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BurmaNet News: January 12, 2001



______________ THE BURMANET NEWS ______________
        An on-line newspaper covering Burma 
         January 12, 2001   Issue # 1709
______________ www.burmanet.org _______________

NOTED IN PASSING: ``If they do not agree to destroy those, we will do.?  


Prime Minister elect Thaksin Shiniwatra of Thailand saying what Thailand 
will do if the Burmese government doesn?t agree to destroy all 
methamphetamine labs on the border.  See Associated Press: Thaksin says 
he will lead war against drugs 



INSIDE BURMA _______
*The Economist: Talking at last to Aung San Suu Kyi 
*Christian Science Monitor: Breakthrough in Burma - talks are a start
*Democratic Voice of Burma: Democracy League member welcomes news of 
"secret talks"
*Asiaweek: Big M. Wanderings 
*Dawn (Pakistan): Suu Kyi-junta talks made progress, says party leader

REGIONAL/INTERNATIONAL _______
*Associated Press: Thaksin says he will lead war against drugs
*AFP: Myanmar press accuses Thailand of supporting ethnic rebels
*AFP: Thai court orders aide to Myanmar drug lord held on remand 
*AFP: Mahathir's call for investment in Myanmar "a national disgrace"
*Reuters: Bangladesh and Myanmar in troop buildup over dam
*Bangkok Post: Intruder killed 
*The Independent (Bangladesh): Nasaka abducts 2 Bangladeshis

ECONOMY/BUSINESS _______
*Myanmar Times: Minister claims 11pc growth


__________________ INSIDE BURMA ____________________


The Economist: Talking at last to Aung San Suu Kyi 


January 13, 2001 U.S. Edition 


FOR Buddhists it is important to earn merit in this life, so as to be 
rewarded in the next one. In Myanmar, where Buddhist temples and monks 
proliferate, merit is attained through good deeds such as the release of 
caged birds and trapped fish. Believers buy them at roadside stalls and 
set them free. Now it seems that Myanmar's military junta, which for 
more than ten years has repressed a democracy movement and locked up its 
leaders, may be changing tactics. The generals appear to want some merit 
themselves by beginning talks about democracy, and perhaps even by 
releasing political prisoners. 

The United Nations announced this week, with Myanmar's blessing, that 
contact had been made between the military men and the leader of the 
country's democracy movement, Aung San Suu Kyi. She has been under what 
amounts to house arrest since September last year for staging a series 
of protests on the edge of Yangon, the capital, complaining that her 
opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) was being strangled by 
the government. For years the junta has dismissed Miss Suu Kyi as an 
agent of "foreign powers", or as an irresponsible "little sister". It 
has always refused to contemplate a political role for the NLD, despite 
the party's landslide victory in a general election in 1990. Even 
routine contacts with Miss Suu Kyi were severed after 1995. 

So the most tentative signs of a thaw have been greeted with excitement 
and some confusion by pro-democracy campaigners based in neighbouring 
Thailand, who talk about "another Berlin Wall" coming down, and with a 
cautious welcome by diplomats. These could be "a bridge to real 
dialogue, although it is going to take time to gain some confidence", 
says one. The fact that news of the talks has been made public with 
Myanmar's approval "gives them far more weight", says another. 

Credit has so far been given to the new UN special representative for 
Myanmar, Razali Ismail, who is a Malaysian. He visited the country in 
October and again this week, when he was allowed to meet Miss Suu Kyi. 
Malaysia's prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad, who is eager to end the 
isolation of Myanmar by international institutions and other countries, 
has also been in Yangon. Because Malaysia has unusually close relations 
with Myanmar, he may have persuaded the regime that direct talks with 
Miss Suu Kyi would ease diplomatic pressure on the country and on other 
members of the Association of South-East Asian Nations. The group has 
been treated with some circumspection by the West since Myanmar joined 
in 1997 and some members, such as Thailand, have tried to distance 
themselves. 

But the recent clampdown on the NLD has shown no sign yet of being 
eased: one parliamentarian was jailed for 21 years recently. And any 
talks will be hindered while senior NLD members are kept in army camps 
and denied the freedom to talk to one another. "These contacts are like 
a negotiation between a hostage and a captor," complained one democracy 
activist this week. Not much merit in that. 


____________________________________________________


Christian Science Monitor: Breakthrough in Burma - talks are a start 

12 Jan. 2001

Meetings between Aung San Suu Kyi and government are first positive step 
in years. 

By Simon Ingram 
Special to The Christian Science Monitor 

BANGKOK, THAILAND 

Burmese opposition groups are urging the international community to keep 
up pressure on the military government in Rangoon, the capital, amid 
hopes that the country's long-running and costly political stalemate may 
have finally broken. 



Tuesday's announcement by the United Nations of the first meeting 
between the military junta and the opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, 
in more than five years has sparked expressions of unusual optimism. 

"This is a historic breakthrough," says Teddy Buri, of the Bangkok-based 
National Council of the Union of Burma. "It shows that despite the 
hard-line posture they strike in public, the generals realize - in their 
heart of hearts - that there needs to be a change." 

Clearly, there is still a very long way to go. Ms. Suu Kyi herself 
remains under what amounts to house arrest - a restriction imposed last 
September, when security forces barred her from meeting supporters 
outside the capital. It's far from clear when these - and even harsher 
punitive measures against her senior colleagues in the National League 
for Democracy - will be lifted. 

The crackdown on the NLD had unleashed a fresh torrent of criticism from 
Western governments. Late last year, the International Labor 
Organization called for tougher action against Burma, also called 
Myanmar, because of its alleged failure to end forced labor and 
continued reports of massive human rights violations. 

Observers say that it was the threat of tighter sanctions against a 
country whose economy is already in dire straits that prompted the 
military leadership to change tack and agree to talks with Suu Kyi. But 
some question the sincerity of a regime that regularly heaps venom on 
the woman who led the NLD to victory in elections in 1990 - a victory 
that has never been honored. Until just days ago, state-run newspapers 
derided Suu Kyi as a witch and a traitor to her people (her marriage to 
the late British academic Michael Aris earned her particular scorn). 

Credit for nudging the generals toward compromise should probably go to 
UN envoy Razali Ismail. It was Mr. Ismail who, at the end of a five-day 
visit to Rangoon, broke the news of the meeting between Suu Kyi and 
Lt.-Gen. Khin Nyunt, secretary one of the ruling State Peace and 
Development Council (SPDC). It subsequently emerged that the first round 
of secret talks had actually taken place in October. 

Razali, formerly Malaysia's ambassador to the UN, described the meeting 
as "extremely significant." He added: "It's what the UN and 
international community were hoping would happen, and we're very glad 
this has taken place." 

He dismissed the idea that the talks had been a military publicity 
stunt. "These talks are being conducted with good faith on both sides." 

Significant, too, was the role played by Malaysian Prime Minister 
Mahathir Mohamad, who also visited Burma last week. Dr. Mahathir has 
frequently sided with Rangoon in the face of censure from Western 
governments, and helped smooth Burma's accession to the Association of 
South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 1997, overriding doubts expressed by 
other member states. 

If - as diplomats believe - the Malaysian prime minister urged his 
Burmese interlocutors to show flexibility, they would have found it hard 
not to listen. 

According to Mr. Buri, it will require further diplomatic intervention 
from Mahathir and other governments with friendly ties to Rangoon - 
including China and Japan - to ensure the process of dialogue doesn't 
stall. "There are many things we'd like to see happen," Buri says. "But 
let's take it one step at a time." 




____________________________________________________


Democratic Voice of Burma: Democracy League member welcomes news of 
"secret talks" 

Oslo, in Burmese 1245 gmt 9 Jan 01 


Regarding AFP news on secret talks between SPDC [State Peace and 
Development Council] Secretary-1 Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt and Daw Aung San Suu 
Kyi, DVB [Democratic Voice of Burma] contacted NLD [National League for 
Democracy] elected representative U Mya Win to obtain his views. 

[U Mya Win] Regarding the secret meeting, if they are planning to hold 
talks and discuss political problems then we should welcome the meeting. 
If it is a first step to solve the political impasse then it is a step 
in the right direction. This is the time when political talks are most 
desirable because we have ended the 20th century and heading into the 
21st century. Nations are filled with internal strife as we enter the 
21st century. That is why, if Burma could try to solve its internal 
problems which started over half a century ago by holding cordial and 
friendly talks, then we should welcome it most pleasantly. If the AFP 
report is true and correct, we warmly welcome it. But if it is done only 
for show then it is not good. We only hope the news that they held 
cordial and friendly talks and try to solve the political difference is 
true... 

____________________________________________________


Asiaweek: Big M. Wanderings 

Jan. 12, 2001

No leader is more admired by the generals who rule Myanmar than Mahathir 
Mohamad. Obviously the comfort level is mutual, for the Malaysian leader 
is currently holidaying in the pariah state. Few other leaders would 
risk the opprobrium, but Mahathir is not just vacationing. On the way to 
his Jan. 3-9 visit, he stopped off in southern Thailand to try to 
negotiate an end to the messy fisheries squabble in the Andaman Sea. 
Thai boats were banned from those lucrative fishing grounds after a 
siege at Myanmar's Bangkok embassy in 1999. If Mahathir can sort out 
this tiresome dispute, he will earn brownie points all round -- 
especially in Bangkok. 



____________________________________________________


Dawn (Pakistan): Suu Kyi-junta talks made progress, says party leader 

Jan. 12, 2001

By John Aglionby 

JAKARTA: Myanmar's main pro-democracy party on Wednesday confirmed that 
its leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, has been in secret talks with the military 
junta since last October, for the first time in more than five years. 

Speaking a day after the UN special envoy on Myanmar, Razali Ismail, 
broke the news about the dialogue. A National League for Democracy (NDL) 
executive member, U Lwin, said the negotiations were at a very early 
stage. 

It would take great patience for more substantive discussions on 
Myanmar's political future were to develop. 

"The meeting is what we have been working for," he said. "Since [news 
of] it has appeared, the responsibility has become greater on both sides 
not to interrupt the momentum of the process. Both sides have to be 
careful not to irritate the process." 

Mr Lwin said that the NLD's members were told in December of the 
meetings between Ms Suu Kyi and senior generals, including the junta's 
first secretary, Lieutenant General Khin Nyunt. 

"The meeting seemed to have achieved some progress then," he said. He 
refused to give further details. The last time Suu Kyi held substantive 
talks with the junta was in 1994, after she was released from six years 
in prison. 

News of the talks came as a surprise as Ms Suu Kyi has been under 
virtual house arrest since last September, when she was blocked from 
leaving the capital Rangoon. Mr Ismail, who has just ended a five-day 
visit to Myanmar, was the first foreign diplomat to see her since then. 

The military first came to power in 1962 and abolished all state 
institutions in 1988. 

The NLD won an overwhelming majority in the last general election in 
1990, but has never been allowed to govern. Its members are harassed, 
detained and beaten up. Despite this, Ms Suu Kyi has refused to 
compromise on the restoration of full democracy. 

Mr Lwin said both sides were toning down their rhetoric against the 
other. "The government papers have stopped carrying provocative articles 
and cartoons and therefore we decided not to do anything that will be 
provocative," he said. 

Some sources in Rangoon say that Gen Nyunt's willingness to meet Ms Suu 
Kyi could be part of a power struggle between generals jockeying to 
succeed the ailing supreme leader, General Than Shwe. 

"An awful lot is going on behind the scenes in the corridors of power," 
one diplomat said. "I would not be surprised if this was linked to 
that." 

Public reaction to the dialogue has been mixed. The exiled All Myanmar 
Students' Democratic Front hailed the talks as a "historic breakthrough 
after 12 years of struggle". 

"We hope this dialogue will begin to overcome the major problems of 
civil war and bring about democratisation," it said. "This is the most 
positive sign we've seen since the election in 1990." 

Governments in south-east Asia were also encouraged by the dialogue. 

Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia said they hoped for further 
breakthroughs. 

One diplomat said the progress so far was the result of "doing things 
quietly, the Asean way" - a reference to the regional group's policy of 
"constructive engagement" with its member countries, rather than 
intervention. 

It is thought that Malaysia's prime minister, Mahathir Mohammad, 
stressed to the junta the importance of continuing the talks during a 
visit to Rangoon last week. 

Western governments were less effusive. The British Foreign Office 
minister John Battle said: "We hope these [talks] will soon lead to a 
substantive political breakthrough and look forward to the early release 
of Aung San Suu Kyi and her colleagues.es. We do not intend to relax our 
international pressure for respect for democracy and human rights for 
the Burmese people until we see real progress." 

Britain and the US have been leading a global campaign against the 
junta's oppression of the country's 46m people, including massive forced 
labour projects. 

The US secretary of state, Madeleine Albright, said it was crucial that 
Ms Suu Kyi should be "respected as a political leader and not, as was 
framed to me, as a 'little sister', that they had to take care of by 
keeping her in her house".-Dawn/Guardian News Service 







___________________________________________________




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___________________________________________________




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___________________________________________________





___________________ REGIONAL/INTERNATIONAL___________________
				

Associated Press: Thaksin says he will lead war against drugs 

January 12, 2001

CHIANG MAI, Thailand (AP) _ Thailand's prime minister apparent said 
Friday that fighting drugs would be a top priority of his government, 
but ruled out cross-border raids on narcotics factories in neighboring 
countries. 

 ``This is a war and we will fight a decisive battle against drugs,'' 
Thaksin Shinawatra, the leader of the Thai Rak Thai party, told 
reporters in his hometown. 

 It was his first visit to this northern town since his party won a 
landslide in the Jan. 6 election. He will take office after the Election 
Commission formally announces the results, which has been delayed 
because of vote counting irregularities in some places. 

 Thaksin said he would personally ``talk with our neighboring countries, 
namely Laos and Myanmar, about the problem.'' 

 Most of the illegal drugs in the region originate in the jungle 
laboratories of Myanmar's ethnic armies. The drug lords are increasingly 
producing methamphetamines, a synthetic drug, instead of heroin for 
bigger profits. 

 Thailand's Narcotics Control Board estimates that 600 million 
methamphetamine tablets worth 50 billion baht (dlrs 1.2 billion) would 
have been smuggled into Thailand from Myanmar last year. 

 The drug problem has been declared one of the biggest threats to the 
country, and officials say methamphetamine has become a bigger menace 
than heroin. The death penalty, which previously applied to traffickers 
in opium and heroin, was extended to cover methamphetamine.
 
 Thaksin said he will ask the Myanmar government to destroy ``all of 
drugs factories located along the joint border.'' 

 ``If they do not agree to destroy those, we will do,'' he said. 

 Asked, if that meant he will order cross-border raids, Thaksin said: 
``Do not guess or imagine anything. There are plenty of ways to solve 
the problem without using violence.'' He refused to elaborate. 

 Later, Thai Rak Thai spokesman Suranan Vejjajiva said sending troops to 
another country was out of the question. 

 ``No, that's not our policy. We will not raid another country,'' he 
said. ``The suppression policy will be based on our foreign policy,'' he 
told The Associated Press. 
 Thaksin said he will talk with Myanmar ``like friends.'' 

 ``Friends should help friends in solving problem. ... I think this is 
not an intervention in another country's internal affairs because 
neighboring countries should be frankly speaking together about the 
problems we are facing.''

___________________________________________________


AFP: Myanmar press accuses Thailand of supporting ethnic rebels 

YANGON, Jan 12 (AFP) - Myanmar's official press hit out at neighbouring 
Thailand Friday, accusing it of giving weapons and moral support to 
ethnic rebels along their common border as relations reached a new low. 

 "Successive Thai governments have over the years given sanctuary to 
Myanmar ethnic rebels along the common border with the intention of 
maintaining a 'buffer zone' between the two countries," the Mirror daily 
said.
 
 "This attempt to breathe life into a dying tiger is beginning to 
backfire and is causing a lot of headaches for them," it said, citing a 
string of violent incidents staged by ethnic rebels inside Thailand. 

 In December, rebel gunmen believed to be members of God's Army, a 
guerrilla band led by teenage twins Luther and Johnny Htoo, launched a 
raid on a Thai border town that left six people dead. 

 A rebel siege of Yangon's embassy in Bangkok in 1999, as well as last 
year's bloody hostage-taking at a provincial Thai hospital also strained 
relations between the neighbours. 
 The official press report said the border "buffer zone" had begun to 
disappear in recent times, thanks to peace deals the Myanmar government 
has forged with most of the armed rebel groups in the region. 

 In an effort to reinvigorate the ethnic militias Thailand was supplying 
them with arms under the pretext they were fighting narcotics production 
in border regions, it said. 

 International assistance "both legal or otherwise" was also being 
solicited, it added. 

 The tongue-lashing in the state media came despite expectations that 
relations would warm with the election last weekend of Thaksin 
Shinawatra and his Thai Rak Thai party. Senior members of Thaksin's 
entourage are seen as more sympathetic to the junta's position than the 
outgoing administration of Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai

 . 
___________________________________________________


AFP: Thai court orders aide to Myanmar drug lord held on remand 

BANGKOK, Jan 12 (AFP) - A Thai court Friday ordered the former private 
secretary of Myanmar drug lord Khun Sa be held on remand while the 
United States applies for his extradition. 

 Yang Wan-Hsuan, alias Lao Tai, was apprehended by Thai Narcotic 
Suppression forces Tuesday on the banks of the Mae Sai river in the 
northern province of Chiang Rai which borders Myanmar. 

 The United States, which posted a 2.0 million dollar reward for his 
capture, asked for his arrest in 1994 after he was indicted on serious 
drug trafficking charges. 

 Outside the court, Lao Tai denied allegations his arrest was 
pre-arranged by officials who agreed to split the 2.0 million dollar 
reward with him. 

 His apparently uneventful capture, conveniently close to the Thai 
border, after so many years of being on the run raised suggestions it 
may have been rigged. 

 "No it's not true, the Thai police just arrested me," he said in 
response to a question from the media pack. 

 Julasingh Wasantasingh of the office of Thailand's attorney general 
said he did not expect any delay in the extradition proceedings, which 
must be approved by a court. "We are ready now," he said. 

 "The US must send a full request to the Thai government within 60 days 
of the suspect being placed on remand," he said. 

 Lao Tai was indicted along with about 20 other suspected drug 
traffickers following a US investigation called "Operation Tiger Trap" 
that lasted several years. 

 So far thirteen suspects have been arrested and face trial in US, but 
seven are still at large. 
 The charges levelled against Lao Tai include conspiracy to import and 
distribute heroin in the United States. 

 US authorities have said Lao Tai faces a prison term of 20 years for 
each of the charges against him, but that they will not seek to seize 
his assets. 

 Thai police said Lao Tai has maintained close links to his former boss 
Khun Sa, who was until recently seen as the most powerful figure in the 
notorious golden triangle opium producing area that straddles Myanmar, 
Thailand and Laos. 

 Khun Sa ostensibly withdrew from the drugs business in 1996 after the 
signing of a ceasefire between Myanmar's military junta and his Mong Tai 
Army, which had been waging a separatist rebellion in eastern Myanmar 
for two decades. 

 Also wanted by the United States, Khun Sa, 64, now lives in Yangon, 
apparently with total immunity and the protection of the secret 
services. 


___________________________________________________



AFP: Mahathir's call for investment in Myanmar "a national disgrace" 

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 12 (AFP) - Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's call for 
more Malaysian investment in Myanmar is a "disgrace to the nation," a 
rights group said Friday. 
 The Suaram group accused Mahathir, who returned Tuesday from a 
week-long visit to Myanmar, of "taking advantage of the sufferings of 
the Burmese (Myanmar) people for profits." 
 Mahathir said on his return that the military government was trying to 
develop the country and its people. He reacted favourably to the junta's 
call for more Malaysian investment. 
 Suaram said in a statement that Mahathir had turned a blind eye to 
serious rights violations in Myanmar.
 
 It said the junta, which refuses to hand over power to the opposition 
despite losing a 1990 election, was holding at least 1,200 political 
prisoners, oppressing the opposition, seizing civilians for forced 
labour and killing members of ethnic minorities.
 
 Suaram said foreign investment "will only benefit the military junta as 
corruption and abuse of power is rampant in the government." 

 The UN envoy to Myanmar Razali Ismail, a Malaysian, has played a key 
role in promoting secret reconciliation talks between the junta and 
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, it emerged this week. 

 Malaysia practises what it calls a policy of constructive engagement 
with Myanmar, which joined the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in 
1997 with Kuala Lumpur's sponsorship. 

___________________________________________________



Reuters: Bangladesh and Myanmar in troop buildup over dam


COX'S BAZAR, Bangladesh, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Bangladesh and Myanmar have 
deployed thousands of troops along their border on rising tension over 
Myanmar's plan to build a dam on a river that divides them, witnesses 
and officials said on Friday. 

 The two sides exchanged gunfire across the river on Monday. 

 Bangladeshi officials say military-ruled Myanmar started building the 
dam last week on the river Naf, some 100 km (62 miles) southeast of 
Cox's Bazar, but halted construction after the shootout. 

 ``Myanmar has deployed not less than 35,000 troops close to the border 
in violation of an international convention,'' said Lieutenant-Colonel 
Rafiqur Rahman of the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), a paramilitary border 
force. 

 Both Bangladesh and Myanmar have restricted movement of civilians along 
the border, he told Reuters. 

 ``A major-general who commands the western wing of the Myanmar army 
visited the partly constructed dam and inspected the troop build up on 
Thursday,'' he added. 

 Bangladesh had also moved in some 10,000 paramilitary troops along the 
320 km (200 miles) frontier, witnesses said. 

 Convoys of trucks were seen moving with BDR troops and equipment 
towards the border over the past two days. 

 Usually only a few hundred troops are stationed on either side of the 
river, security officials said. 

 ``We have taken the necessary defensive measures and are determined to 
resist if Myanmar pushes ahead with the construction of the dam,'' said 
colonel Shawkat Ali, BDR sector commander in Cox's Bazar. 

 Bangladesh has nearly 40,000 paramilitary soldiers and over 150,000 
army troops. The strength of the Myanmar military was not known, the BDR 
official said. 

 EMBANKMENT FOR IRRIGATION 

 According to Bangladeshi officials, the dam is an embankment intended 
to divert water for irrigation and shrimp cultivation to the Myanmar 
side. 

 But they say it could cause flooding and erosion of Bangladesh 
territory, damaging shrimp farms on their side. It also violated a 1962 
agreement between Dhaka and Yangon not to build a dam on the river. 

 Abul Hasan Chowdhury, Bangladesh's State Minister for Foreign Affairs, 
described the situation as ``unfortunate.'' 

 ``We will continue to seek an amicable settlement with Myanmar,'' he 
told Reuters on Friday. 
 Myanmar had yet to respond to Bangladesh's concern over the dam, which 
was conveyed to the Myanmar ambassador in Dhaka earlier this week. ``We 
are waiting to hear from them while hoping for a peaceful resolution,'' 
he said. 

 The two countries fought a brief border battle in 1967 over a similar 
attempt by Myanmar to build a dam on the Naf. 


___________________________________________________


Bangkok Post: Intruder killed 

Jan. 12, 2001


Ratchaburi - A member of unidentified armed forces was killed and 
another wounded in a clash with security forces on the Thai-Burmese 
border yesterday. 

Border patrol police and rangers on Wednesday spotted a group of armed 
intruders in Suan Phung district, about 1km from the border. Both sides 
opened fire. 

Sources said the men might have been Karen intruders who raided a border 
village in tambon Suan Phung and killed six Thais early this month. 



___________________________________________________



The Independent (Bangladesh): Nasaka abducts 2 Bangladeshis

Jan. 11, 2001

 
The Myanmar security forces Nasaka abducted two Bangladeshi villagers 
from Tumbro border at gun point recently. The abducted Bangladeshis are 
Md. Alam (38), son of Abdur Rahman and Hamidul Hoque, son of Khollaya 
Mia of Tumbro village in Nikkongchari upazila. Sources said Nasaka 
abducted the Bangladeshis when Nasaka personnel were patrolling along 
the border line at noon. The 21 Rifles Battalion of Nikkongchari sent a 
protest letter to Nasaka authorities for release of the Bangladeshis. 

_______________ ECONOMY AND BUSINESS _______________
 

Myanmar Times: Minister claims 11pc growth   
  
Jan. 12, 2001

NATIONAL Planning and Development Minister U Soe Tha has used the forum 
provided by the eighth annual meeting of the country?s peak bean and 
pulse growers? association to convince local entrepreneurs of Myanmar?s 
positive economic outlook. He said Myanmar?s growth rate last year had 
been 10.9 per cent compared to single-digit figures across the rest of 
the South East Asian region. And in the first and second quarters of the 
2000-01 fiscal year Myanmar recorded 15.9pc and 14.7pc growth 
respectively, he said. Myanmar?s current account deficit had dropped 
from more than US$800m last fiscal year to US$500m according to the 
Ministry?s provisional figures, he said. ?So Myanmar?s economy has been 
in positive trends, and we need not care what any other countries are 
saying.? 



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