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Subject: [theburmanetnews] BurmaNet News: July 25, 2000

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______________ THE BURMANET NEWS ______________
        An on-line newspaper covering Burma 
______________ www.burmanet.org _______________

July 25, 2000

Issue # 1583


The BurmaNet News is viewable online at:
http://theburmanetnews.editthispage.com



*Inside Burma

BBC: BURMA STUDENTS RETURN TO CLASS

AP:  MYANMAR STUDENTS RETURN TO CLASSES

XINHUA: FOREIGN EXCHANGE  EARNINGS FROM TOURISTS DROP IN MYANMAR

REUTERS: ASEAN MINISTERS OPEN TALKS ON REGIONAL SECURITY 

*Regional
	
REUTERS: MYANMAR REBEL TWINS, 12, DENY THAI HOSPITAL ATTACK

REUTERS: MYANMAR, LAOS AND CAMBODIA VOW TO STEP UP DRUG WAR

MALAYSIAN NATIONAL NEWS AGENCY: MYANMAR CLAIMS NO PROBLEM IN 
MEETING "DRUG FREE" DEADLINE 

BANGKOK POST:  THAI-BURMA DRUG-BUSTING PLEDGE AS MEETING OPENS
WIN AUNG: ONUS NOT ON RANGOON ALONE

REUTERS: ASEAN MINISTERS OPEN TALKS ON REGIONAL SECURITY 

SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST:  DIPLOMATIC DANCERS CIRCLE BURMESE DRUG 
PROBLEM

AFP:  POORER ASEAN MEMBERS CLAMOUR FOR FUNDS TO DEVELOP MEKONG REGION

THE STRAITS TIMES:  ASEAN FOREIGN MINISTERS MOVE TO RECOVER CLOUT

THE BUSINESS DAY: PTT TO HOLD TALKS WITH MYANMAR

BANGKOK POST: BID TO SOLVE FIVE PROBLEMS AFFECTING FRONTIER TRADING

BANGKOK POST: BACKDOOR DRUG TALKS LIKELY

THE  NATION: HUMAN RIGHTS TO BE ON AGENDA

THE NATION:  CALL FOR TOP-LEVEL TALKS ON DRUGS WITH BURMA 

*International

M2 COMMUNICATIONS: -UN: ESCAP TO OFFER INTENSIVE MANAGEMENT TRAINING 
TO SMALL- AND MEDIUM-SIZED BUSINESSES IN MYANMAR

AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION:  BURMA DISMISSES EXCLUSION FROM 
EU AGREEMENT


__________________ INSIDE BURMA ____________________
	

 
BBC: BURMA STUDENTS RETURN TO CLASS

July 24, 2000

Thousands of Burmese students have been returning to their classes 
for the first time in three years. 

All colleges and universities were closed by the military government 
in December 1996, as they were seen as breeding grounds for dissent. 
 
But on Monday an estimated 60,000 undergraduates were heading back to 
class after the ban was quietly lifted. 
 
They and their parents have had to sign declarations that they will 
not become involved in political activity. Student unions have also 
been banned. 
 
No formal announcement was made of the lifting of the ban, but the 
government wrote to individual students advising them of the 
decision. 
 
Rebellious 
 
Third and fourth-year students had already been allowed to go back to 
their classes at the end of June. 
 
Some people being allowed to resume their studies are having to 
switch universities, away from previously rebellious centres 
including the Yangon Arts and Science University. 
 
"I am very excited to go to college but I'm very disappointed that I 
cannot study at Yangon University, where my elder sister and my 
parents got their degrees," said 21-year old Win Win Nwe, who passed 
her entrance examination in 1996. 
 
And first-year economics student Khaing Win said: "I believe my 
patience finally paid off. Many of my friends [1996 high school 
graduates] who got tired of waiting for universities to reopen are 
now attending the University of Distance Education." 
 
During the three-year closure, some students travelled abroad to 
study, but others were unable to do so. 
 
Human rights activists and economists had warned the government of 
the risks to Burma's development, if it shut a generation of students 
out of higher education. 
 
Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi also warned the military rulers 
that Burma risked becoming a nation divided between educated and 
uneducated families.
 


____________________________________________________



AP:  MYANMAR STUDENTS RETURN TO CLASSES 
 
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - The military regime allowed the full 
resumption of higher education Monday, 31/2 years after closing down 
colleges and universities to stop anti-government demonstrations.
 
Some 400,000 high school graduates had been waiting their turns to 
begin university studies since the closures in December 1996. Neither 
the closures nor the reopening was officially announced.
 
Nearly 60,000 first-, second- and and third-year students in the arts 
and sciences began classes Monday. They followed some 20,000 fourth-
year students in these fields who had already resumed courses June 
27. Classes at institutions teaching medicine, computer science and 
engineering were reopened in stages beginning in January 1999.
 
Pro-democracy leaders and foreign human rights organizations have 
cited the closing of schools as one of many human rights abuses 
inflicted by the military on the population in Myanmar, also known as 
Burma.
 
``Students have always been viewed as a threat to the military regime 
and are considered the most vocal group of opposition. Therefore, the 
military is sacrificing youth's future in order to prolong its 
tyrannical reign,'' the anti-government Campaign Committee for Open 
Schools said in a statement.
 
Colleges and universities in Myanmar have been open for only 30 
months since 1988, the year the military brutally crushed a pro-
democracy uprising, said the group, which is composed of Myanmar 
dissident organizations in exile.
 
But military institutes, endowed with funds and state-of-the-art 
facilities, have remained opened throughout this period, creating a 
``dangerous division'' in the country, the statement said.
 
``Burma has become a house divided. The military institutes being the 
only way to get a decent education, only pro-military students have a 
future and are guaranteed work opportunities, while the rest of the 
country's youth is left uneducated, to fend for themselves, often 
falling into the hands of poverty,'' it said.
 
Under the current rules, students are allowed to register at 
educational institutions after signing a declaration that they will 
stay clear of political activities. Student unions and other student 
organizations have been banned.
 
Students who earlier attended the Yangon Arts and Science University, 
a traditional hotbed of dissent, are now attending classes not at the 
Yangon campus but at two suburban universities.
 
``I am very excited to go to college, but I'm very disappointed that 
I cannot study at Yangon University, where my elder sister and my 
parents got their degrees,'' said 21-year old Win Win Nwe, who passed 
her entrance examination in 1996.
 
Yangon University and the Yangon Technical College, another seat of 
anti-government activity in the past, were almost empty with just 
small numbers of students attending postgraduate classes, special 
honors classes and the faculty of anthropology.



____________________________________________________




XINHUA: FOREIGN EXCHANGE  EARNINGS FROM TOURISTS DROP IN MYANMAR 

July 23, 2000
 
YANGON.  Myanmar's foreign exchange earnings from tourists dropped by 
73.27 percent, getting only 9.42 million U.S.dollars in the fiscal 
year 1999-2000 which ended in March compared with the previous year 
when it received 35.17 million dollars. 
 
According to the Myanmar Facts and Figures, a booklet currently 
published by the Ministry of Information, during the fiscal year, the 
foreign exchange earnings in Chinese yuan also fell to 819,000 from 
1.253 million and that in Thai baht to 497,000 from 1.122 million. 
 
Myanmar had maintained its annual foreign exchange earnings in the 
past five fiscal years as 33.8 million in U.S. dollars, 1.7 million 
in Chinese yuan and 2.8 million in Thai baht. 
 
The booklet quoted travel agencies in the country as saying that 
tourists stayed in Myanmar hotels for an average of 8 days with daily 
expenditure of about 80 U.S. dollars. 
 
Among the visitors to Myanmar, 70.6 percent were from the Asian 
continent, 18.5 percent from western Europe, 6.5 percent from America 
and 4.4 percent from other regions, it said, adding that Taiwanese 
and Japanese from Asia comprised a majority of the visitors to 
Myanmar, whereas French constituted a majority from western Europe. 
 
According to the booklet, up to September 1999, there were 451 
hotels, motels and inns with 8,999 rooms in Myanmar, including those 
operated with foreign investment. 
 
Of the 22 foreign-invested hotels run by investors from Singapore, 
Thailand, Japan, Malaysia and China's Hong Kong, 17 are in Yangon, 3 
in Mandalay and one each in Bagan and Kawthaung. 
 
According to official statistics, since Myanmar opened to foreign 
investment in late 1988, it has absorbed 1.1 billion dollars of 
contracted investment in the sector of hotels and tourism. 
 
Other statistics also show that there are 545 travel agencies in 
Myanmar with 4,078 licensed tourist guides who speak nine languages.



___________________________ REGIONAL ___________________________
					


REUTERS: MYANMAR REBEL TWINS, 12, DENY THAI HOSPITAL ATTACK

July 25, 2000

BANGKOK.   The child-soldier twins accused of masterminding the siege 
of a Thai hospital in January have denied that they ordered the 
attack. 

 Interviewed at their jungle hideout in a remote mountainous area 
close to the Thai-Myanmar border, Johnny and Luther Htoo, 12, said 
their enemy was the military government in Yangon and its soldiers 
who had killed and raped their people. 

 ``We didn't give the order to attack (the hospital),'' Luther Htoo 
said. ``We were attacked by the Burmese (troops) who came from behind 
and the Thai army who came from the front. We had to run deeper into 
jungle.'' 

 Remnants of the twins' group, dubbed God's Army, have been on the 
run since January when 10 heavily armed guerrillas burst into a 
hospital in Ratchaburi, 100 km (62 miles) west of Bangkok, and took 
700 staff and patients hostage. 

 The 24-hour siege ended in the deaths of all 10 hostage takers and 
condemnation of the Htoo twins. 

 Since then, the twins and their followers have been chased by both 
Thai troops and Myanmar government forces and are now in hiding in 
the jungle area that runs between the two countries. 

 In the filmed interview obtained by Reuters, Luther, who has had his 
hair cut short, was dressed in army fatigues and sported a small scar 
under his left eye, referred mysteriously to another group who he 
seemed to imply may have been responsible for the hospital attack: 

 ``I knew that they may do something to stop fighting but I didn't 
know what. It was already done...we couldn't do anything,'' he said. 

 As Luther spoke his followers, a small collection of men and boys, 
sat around holding their rifles and smoking. 
 Luther's brother Johnny, dressed all in black with his trademark 
long hair hidden under a blank bandana, said little, but like other 
members of the outlaw group he seemed happy to pose for the camera. 

 The sons of a farmer, Luther and Johnny have had no formal education 
and live in a strange world full of magic and mystery. 

 They claim to be in charge of 400,000 invisible soldiers and to have 
the ability to predict the future and change the shape of the things 
around them. 

 The twins spend much of their time smoking and being carried around 
by devoted followers, who are usually much older. 

 Many villagers in the border area believe the twins have possessed 
supernatural wisdom since childhood and that they are reincarnations 
of ancient heroes of their ethnic Karen community, which has been at 
war with the Burmese for centuries. 

 The twins' reputation has spread far and wide among friends and foe. 

 The Karen community has found inspiration in stories of the twin 
boys, who they see as battling their ancient enemy. 

 ``I carry a gun to shoot Burmese (government troops) because they 
are bad to Karen people. They beat our people, rape our women, kill 
them and destroy villages. 

 ``They take children from parents and make them into porters,'' said 
Luther. 

 Political analysts say God's Army lost some support after the 
hospital attack and probably has no more than 200 devoted fighters 
left. 



____________________________________________________




REUTERS: MYANMAR, LAOS AND CAMBODIA VOW TO STEP UP DRUG WAR

July 25, 2000

By Nopporn Wong-Anan 

 BANGKOK.   Foreign ministers from Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia vowed 
on Tuesday to step up efforts to reduce drug production and 
trafficking in their countries. 

 Myanmar Foreign Minister Win Aung said his country has been actively 
suppressing production of opium and trafficking of methamphetamine in 
the country. 

 Myanmar is the world's second largest producer of opium and its 
derivative heroin, as well as a major source of amphetamines. 

 Speaking on the sidelines of the 33rd annual Association of South 
East Asian Nations (ASEAN) ministerial meeting, Win Aung said his 
country supported an ASEAN plan to make the 10-nation zone drug free 
by 2015, which was agreed on Tuesday. 

 Win Aung said Myanmar's military government encouraged farmers to 
grow substitute crops instead of opium and this had cut opium 
planting to 90,000 hectares (225,000 acres), from 150,000 hectares 
three years ago. 

 Regional health officials have said Yangon has done little to 
suppress the drugs trade. Some even accuse the ruling generals of 
directly supporting and benefiting from the sale of narcotics, 
allegations the government denies. 

 Thailand, which shares a border of more than 2,000 km (1,250 miles) 
with Myanmar, has complained frequently and loudly that drugs from 
Myanmar are flooding the country and pose a threat to the region. 

 The Thai army said in June drugs production and trafficking from 
Myanmar was increasing rapidly, posing a serious threat to Thailand 
and other countries in the region because of the mass relocation of 
ethnic minorities in Myanmar over the past year. 

 DRUG NETWORK GROWING, THAILAND SAYS 

 Thai security authorities have said an alliance between Yangon and 
an ethnic army, the United Wa State Army (UWSA), will fuel sporadic 
conflicts along the Thai border and help expand the drug distribution 
network of the UWSA into Thailand. 

 Win Aung denied the allegations. 

 ``We never supported them. We don't have any intention to make any 
trouble to Thai people. That is our political will,'' he said. 

 Win Aung said methamphetamine, often known in its crystalised form 
as Ice, was not Myanmar's ``initial problem'' because it started in 
Thailand, where the base chemical was produced. 

 He said Myanmar had seized over 17 million methamphetamine pills and 
60,000 litres of the precursor chemical this year. 

 He denied a report by a Thai security agency that as of May this 
year, about 50 methamphetamine factories were newly established 
inside Myanmar close to Thai border and 10 others had been set up in 
Laos also close to the Thai border. 

 ``The border under our control, there are none of those there,'' he 
told reporters. 

 Laos, a country in the Golden Triangle area, said it was working 
with the United Nations' Drug Control Programme (UNDCP) to raise 
about $80 million for a joint-programme of crop substitution in the 
country. 

 Laotian Foreign Minister Somsavat Lengsavad said the programme aimed 
to stop opium growing in Laos in six years. 

 Somsavat said UNDCP was acting as a coordinator on fund-raising from 
some donor countries. 

 ``Nowadays, the drug problem is the major transnational crime 
problem for Laos. We need to tackle it urgently,'' he told reporters. 

 Cambodia also said it was committed to fight drug trafficking in its 
country. 

 ``We, Cambodia, are strongly committed to fight the drug 
trafficking,'' Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Nam Hong said. ``We are 
a victim of the trafficking.'' 



____________________________________________________



MALAYSIAN NATIONAL NEWS AGENCY: MYANMAR CLAIMS NO PROBLEM IN 
MEETING "DRUG FREE" DEADLINE 

July 25 , 2000
 
BANGKOK, July 21 (Bernama-DPA) - The government of Myanmar (Burma), 
the prime source of heroin and methamphetamines in Southeast Asia, 
foresees no difficulty in turning its country into a "drug free" zone 
by the year 2015, Myanmar Foreign Minister Win Aung said on Tuesday. 
 
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) agreed on Monday 
to push its deadline for turning their ten-country region into 
a "drug free zone" by the year 2015, instead of the previous target 
of 2020. 
 
ASEAN, which was holding its annual ministerial powwow in Bangkok on 
Monday and Tuesday, comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, 
Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. 
 
"Our drug eradication program can fit into the ASEAN program. Now we 
have a comprehensive plan for total eradication of heroin," said Win 
Aung. 
 
He claimed that the junta's eradication and crop substitution program 
had already helped reduce Myanmar's opium cultivation area from 
150,000 acres in 1998 to about 90,000 acres last year. 
 
The minister, however, was less confident about efforts to eradicate 
methamphetamine production, a relatively new drug menace to Southeast 
Asia. 
 
According to Thai anti-narcotics authorities there are currently 
about 50 illegal laboratories making methamphetamines along the Thai-
Myanmar border, most of which are under the control of the Wa ethnic 
minority rebels with which Yangon (Rangoon) has signed a cease fire 
agreement. 
 
"Our country has a lot of places under the control of armed groups. 
We have a cease-fire agreement with (the Wa) but those areas are 
still under their control," said Win Aung. 
 
That said, it was unclear how Myanmar could assure that Wa areas 
would be drug-free by 2015. 
 
"We are trying to encourage our people that these amphetamines are a 
menace to mankind, and I think production in this business will also 
go down," said the minister. 
 
Thailand, which is currently flooded by Myanmar-made 
methamphetamines, has been irked by Yangon's seeming reluctance to 
pressure the Wa to stop the illegal activity. 
 
"We never support them. We don't have any intention to make trouble 
for Thai people," insisted Win Aung. 
 
-- Bernama-DPA



____________________________________________________



BANGKOK POST:  THAI-BURMA DRUG-BUSTING PLEDGE AS MEETING OPENS
WIN AUNG: ONUS NOT ON RANGOON ALONE

July 24, 2000

Saritdet Marukatat and hanravee Tansubhapol 

Thailand and Burma pledged to step up co-operation against drug 
trafficking yesterday as Asean foreign ministers braced to review 
regional efforts at their annual meeting opening today.

The issue was prominent in talks between Foreign Minister Surin 
Pitsuwan and his Burmese counterpart Win Aung on the eve of the 33rd 
Asean Ministerial Meeting.

Mr Surin said the two sides agreed to activate all existing 
mechanisms to end drug trafficking and other cross-border problems, 
and to accelerate exchanges.

"From now on there will be quicker movement to resolve existing 
common problems between our countries," he said after the 40-minute 
meeting.

Thai-Burmese relations have been strained since Burmese dissidents 
stormed the Burmese embassy in Bangkok in October, and raided a 
hospital in Ratchaburi in January. 

Mr Win Aung stressed that Burma alone should not be blamed for the 
drug problems and emphasised the need to tackle them "co-
operatively". He noted that chemicals, equipment and know-how came 
from an unnamed "other country" but quickly added that this included 
all countries bordering Burma.

He also claimed that his government seized 17 million methamphetamine 
pills this year.

Mr Surin referred to the pledge made in April last year by the two 
prime ministers, Chuan Leekpai and Than Shwe, for closer co-operation 
against drugs along their 2,400km border.

Besides drugs, Mr Surin and his Burmese counterpart also discussed 
illegal Burmese workers, refugees, and the suspension of Thai fishery 
concessions in Burma, sources added.

Mr Surin said drug problems would be discussed at the ministerial 
meeting today and tomorrow as well as at the Asean Regional Forum on 
Thursday.

The Asean ministers are due to review progress on the ground since 
their agreement in Manila in 1998 to establish the region as a drug-
free zone by the year 2020, sources said.

Mr Surin is also under urging from a regional human rights working 
group, which he received yesterday, to raise at the ministerial 
meeting discussion of their draft for the establishment of an Asean 
Human Rights Commission.

Somchai Homla-or, a Thai member of the working group, said the 
minister agreed to do so. But Mr Surin said the ministers would have 
to be briefed by their senior officials first.

Thailand, he stressed, had supported the idea of setting up a 
regional human rights mechanism since the Asean Ministerial Meeting 
in Singapore in 1993 gave the greenlight for it.

The working group has asked Asean to set up a "study group" and to 
organise a region-wide forum of discussion on the question.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations groups Brunei, Burma, 
Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, 
Thailand and Vietnam.

High on the agenda of their ministerial meeting is Thailand's 
proposal for a troika system of timely troubleshooting that was 
spurred by Asean's failure to react effectively to the financial 
crisis and East Timor.

The member states have so far agreed on the composition of past, 
present and future Asean chairmen. But some, including Cambodia, have 
questioned the troika's mandate out of concern that it might go 
against the grouping's non-interference principle.

The Burmese foreign minister said his country supported the idea but 
he stressed the need for ministers to work out details. The troika 
would not be a decision-making body, he added



____________________________________________________




REUTERS: ASEAN MINISTERS OPEN TALKS ON REGIONAL SECURITY 

July 24, 2000

By Edward Davies 

BANGKOK  Southeast Asian foreign ministers kicked off a two-day 
meeting in the Thai capital on Monday which will include talks 
ranging from drug trafficking to Indonesia's ethnic and religious 
strife. 

Thai Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai opened the 33rd Association of 
South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) ministerial meeting, which will also 
discuss a plan to speed the bloc's response to the array of security, 
economic and social problems that plague its diverse membership. 

``Issues such as illicit drugs, trafficking of women and children, 
transnational crime and environmental degradation all represent 
obstacles to our development,'' Chuan told the opening ceremony. 

``With ASEAN's membership enlarged to include all 10 countries of 
Southeast Asia, the challenge before us now is how to deepen our 
cooperative endeavours,'' Chuan said. 

Cambodia joined ASEAN in 1999, completing a body grouping Brunei, 
Myanmar, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, 
Thailand and Vietnam. 

The environmental hazard of smog from forest fires in Indonesia 
polluting large parts of the region is expected to be raised. 

Jakarta is under further pressure because of bloody fighting between 
Muslims and Christians in the Moluccas. But Foreign Minister Alwi 
Shihab is expected to relay to the meeting Indonesia's rejection of 
calls for international intervention to end the violence that has 
killed thousands since early 1999. 

ASEAN traditionally does not interfere in the affairs of member 
countries. 



____________________________________________________



SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST:  DIPLOMATIC DANCERS CIRCLE BURMESE DRUG 
PROBLEM 

July 25, 2000 

WILLIAM BARNES 

Thailand's attempt to pressure Burma's military regime into cracking 
down on its drug-trafficking friends has become the Byzantine 
diplomatic dance of this week's Asean meeting. 

The Bangkok authorities scored a modest victory when they made sure 
that drug trafficking was high on the summit agenda and that of the 
follow-up security forum. Asean traditionally shuns issues that may 
involve meddling in members' internal affairs. 
 
The Thais have become increasingly concerned about what they describe 
as a flood of amphetamines and other drugs pouring over the border 
from Burma's northern Shan state. 
 
Security officials on the Thai side of the border have become 
outspoken over Rangoon's claims that it is physically in no position 
to stop well-armed traffickers and increasingly frank in voicing 
their suspicions that Burmese army officers take bribes from drug 
producers.
 


____________________________________________________




AFP:  POORER ASEAN MEMBERS CLAMOUR FOR FUNDS TO DEVELOP MEKONG REGION

July 25, 2000

ASEAN's comparatively poor new members are clamouring for a piece of 
the region's economic action and called Tuesday for funds to 
accelerate the Mekong Basin development.

Foreign ministers from Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam 
have warned at the grouping's annual meeting here that ASEAN will not 
progress unless it bridges the economic gaps among its 10 members.

The five Southeast Asian nations share the Mekong river with China's 
Yunan province. The region covers a total land area of 2.3 million 
square kilometres, with a combined population of nearly 240 million 
people.

Myanmar Foreign Minister Win Aung said the development of the Mekong 
Basin has been hampered by the 1997 regional economic debacle but he 
urged the grouping to renew efforts to seek financing to open it up.

"We need funds to implement the project," he told AFP. 

"We need to talk to Japan and other donor countries like the EU. We 
have agreed that something should be done. It is very important to 
close the gap with the less-developed countries within ASEAN."

A senior ASEAN official said Vietnam which became a member in 1995, 
Cambodia and Laos in 1997 and Myanmar last year, were growing 
impatient with the slow pace of development in the Mekong area.

"They feel that they have been given big promises when they joined 
ASEAN but little is being done," the official said.

An ASEAN-Mekong Basin Development Cooperation (AMBDC) committee was 
set up in 1996, but became dormant when the economic crisis struck.

Pradap Pibulsonggram, ASEAN director-general in Thailand's foreign 
ministry, said the AMBDC had been reactivated and had held its second 
meeting in Hanoi last month.

"There is now renewed determination among ASEAN members to speed up 
development in the area. We have a better chance to move it forward 
now that the region has rebounded," he told AFP.

The committee is expected to gather again in Bangkok in October next 
year to revive talks on a proposal to construct a railway line from 
Singapore to Kunming, he said.

There are also plans to invite representatives from China, Japan and 
Korea to attend the meeting as part of efforts to build up interest 
and attract more funds, he added.

Thai Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai on Monday said the development of 
the Mekong sub-region was vital to ASEAN's growth.

"There is a compelling need to expedite infrastructure development 
and the capacity-building program so as to ensure the region's 
economic integration," Chuan told the ASEAN foreign ministers.

"Only by closing the gap between old and new members will ASEAN be 
able to move ahead with the speed and direction expected of it."

Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong called Monday for a Mekong 
Basin Development Fund to be set up and said the project needed 
support from ASEAN's dialogue partners, particularly Japan.

He also urged the grouping to allocate funds to conduct feasibility 
studies on possible projects in the area.

"The process of regional integration will not succeed unless there is 
a balance of development within ASEAN ... It is essential to set up 
strategies and programs to eliminate or substantially reduce such a 
disparity within ASEAN as soon as possible," he said.

He was backed by his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Dy Nien, who 
sought a "higher priority" in ASEAN for projects in the Mekong area.

"ASEAN could hardly become a powerful economic entity if the 
development gap among its member countries keeps widening," Nguyen 
warned.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) says the Mekong region has vast 
potential in terms of natural resources and a large labour pool, but 
cites environment, income gap, infrastructure development and human 
resources as key obstacles to growth.

It projects gross domestic product in the Mekong to surge to 863 
billion dollars in 2010, up from 238 billion dollars in 1996.

The ADB, which formed an economic cooperation body in 1992 to promote 
growth in the area, estimates nearly 10 billion dollars is needed to 
develop its transport and energy sectors alone.



____________________________________________________



THE STRAITS TIMES:  ASEAN FOREIGN MINISTERS MOVE TO RECOVER CLOUT 

July 25, 2000
 
The 10-member states agree to take various measures to enhance their 
collective profile and to step up cooperation with key partners
 
By LEE KIM CHEW
IN BANGKOK
 
ASEAN Foreign Ministers yesterday agreed to take urgent steps to 
shape up the regional grouping and make it more effective so that it 
can recover the clout it had lost since the 1997 Asian financial 
crisis. 
 
Thai Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan, who chaired the ministerial 
meeting here, told reporters that the Asean countries would take 
various measures to enhance their collective profile and step up 
cooperation with key dialogue partners. 
 
Within Asean, the 10 member-states would establish a ""full-circle 
hotline'' to increase their contacts with each other. 
 
The ministers would meet more regularly to find ways to resolve their 
problems. ""Communication among Asean countries will be increased and 
be more intense,'' he added. 
 
Dr Surin said the proposed Asean troika, an ad hoc body that will be 
set up to deal with emergencies in South-east Asia, would be 
given ""latitude and room'' so that it could be more creative in 
seeking solutions to pressing problems. 
 
With all these measures, he said, Asean would regain the confidence 
of the international community. 
 
These steps would enhance Asean's image and make it more effective 
and relevant to changes in the region, he added. 
 
The ministers also supported Thai Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai's 
proposal that the member countries organise a trade fair every three 
years to showcase their products to the rest of the world and attract 
more investments to the region. 
 
To accelerate economic development in the newer Asean states, they 
agreed to increase the involvement of the Asian Development Bank and 
the World Bank in the Mekong River Basin projects, and there will be 
more coordination among Asean countries. 
 
The ministers agreed to move forward the deadline to make Asean a 
drug-free region by 2015 instead of 2020. 
 
Dr Surin, who was speaking on behalf of the other Asean ministers, 
said they had a ""splendid'' discussion.



____________________________________________________





THE BUSINESS DAY: PTT TO HOLD TALKS WITH MYANMAR

July 24, 2000

DONRUDEE CHAISOMBAT
STAFF WRITER

The Petroleum Authority of Thailand (PTT) will open new talks with 
Myanmar's government this week, to ask for a three- to four-year 
postponement of the new natural gas shipment due for delivery in 
2004. 

Under the agreement dubbed "take or pay", PTT is required to pay when 
consignment is due for delivery even if it is unable to take the 
supply. 

Prasert Boonsumpan, president of PTT natural gas division, said he 
will go to Myanmar this week to negotiate the deal. 

The gas supply was mainly intended for the Ratchaburi power plant, 
but the delay in plant and pipeline construction left PTT unable to 
take delivery. 

The trip was also meant to ensure payment of US$280 million which is 
long overdue, and to renegotiate a reduction of gas supply from 525 
million cubic feet a day to 400 cubic feet a day of natural gas 
already scheduled for delivery this month. 

"In the past, we have asked for greater supply when needed, but now 
we are asking for a reduction because we need to utilize our exiting 
reserves," said Presert. 

The tension between PTT and Myanmar mounted when PTT was unable to 
honor the contract. Acting as an agency to negotiate the supply of 
fuel to operate several power plants, PTT was left in an awkward 
position when several electricity plants were not completed on 
schedule, resulting in shipments of natural gas being withheld and 
the agreement being breeched.



____________________________________________________




BANGKOK POST: BID TO SOLVE FIVE PROBLEMS AFFECTING FRONTIER TRADING

July 24, 2000

Supamart Kasem 


The provincial chamber of commerce proposes to tackle five problems 
in cross-border trade and strengthen co-operation between Thailand 
and Burma.

Its proposal will be presented at a meeting of the joint public and 
private sectors committee to solve economic problems on Tuesday in 
Mae Sot district.

Panithi Tangphati, chairman of Tak's Chamber of Commerce, said 
obstacles to cross-border trade include the lack of an agency to co-
ordinate problem-solving in case of trade disputes, a lack of close 
relations between local border officials of both countries, and the 
poor condition of cross-border trade routes.

Other problems include strict immigration procedures deterring 
Burmese from visiting Thai border provinces, as well as the 
historical distrust between the two peoples, he said.

Under the proposal, an organisation should be set up to co-ordinate 
work of the Local Thai-Burmese Border Committee (TBC), Regional Thai 
Burmese Border Committee and Joint Border Committee (JC).

The government should set aside budgets for border provinces to 
organise activities to improve relations between Thai and Burmese 
border officials.

Thailand should fund the mending of a major cross-border trade route 
linking Mae Sot to Myawaddy, Moulmein and Rangoon, in exchange for 
more co-operation from Burma on trade and tourism.

Burmese tourists should be allowed to enter Thailand for holidays 
using only border passes in cases where they buy package tours from 
authorised tour agents.

Mr Panithi said the issue of labour shortage in the industrial sector 
in border provinces due to a ban on employing alien labour will be 
raised by the provincial industrial council at next week's meeting.

Manop Mangsuwan, deputy chairman of Tak's Industrial Council, said 66 
industrial factories in border areas of this province were facing 
labour shortages as they could not find enough Thais to replace 
Burmese workers.


____________________________________________________



BANGKOK POST: BACKDOOR DRUG TALKS LIKELY

July 24, 2000

Thailand and China may take matters into their own hands and hold 
talks with the United Wa State Army about drug smuggling from Burma 
and the Golden Triangle.

Beijing officials who accompanied Vice-President Hu Jintao to Rangoon 
last week were pessimistic about the chances of dealing with the 
problem through diplomatic channels.

Chinese and Thai experts discussed a number of options including the 
possibility that the Wa might discuss a deal which did not include 
Rangoon, diplomats said.

Foreign sources were unclear whether the Wa has actually approached 
China but recent reports suggested Wa leaders might hold policy talks 
with foreign diplomats in Thailand.

Southern China has been hit almost as hard as Thailand by the massive 
drug movements. Organised crime, drug addiction and Aids have risen 
from virtually nothing in less than a decade.

The huge rise in crime and social problems took China by surprise, 
prompting Beijing to execute hundreds of drug dealers and other 
criminals.

Diplomatic sources said Mr Hu was shocked last week by the lack of 
urgency and co-operation from Rangoon in dealing with the drug 
problem.

When he offered "significant" Chinese aid to fund crop substitution 
programmes in northern Burma the military junta reportedly accepted 
the aid but could not guarantee a reduction in opium or heroin output.

"China would like to keep this quiet and deal with Rangoon, but the 
[military] junta won't co-operate," said one foreign source.

	

____________________________________________________



THE  NATION: HUMAN RIGHTS TO BE ON AGENDA 

July 24, 2000

ASEAN has decided to put the issue of human rights and the creation 
of a regional body to promote and protect universal rights on its 
official agenda for future action, according to an informed source. 

The issue was discussed at the informal dinner on Sunday and taken up 
again during the retreat yesterday. 

Although there was no consensus among members, there seemed to be 
agreement that Asean needed to seriously pursue the proposal. 

At the 1993 Asean ministerial meeting in Singapore, Asean agreed to 
find an appropriate regional mechanism on human rights. Seven years 
have elapsed, but Asean has yet to take up the issue officially. 

In 199, an informal group called Working Group for An Asean Human 
Rights Mechanism discussed ways to implement the Asean decision. 

Four Asean states -the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Cambodia -
 have now set up national human-rights monitoring bodies. Thailand is 
in the process of selecting 11 members for its National Human Rights 
Commission, which is due to be established soon. 

Efforts are also under way to establish a national working group in 
Singapore to determine focal points on human rights in other Asean 
countries. 

The Working Group formally submitted its "Draft Agreement on the 
Establishment of the Asean Human Rights Commission" to senior 
officials over the weekend. 

The draft calls for the setting up of a permanent human-rights 
commission with the main function of promoting and protecting human 
rights in the Asean region. 

In his opening speech to the 33rd Asean Ministerial Meeting (AMM) 
yesterday, Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan said the working group had 
presented the mechanism for member states' consideration. 

Thai and foreign non-governmental organisations called yesterday for 
Asean to establish a regional body to monitor and protect human 
security in the Asean member states. 

Philippine Foreign Minister Domingo Siazon urged other Asean 
members "to study the various proposals" advanced by the working 
group. 

A letter from the group, led by Somchai Homla-or of the Bangkok-based 
Forum Asia, was handed to Thai Deputy Foreign Minister Sukhumbhand 
Paribatra. Somchai handed copies of the letter to Asean ministers 
attending the meeting here. 

Somchai told Sukhumbhand the group supported Asean's proposal to set 
up a "troika" system to help solve misunderstandings or conflicts 
among Asean states. 

The group also expressed strong support for the Asean Vision 2020, 
which would make the regional grouping a more unified and dynamic 
community of caring societies. It also urged Asean to promote more 
human security in its member states. 

"Asean should have regional mechanisms to monitor and provide 
protection for the people, particularly the young and the poor and 
disadvantaged," Somchai said. 

Asean should be a negotiating body with superpowers that pays 
attention to the poor and the disadvantaged, instead of the elite and 
the private sector, he said. 

Sukhumbhand told the group Asean and the Thai government shared the 
group's concerns and had tried hard to expand the agenda of 
cooperation to cover human security. 

"We, Asean states and the Thai government, have been working towards 
real security which will cover human security for the sake of Asean," 
Sukhumbhand said. 

Somchai said the group's letter was based on the conclusion of 
the "Asean 2000 and Beyond: Putting People First" meeting in Bangkok 
on Friday. The symposium was organised by the Asian Forum for Human 
Rights and Development, the Asian Cultural Forum for Development and 
the Alternative Asean Network on Burma. 

Somchai also asked Sukhumbhand to give a CD-Rom of Burmese Opposition 
Party leader Aung San Suu Kyi's speech for the 33rd AMM to all Asean 
member states, including Burma. 



____________________________________________________



THE NATION:  CALL FOR TOP-LEVEL TALKS ON DRUGS WITH BURMA 

July 25, 2000

THE government should seek anti-drugs cooperation at the national 
level from its Burmese counterparts, the Third Army Region commander 
said yesterday. 

The northern border drugs prevention and suppression centre reported 
that drugs-producing factories in Burma opposite to the Thai border 
were a major obstacle to fighting narcotics problems in recent years, 
Lt General Wattanachai Chaimuanwong said. 

"We see before our eyes that those factories are there but can do 
nothing because they are beyond our jurisdiction," he said. 

Anti-drugs officials could only attempted to block traffic flow into 
the country, Wattanachai said, and although the result was 
satisfactory, lots of drugs particularly methamphetamines still 
flooded in and caused trouble in Thailand. 

The administrations of both countries should hold talks to boost 
bilateral anti-drugs efforts, he said, explaining that the northern 
Thai centre was ready to tackle the problem but local agencies in 
Burma usually dodged their responsibilities. 

"They kept saying that an order from their superior office was needed 
before they could take any action," Wattanachai said. 

He also suggested a special taskforce should be formed in both 
countries to patrol areas the same way Thailand and Malaysia had done 
in a bid to curb the spread of drugs. 

Meanwhile, Wattanachai said the command centre planned to intensify 
its checks on suspected drugs traffic on roads, railways and aerial 
routes. He said railways received a major focus as reports showed 
more and more drugs had been transported by rail and that Sila-art 
railway junction in Uttaradit was a drugs "depot". 

Wattanachai also said the centre required cooperation from minority 
groups who lived in villages along border to tackle the narcotics 
problem. 

Infrastructure and job opportunities should be made available for 
them to woo their support, he said. 

Thai nationality should be granted to certain people in exchange for 
their cooperation in anti-drugs efforts, Wattanachai said. 





__________________ INTERNATIONAL __________________



M2 COMMUNICATIONS: -UN: ESCAP TO OFFER INTENSIVE MANAGEMENT TRAINING 
TO SMALL- AND MEDIUM-SIZED BUSINESSES IN MYANMAR  
 
July 24, 2000

 BANGKOK -- Improving the knowledge and skills of small- and medium-
sized entrepreneurs in Myanmar so that they can more effectively 
participate in the global economy will be the focus of a management 
training course to be offered by the Economic and Social Commission 
for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), from 24 to 29 July 2000 in Yangon, 
Myanmar. 
 
The six-day training course is designed to enhance business skills of 
small- and medium-sized entrepreneurs by focusing on international 
business and general management issues, and development of specific 
sectors, including agricultural products, handicrafts, and tourism. 
The aim is to increase managers` capacity in marketing, finance, 
international trade, strategic management, quality control, and 
production technology, among others areas. An international 
consortium of business schools and business practitioners will offer 
the course. 
 
Approximately 120 participants are expected to attend. 
 
According to ESCAP, one of the main constraints to the development of 
the business sector in Myanmar is the availability of adequately 
trained human resources: managers, financial experts, technical 
experts, marketing experts, etc. Through strengthening the human 
resource base, the Myanmar business sector itself can play a more 
effective role both in expanding the Myanmar economy and in 
positioning itself for the global marketplace in the twenty-first 
century. 
 
The ESCAP Management Training Course in Myanmar will serve as a pilot 
project for a broader human resources development project under 
ESCAP`s programme for private sector development for Greater Mekong 
subregion countries through human resource development, institutional 
capacity building, trade facilitation and investment. 
 
The course is being offered with financial assistance from the 
Government of Japan, and in collaboration with the Government of the 
Union of Myanmar, the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of 
Commerce and Industry, the Institute of Economics, Myanmar, and the 
Mahidol University, Thailand. The training course will be held at the 
International Business Centre, Yangon.


 
____________________________________________________



AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION:  BURMA DISMISSES EXCLUSION FROM 
EU AGREEMENT

July 24, 2000

Burma has played down its exclusion from a cooperation agreement with 
the European Union which its neighbours will sign this week.

The EU is to sign cooperation agreements with Cambodia and Laos in 
Bangkok but has ruled out extending the same ties with Burma in the 
immediate future. 

The three are the newest members of the Association of Southeast 
Asian Nations which holds its annual meeting of foreign ministers in 
Bangkok from Monday.

Burma's Foreign Minister Win Aung told reporters on his arrival in 
the Thai capital that maybe it was not the time to sign the EU 
agreement. 



____________________________________________________

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