Japan to resume ODA loans to Myanma

[brelief@xxxxxxx]

Asahi Evening News
February 26, 1998

Japan to resume ODA loans to Myanmar

Kyodo

Japan is planning to resume providing low-interest official development
assistance (ODA) loans to Myanmar (Burma) after a 10-year suspension
following the 1988 military crackdown on the country's pro-democracy
movement, government sources said Wednesday.

Japan is considering extending 2.5 billion yen in loans to help Myanmar fix
a dilapidated runway at Yangon (Rangoon) international airport, the sources
said.

An official at the Foreign Ministry's Asian Affairs Bureau said, "The
decision to thaw the freeze was made as an emergency step designed to secure
the safety of the airport and the provision of the loan will not lead to a
full-fledged resumption of yen loans to the country"

Japanese airlines servicing Yangon airport have complained to the government
that the runway needs quick fixing, the sources said.

But the plan to resume yen loans may draw criticism from Myanmar's
pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi as possibly opening the way for yen
loans of larger amounts, political sources said.

Japan and Myanmar earlier signed agreements for Japanese loans totaling 27
billion yen in ODA to help Myanmar expand its international airport.

But Japan stopped the project midway after the military government cracked
down on pro-democracy demonstrators and politicians.

Construction contractors had completed about 15 percent of the work on the
airport expansion project before it was suspended, officials said.



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