Daily News-November 30 - 2001- Friday

  • President Jiang Zemin to visit Burma in December
  • Burma hosts one-day Mekong ministerial conference
  • Rice exports expected to reach one million tons this year

    • President Jiang Zemin to visit Burma in December

    BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Nov 29, 2001
    Text of report in English by official Chinese news agency Xinhua (New China News Agency)

    Beijing, 29 November: Chinese President Jiang Zemin will pay a state visit to Myanmar from 12 to 15 December at the invitation of Senior General Than Shwe, chairman of the State Peace and Development Council of the Union of Myanmar [Burma], Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said here Thursday [29 December].

    China and Myanmar are friendly neighbours, and President Jiang's visit to Myanmar is a return visit to Than Shwe's China trip, according to Zhang.Jiang's visit is aimed at enhancing understanding, friendship and cooperation between the two countries, she said, adding that the two state leaders will exchange views on bilateral relations and issues of common concern.

    The two will also sign relevant documents of bilateral cooperation, according to the spokeswoman. The upcoming visit will consolidate and push forward the traditional good neighbourly relations and friendship between China and Myanmar in the new century, she said.

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    Burma hosts one-day Mekong ministerial conference

    BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Nov 29, 2001
    Text of report in English by official Chinese news agency Xinhua (New China News Agency)

    Yangon [Rangoon], 29 November: The 10th Ministerial Conference on Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Economic Cooperation opened here Thursday [29 November], participated by ministers of the six Mekong riparian countries - Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar [Burma], Thailand and Vietnam.

    The one-day conference, which is also attended by representatives of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), donor countries including Japan, and UN agencies, will mainly discuss development strategies for the next decade including projects on poverty alleviation, human resources development and economic development.

    Speaking at the opening of the conference, Secretary-1 of the Myanmar State Peace and Development Council Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt warned that the current global economic slowdown is posing new challenges to the individual nations as well as to the GMS."Even as each of us try to cope with these challenges, it also becomes imperative that economic cooperation in the region should be intensified," the Myanmar leader stressed.

    Recognizing that investment of multilateral and bilateral agencies as well as the private sectors in funding identified projects was vital, he said the various yearly conferences and ad hoc meetings helped foster dialogue and understanding among the six countries and continued participation of aid agencies and donor countries in its implementation.He pledged that Myanmar will continue to participate in GMS programmes to the best of its abilities.

    At the conference, ADB Vice-President (West) Myoung-Ho Shin said the 11 September terrorist attacks have worsen an already weak world economic outlook, causing downward revisions to growth forecasts.He stressed the importance for GMS countries to work together to benefit from each other's strengths.

    Myoung-Ho Shin noted that ADB is optimistic about the long-term growth prospects for the subregion, adding, however, that there is no room for complacency in these difficult and challenging times.Pointing out that the conference is designed to help the GMS address these issues and challenges, the ADB vice-president said the agenda includes consideration and adoption of a 10-year strategic framework for the GMS Programme.He also pointed out that the proposed framework for the coming decade is more inclusive not only in terms of sectors and issues covered, but also in terms of partnership with all stakeholders.

    Myoung-Ho Shin disclosed that ADB loan assistance to date for the 10 major infrastructure projects totals 772m US dollars, adding that co-financing by GMS development partners has pushed financing support to over 1bn dollars with technical assistance amounting to over 40m dollars.He further pointed out that initiatives of the draft strategic framework require some 950 million dollars in loan and technical assistance for 2002-04.

    Noting that the implementation of the ASEAN Free Trade Agreement and a new round of WTO (World Trade Organization) negotiations strengthen the need for regional cooperation, he went on to say that "the GMS programme can make a significant contribution to ensuring all member countries are on a level playing field."The GMS Economic Cooperation was initiated by the ADB in 1992 to bring together countries along Mekong River and chart the road map for peace and progress in the subregion.Since then, over a hundred projects for the six countries were identified and the much needed projects software was drawn up. However, in the first decade, not many of the projects could be implemented due to financing constraints, indicating that the gradual build-up is occurring in the next decade.The ninth Ministerial Conference of the GMS Economic Cooperation was held in Manila, the Philippines, in January 2000.

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    Rice exports expected to reach one million tons this year

    BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Nov 29, 2001
    Text of report in English by Myo Lwin, carried by Burmese newspaper The Myanmar Times web site on 29 November

    Rice exports are expected to reach one million tonnes this year, more than four times the amount sold in overseas markets last year. "We have exported 300,000 tonnes during the last six months and expect to be able to export another 700,000 tonnes in the next six months," said Myanma [Burma] Agricultural Product Trading's [MAPT] deputy general manager, U Myo Oo.

    MAPT, which is under the Ministry of Commerce, exported 230,000 tonnes of rice in the fiscal year ending last 31 March. Last year's figure was up sharply on the 137,000 tonnes sold by MAPT in 1999 to Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh and some African countries.Most of the rice being exported this year is fair average quality and is expected to fetch about 120 US dollars a tonne. Rice exports are handled by the government.

    Meanwhile, the harvest season is well under way amid expectations that it will exceed the 12.5m tonnes produced last year. This year's expected harvest is 13m tonnes.About 1.5m acres of monsoon paddy had been harvested up until the end of last week, resulting in a yield of about 1.5m tonnes, said Department of Agricultural Planning director, U Hla Kyaw.Newly harvested rice being threshed last week near Pha-ya-gon village, in Thanlyin [Syriam] township, about 15 miles southeast of downtown Yangon.

    "For the whole year, we expect about 10m tonnes of paddy from the monsoon crop and three million tonnes of summer paddy," said U Hla Kyaw. Summer paddy had been sown on about 200,000 acres at the end of last week. Planting is continuing and the Department of Agricultural Planning expects the crop will be grown on a total of three million acres.

    Planting had begun in October and would continue in some areas, such as hilly regions of Shan State, until the January, he said. Monsoon paddy is usually planted from May to September. U Hla Kyaw said the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation was negotiating with Malaysian companies such as Bernas and Petronas for export orders of quality rice totalling 13,000 tonnes.

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