Japan to cosponsor Burma seminar on

[carol@xxxxxxx]

Japan Times, Saturday, March 21, 1998

JAPAN TO COSPONSOR MYANMAR SEMINAR ON DRUG TRAFFICKING

By Hisane Masaki

	An international seminar on ways to fight drug trafficking will be held in
Yangon on March 31 and April 1 under the cosponsorship of Japan, the Myanmar
government and the United Nations Drug Control Program, Foreign Ministry
officials said Friday.
	Although Japan already has made financial contributions to the UNDCP's
anti-drug operations in Myanmar, a major drug-producing nation, the seminar
will mark the first time that Japan co-sponsors an international seminar in
Myanmar on the drug issue, the officials said.
	The forthcoming seminar will focus on ways to develop alternative crops to
opium and will bring together officials in charge of drug trafficking from
nearly 30 governments and international organizations, the officials said.
	Among the countries to be represented at the seminar are the United States,
Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Australia, as well as the nine members
of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Cambodia, China, India and
Bangladesh.
	Among the six international organizations participating will be the World
Health Organization, the U.N. Development Program, the Food and Agriculture
Organization and the World Food Program.  Tokyo will dispatch Sumio Tarui, a
deputy director general of the Foreign Ministry's Asian affairs bureau, to
serve as cochairman of the two-day seminar.
	Participants in the seminar will visit an opium-producing region in
northeastern Myanmar on April 2-3 to get a firsthand look at the situation,
on a trip organized by the Myanmar government, the officials said.
	The officials said the seminar is aimed at strengthening efforts by Myanmar
and other Southeast Asian countries to eradicate the drug problem by
exchanging information and experiences on developing alternative crops to opium.
Japan also believes that the seminar will help increase the regional
governments' interest in the drug issue ahead of a special session of the
U.N. General Assembly on the matter scheduled for June in New York, the
officials said.
The drug seminar in Yangon will follow a recent controversial decision by
the Japanese government to disburse about 2.5 billion yen in low-interest
official yen loans to Myanmar for the repair of Yangon's superannuated
international airport.
	The Japanese move has drawn criticism both at home and abroad because it
was made despite the Myanmar military regime's continued crackdown on the
prodemocracy movement, led by opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize
laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
	While acknowledging the lack of significant progress in human rights and
democracy in Myanmar, Tokyo insists that the disbursement of airport loans
is for the "purely humanitarian" purpose of ensuring safety at the airport.
	A senior Foreign Ministry official conceded that Japan needs to be cautious
about extending economic aid to Myanmar in view of problems with the
protection of human rights and democratic principles in the Southeast Asian
country.  But, the official said, disbursing the airport loans is "an
emergency step that we could not avoid taking, due to humanitarian reasons."
	"Regardless of what the Myanmar regime is like, we want to do what will be
beneficial for the country and its people in the future," the official said.
"Even the military regime is tackling the drug issue seriously."
	Noting that opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has called for improvements
in primary health care and education for the general public in Myanmar, the
official said that Japan wants to step up cooperation with international
organizations that are playing an active role in such areas.