Reuters-Canada ready to work with M

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Subject: Reuters-Canada ready to work with Myanmar on drugs - paper 

Canada ready to work with Myanmar on drugs - paper
01:06 a.m. Aug 01, 1999 Eastern
BANGKOK, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Canada is willing to break its long-standing
policy of no-contact with Myanmar in an effort to combat the drugs trade,
the Thai Sunday Nation newspaper said.

The newspaper quoted Canadian Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy as saying
Canada would stand firm on its support for human rights in Myanmar but was
willing to work with the nation on drugs issues.

``Some 90 percent of hard drugs come to Canada from that particular region,
so we have a direct interest,'' Axworthy was quoted as saying in an
interview.

Most of the illegal drugs produced in the notorious Golden Triangle, where
Myanmar meets Laos and Thailand, come from inside Myanmar. Ethnic guerrillas
of the minority Wa people are responsible for much of the output, drugs
authorities say.

U.S. officials say 130,300 hectares (321,700 acres) of Myanmar were under
opium poppy cultivation last year, capable of yielding up to 1,750 tonnes of
opium gum. It takes about 10 tonnes of opium gum to make one tonne of
heroin.

Wa-controlled areas also produce some 300 million amphetamine tablets a
year, Thai officials say.

Canada has refused to have official contact with Myanmar's military
government in recent years in protest against its treatment of the
pro-democracy opposition and its alleged human rights abuses.

But Axworthy said it was necessary to have dialogue and cooperation on drugs
issues with Myanmar and other members of the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN).

Canada wants to work actively with ASEAN to meet the group's goal of
establishing a narcotics-free zone by 2020, he said.