised at 31 Assam Rifles location at the border town of Moreh, Major Gen Hooda, AVSM, VSM, GOC of Red Shield Division handed over two Tata JCBs (Back Hoes) to Brig Gen Aung San Chit, Commander RCC, Kalay of Myanmar Army.
A number of Indian Army officers, who are part of the Indian delegation, Myanmarese Army officials and civilians of Moreh attended the function.
By KO HTWE Friday, April 29, 2011
David Lee Carden, a former attorney who has been named the first US ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), will attend the Asean Summit in Indonesia next week, where he will have the opportunity to push Burma to change and discuss with Asean members whether Burma chair the organization in 2014, claim Burma activists.
“The role of Ambassador David Lee Carden is very important. For the time being, America stands firmly on democracy and human rights for Burma. There will be discussion and debate between the ambassador and the representatives from Asean who support Burma,” said Khin Ohmar, the coordinator of Burma Partnership, speaking from Jakarta.
Observers said that some member nations of Asean have seemingly welcomed Burma’s new government to promote their own economic interests, using the body’s inclusive nature to circumvent official anti-junta policy.
In addition, a top US official recently criticized Burma’s neighboring countries—India, China and Thailand—for acting in their “strategic” or “economic” national interests with respect to Burma, making it difficult for the international community to move things in the right direction at an accelerated pace.
Debbie Stothard, the coordinator of the Alternative Asean Network on Burma, said the Burmese regime is gambling that it can get a “honeymoon” period for the next few months by using the excuse that they are trying to set up the new government.
“It will not benefit the people of Burma or the people of Asean for Burma to chair Asean in 2014 unless there is very clear progress in Burma, including the immediate and unconditional release of all politician prisoners, a national ceasefire, tripartite dialogue and much needed economic reform,” she said.
“I think Asean should be putting more pressure on Burma. If the country had an election and has a parliament now, why is the parliament not changing the situation? If the regime has made a commitment to have a parliament, then the parliament should be allowed to implement urgently needed reform instead of having to face all of these constraints,” said Stothard.
Meanwhile, new Burmese Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwina—a former senior military officer and Burmese ambassador to the UN—greeted representatives from neighboring Southeast Asian nations at the informal Asean Ministerial Meeting in Bangkok early this month.
Eighteen representatives from Burma’s civil society, including members of the Task Force on Asean and Burma, will participate in the 6th Asean Civil Society Conference/Asean
People’s Forum 2011 (ACSC/APF) that will be held in Jakarta, Indonesia.
The conference is organized as a parallel process to the Asean Summit, as a platform to exchange ideas and provide input to Asean leaders and policy makers.
The Burma delegation will be participating in the plenary session of the ACSC/APF on May 3. On May 4, representatives will be holding a workshop entitled “Asean People’s Responsibility to Promote Human Rights and Democratization in Burma.”
“Definitely, there are more expectations that there is a chance for open dialogue and frank discussion on Burma in Indonesia, unlike the situation in Vietnam last year, and we hope that Indonesia will push more effectively for genuine changes in Burma,” said Stothard.
By KHIN OO THAR Friday, April 29, 2011
Survivors of Cyclone Giri, which left more than a quarter of a million people homeless when it struck western Burma’s Arakan State coast last October, say that many are still struggling with problems related to shelter, livelihood and employment six months after the disaster.
“We eat whatever we can get and do random jobs everyday for our survival. When heavy rain falls, we gather at a house that is still in relatively good condition. But at the moment, only five of the 230 houses in our village are in good shape,” said a housewife from Pyaychaung, in Myebon Township, one of the worst-affected villages in the state.
“We don’t know where to take shelter if it rains suddenly at night,” she added.
On Oct. 22 last year, Cyclone Giri, which formed over the Bay of Bengal in the Indian Ocean, swept across the west coast of Burma, dealing a devastating blow to Myebon, Minbya, Pauktaw, Ponnakyun, Kyaukpru, Marn Aung and Ramree townships.
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), an estimated 104,000 people out of approximately 260,000 affected by the disaster are still living with host families in the worst-affected townships. Key challenges facing the affected communities include inadequate shelter, damaged crops and embankments, food insecurity and indebtedness due to loss of income opportunities, UNOCHA said in its Post-Giri Consolidated Action Plan, issued in February.
People in the affected communities told The Irrawaddy that while facing these challenges, they are also concerned about the future of the region’s fishery, an important source of income for their survival, because they have heard that the new state government plans to auction off fishing rights.
“Whoever wins the auction will take over the sea and those who make a living catching fish will no longer be able to do so,” said a resident of Pauktaw Township.
A state government minister said, however, that those who catch fish for living will continue to have an opportunity to do so.
“It is true that we will auction fishing rights in the state, but we are looking at ways to ensure that local people will still be able to fish as a means of supporting themselves. We will be fair to everyone in accordance with the law,” said the minister.
Just as many fishermen have lost their boats and fishing equipment, many farmers are also empty-handed. They say they have neither rice to eat nor seeds to sow next season.
The UNOCHA report said 90 percent of all rice fields have been damaged in Myebon and people are struggling to make ends meet and rebuild their livelihoods.
It also said that as of early January, approximately US $22 million had been allocated for the Cyclone Giri response, and that as of February, additional assistance of approximately $51.2 million was needed for the early- and medium-term recovery activities planned by UN agencies and international nongovernmental organizations in Burma.
“Even if we want to grow rice in some plots of farmland that weren’t flooded or damaged by the storm, we don’t have any any seed to sow. We can only use a certain type of seed that is resistant to salt water in these areas,” said a farmer from Pyinwon, a village in Myebon.
Dr Aye Maung, the chairman of the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party (RNDP), which won several parliamentary seats in last year’s Nov. 7 election, said his party has proposed providing shelter and rice seeds for cyclone victims.
“We have requested the union government to provide people with adequate shelter and rice seeds to sow,” said Aye Maung. He added, however, that his party could not make the provisions because it is not in power.
Some organizations reportedly collected a list of homeless people in order to build houses worth 500,000-600,000 kyat ($590-710) for them. But the houses they actually constructed were more like tents with feeble wooden poles, worth only about 50,000 kyat ($59).
Some locals refused to accept the new “houses,” which they said wouldn’t be able to resist winds of up to 25 miles per hour. They said those who are relatively wealthy are in the meantime focusing on rebuilding their houses by selling gold, buffaloes and cows.
The state-run media, however, often reports that governmental organizations and local authorities have already arranged jobs and living places for cyclone victims.
As time passes, people’s attention to the victims of Cyclone Giri is diminishing, and many aid agencies have already withdrawn from the field for different reasons.
Only organizations such as Save the Children, the United Nations Children’s Fund and the International Committee of the Red Cross are reportedly still active in some affected areas, providing victims with food and medicine.
“Great losses caused by the storm require great needs.
By WAI MOE Friday, April 29, 2011
A day after the Union Solidarity and Development Party was sworn in as Burma’s governing party, the new president, ex-Gen Thein Sein, made a passing reference to the role of the media in an address to his cabinet on March 31.
“We also have to respect the role of the media, the fourth estate. We are required to inform the people about what they should know and appreciate positive suggestions of the media,” Thein Sein was quoted as saying in the state-run newspaper, The New Light of Myanmar.
These two sentences have encouraged many to hope for an opening of Burma’s notoriously restrictive media environment. This week, these expectations became a subject of debate among Burmese journalists.
Readers of The Weekly Eleven, a leading Burmese journal, were pleasantly surprised on Monday to see a picture of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi in a supplement published that day. The photo was affixed to an article about a ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of the Free Funeral Service Society on Saturday that Suu Kyi attended; the article did not, however, mention her by name.
It was the first time that Suu Kyi’s picture has appeared in a local journal in the five months since nine journals were suspended for their “excessive coverage” of her release from house arrest last November.
When Suu Kyi was released on Nov. 13, privately run weekly journals put the news in inserts that would normally appear deep inside their pages. However, some decided to wrap
the inserts around their publications, in effect putting Suu Kyi on their front covers to attract readers.
At the time, the extensive coverage of Suu Kyi’s release in local and foreign media outraged the ruling generals in Naypyidaw, resulting in the two-week suspension of several Rangoon-based weeklies, including the popular sports journal First Eleven, a sister publication of Weekly Eleven.
Since Weekly Eleven’s picture of Suu Kyi appeared on Monday, other local journals have followed suit with more news about the country’s leading dissident. One leading journal, 7 Day News, reported Suu Kyi’s attendance at the ceremony on Saturday in its latest edition, published on Wednesday—this time using Suu Kyi’s name.
And then another leading weekly, The Myanmar Times, published photos of Suu Kyi and Kyaw Thu, a famous actor turned social activist who now heads the Free Funeral Service Society.
Kyaw Thu’s name and photos were banned in Burmese publications after he made donations to protesting monks during the September 2007 mass demonstrations known as the Saffron Revolution. He and his wife were also briefly detained at the time.
Journalists in Rangoon said that when they saw Kyaw Thu’s photo for first time since 2007, they began to feel that the censorship board, the Press Scrutiny and Registration Division (PSRD), which operates under the Ministry of Information, might actually be loosening its restrictions on the press.
One senior reporter with a leading journal said that the sudden appearance of Kyaw Thu’s photograph in the media was not the only recent development. She said that some publications have even been allowed to publish photos of models in modern outfits—something usually rejected on cultural grounds.
However, she cautioned against reading too much into this. “For now, that’s as far as they’ll let us go. We still can’t publish critical opinion pieces and reports,” she said.
Others were more encouraged by what they have seen in recent months. A journalist who focuses on environmental issues said that in past years, issues such as deforestation, illegal logging, wildlife trading and the negative impact of hydropower projects were cut by the PSRD as too “sensitive” to publish. Now, however, there is some small space to discuss these issues. “We could say this is a positive step,” he said.
Meanwhile, as Burma’s privately run press enjoys a slight thaw, the state-run media is also changing. Especially since September 2007, when the Saffron Revolution attracted worldwide attention with images of a brutal crackdown on monks, Minister of Information Kyaw Hsan has sought to improve the regime’s image with more sophisticated media programming. At the time, he said the junta “will fight the media by using the media.”
One major change has been the introduction of more entertainment and international programs on MRTV-4, sister of the state-run broadcaster, Myanmar Radio and Television (MRTV).
The main agenda of MRTV-4, which is the regime’s international service, is to counter the Democratic Voice of Burma, a satellite TV channel based in Norway and run by exiled Burmese journalists.
One notable difference between MRTV-4 and all other state media in Burma is that the ticker that appears on the screen during its international news program has included news about unrest in the Arab world, whereas all other state media have been completely silent on this development.
Despite such signs of change, however, many journalists are still skeptical about the prospects for greater press freedom in the country. They note that political news remains as strictly off-limits as in the past.
“We applied to the PSRD this week for approval of reports about government ministries and some political parties, but they were rejected because they were deemed to be too ’sensitive for the state,’” said an editor with a news journal in Rangoon.
“Some journals in Rangoon wanted to write about people’s expectations of an amnesty for political prisoners after the new government was sworn in, but the PSRD said no,” he added.
In late March, sources close to the Ministry of Information said that six subjects—sports, astrology, children, health, literature and technology—would be free from censorship after the new government was sworn in.
So far, however, it appears that the censors continue to cast a wide net over Burma’s media, with just a few potentially controversial issues slipping through—for now.
Friday, 29 April 2011 13:47 Kun Chan
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Old Buddhist religious structures including a temple submerged for 27 years have reappeared as water has dried up in a river near Three Pagoda Pass, say villagers.
The religious buildings were located in the old Winka village, which was flooded during the construction of a dam. The buildings have been badly damaged and the temple looks like a heap of bricks, say local residents.
The buildings are located 20 kilometers from Three Pagoda Pass in Sangkhlaburi District in Kanchanaburi Province. The old Winka village was located at the confluence of the Sangkhalal Stream, the Beekhee Stream and the Lanti Stream.
‘The water has dried up five times before, after the old village was submerged. The drying up used to occur once every seven years. But, this is the second consecutive year the water dried up’, said Nai Chit Ngwe, who lives near Sangkhalal Stream.
Nai Chit Ngwe said the water level is affected by the Thong Pha Phum hydro-electric dam project on the Kwae Noi River
In an ordinary summer, the lowest water level of Sangkhalal Stream is about 18 feet, but this year the water level decreased to nine feet and it is very likely to continue to decrease, according to Nai Chit Ngwe.
Meanwhile, he said about 50 people come to the old religious buildings and temple every weekday and the turnout increases to about 100 on weekends.
Three Pagoda Pass got its name based on an event more than 250 years ago, say area residents, when the Hanthawaddy Kingdom was defeated and a number of Mon fled to the area in Thailand and built three pagodas near the pass.
The old Winka Village was built by Winka Abbot and 60 Mon families who were war refugees who fled to the area in 1949 during the outbreak of civil war in Burma shortly after its independence from Britain.
Friday, 29 April 2011 22:15 Tun Tun
New Delhi (Mizzima) – The ad hoc Group of Democratic Party Friends (GDPF), an alliance of 10 Burmese political parties and the All Mon Region Democratic Party, has asked the European Union to renew Burma’s Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) status.
A letter sent to the EU on Thursday said that if GSP status is renewed, small and medium-sized businesses throughout the country would have more economic opportunities.
Currently, the EU has granted GSP status to 176 developing countries, which includes lowering tariffs for those countries. The objective is to help developing countries expand the sale of their products to European countries and to promote the industrialization of developing countries, according to the EU’s Website.
‘If the EU grants GSP status to Burma again, ordinary people will gain great advantages’, said Dr. Than Nyein, the chairman of the National Democratic Force party. ‘Moreover, small and medium-sized businesses will get into the European market. If our goods are exempted from duty, we will have great opportunities’.
Democratic Party (Myanmar) chairman Thu Wai said that the EU is scheduled to review its GSP policies. ‘We sent the appeal letter because we heard that the EU will review its policy on underdeveloped countries around the world. If it is true, Burma is likely to be granted the GSP’.
The EU revoked Burma’s GSP status 15 years ago, he said, and as a result, Burma has missed many economic opportunities.
‘We urged the EU to grant the GSP to Burma again for the sake of the Burmese people’, Thu Wai said.
The letter also called on the EU to establish a direct relationship with the new Burmese government.
‘The local UN office recognizes our country’s requirements’, Than Nyein said. ‘Our country’s requirements are more support from the international community, a more effective relationship with other countries, and advanced technology’.
Since 1996, the EU has imposed economic sanctions against Burma, an arms embargo, banned top Burmese military officers from traveling to Europe, cancelled all trade preferences, suspended all assistance to Burma except humanitarian aid and frozen top military officers’ assets in EU countries.
On March 8, the GDPF sent an open letter to the EU urging it to lift sanctions against Burma. Later, the EU lifted the ban on some ministers and others in the new Burmese government from entering EU countries. However, the EU warned that if the new government failed to make basic political changes, the ban would be reinstated.
The EU has repeatedly urged the Burmese government to grant amnesty to all political prisoners and to hold an all-inclusive political dialogue with pro-democracy opposition groups and ethnic groups .
In the letter, the GDPF also called on the new Burmese government to put in place changes urged by Western nations in order to encourage the EU to lift sanctions on Burma.
‘If the government wants to call Burma a democratic country, the government needs to allow people freedom of expression and freedom in forming associations. We will cooperate with the government to undertake such important steps’, Thu Wai said.
He added, ‘They are a new government. Recently, we saw some small changes, but not any major changes. With regard to amnesty for all political prisoners, human rights and democracy, I hope that the new government will gradually try to meet the demands of the EU and the United State one by one’.
The Group of Democratic Party Friends is made up of the National Democratic Force, the Democratic Party (Myanmar), the Democracy and Peace Party, the Union Democratic Party, the Shan Nationalities Democratic Party, the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party, the Wunthanu NLD, the Chin National Party, the Phalon-Sawaw Democratic Party and the National Political Alliances League.
Friday, 29 April 2011 18:47 Mizzima News
(Mizzima) – A decade after the establishment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), the United Nations will convene a meeting on what can be done to assist the 49 ‘most vulnerable’ countries including Burma in their continued struggles to meet MDG benchmarks.
The forum is part of a five-day series of meetings on Least Developed Countries (LDC) to be held the second week of May in Istanbul, Turkey.
The UN declared Burma, included in the ‘most vulnerable’ country category, a LDC in 1987. The designation followed the Burmese government’s claim, in a bid to earn LDC status and corresponding trade and development benefits, that only 20 per cent of the population was literate. Today Burma’s literacy rate is estimated at 90 per cent, and in 1987 was believed to be around 80 per cent.
Millennium Development Goals are classified into eight sections: poverty alleviation, universal primary education, gender equality, reduction of infant mortality, improved maternal health, eradication of disease, environmental sustainability and development. Targets were set for achieving the goals by 2015.
Burma has a per capita gross domestic product (using the method of Purchasing Power Parity) of US$ 1,100, with a third of the country estimated to exist below the poverty line, according to CIA data. Additional country statistics reveal nine years of expected education, an infant mortality rate of 49.23 per 1,000 births and a high degree of danger from infectious diseases such as malaria and HIV/AIDS.
Delegates in Turkey are expected to discuss the promotion of agricultural development in LDCs, the strengthening of access to export markets, enhanced infrastructure as well as universal access to services targeting the achievement of MDGs.
The Fourth UN Conference on Least Developed Countries comes at a time when the global economic crisis has thrown up additional hurdles for LDCs in their pursuit of raising living standards. With developed countries facing their own economic troubles, there is concern of dwindling interaction between developed countries and LDCs.
However, at least one observer sees in the global atmosphere an opportunity to empower South-South relations in the fight to meet MDGs.
Syed Nuruzzaman, head of Countries with Special Needs (CSN), Macroeconomic Policy and Development Division, UN-ESCAP, told The Hindu Business Line: ‘Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar (Burma) are fortunate to be located close to a rapidly growing India’.
For comparison, Indians have a per capita gross domestic product of USD 3,400, with a quarter of the population existing below the poverty line, according to CIA data. And while sharing a high risk from infectious diseases, the infant mortality rate in India is slightly lower than that of Burma at 47.57 deaths per 1,000 births.
A promise was made by 189 world leaders at the United Nations Millennium Summit in 2000 to end poverty by 2015 when they signed onto the Millennium Declaration and agreed to meet the MDGs. The MDGs provide an eight-point road map with measurable targets and deadlines for improving the lives of the world’s poorest people.
By AHUNT PHONE MYAT
Published: 29 April 2011
Burma’s government must enact laws to protect the country’s environment as increased foreign investment threatens to overshadow other pressing priorities, a government advisor has warned.
U Ohn, who was recently included in the new Environment and Economic Research Department (EERD), highlighted the recent promulgation of a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) law as potentially destructive, given that no environmental regulations have been created to regulate development in these zones.
“I’m afraid I have to do some criticising,” said U Ohn, who is also deputy-chairperson of the Forest Resource Environment Development and Conservation Association (FREDA).
Drafts for an environmental law, bio-safety law, copyright law and intellectual property rights law had been written ahead of the law governing the creation of an SEZ but were yet to be approved.
He said that references made in President Thein Sein’s first speech last month to amending weak laws regarding environmental protection were “very good”, but that words needed to be translated into action.
“The intention is good – [the new government] wishes to make things better, but the methods used to carry this out may vary depending on the person. We will have to wait and see to what extent they manage to carry out the work,” said U Ohn.
The creation of SEZs in Burma comes as the country looks to encourage a business-friendly environment after decades of economic stagnation.
SEZ’s have been used in regional economic giants like India and China, as well as Thailand, as a way to stimulate business in specific areas without having to alter overall legislation, and have met with varying degrees of success and controversy.
U Ohn said that despite the group’s criticism of the new government, “we can’t not cooperate with them”. He added however they he would not be pandering to the demands of Thein Sein.
The EERD is made up of 12 members, including Thein Htun (of the Htun Foundation), MCC (Myanmar Computer Company) chairman Tin Win Aung, professor Dr Aung Htun Thet, Dr Sein Myint, Yin Yin Lay and U Ohn.