Daily News- January 20 - 2002- Sunday

  • Drugs flowing into Thailand despite Myanmar cooperation
  • Myanmar's Imports, Exports Up in 1st 10 Months of 2001
  • Myanmar Crude Oil Production Increases by 22.6 Percent in 1st 10 Months of 2001
  • Myanmar Lacquerware Festival Opens in Ancient City

    • Drugs flowing into Thailand despite Myanmar cooperation

    BANGKOK, Jan 20 (AFP) - Some 800 million methamphetamines pills are expected to flow into Thailand this year from drug labs inside Myanmar, fuelling a huge addiction crisis, military officials told the Bangkok Post Sunday.Lieutenant-General Noraset Issarangkul na Ayudhya told the daily that the drug trade was likely to increase in 2002 despite improving relations between Thailand and Myanmar which should have facilitated anti-narcotics operations.

    Noraset, head of the Joint Operation Command Centre, said the Red Wa -- an ethnic militia accused of controlling the trade -- were merely producing more drugs to counter the increased suppression activities.The group, which has signed a ceasefire with Myanmar's military junta, was operating 61 drug factories and had 200 million pills hidden in border areas awaiting distribution, he said.

    To foil the increased surveillance on the border, drug gangs were replacing bulk shipments with "ant armies" -- large numbers of drug mules who carry small amounts into Thailand in backpacks."To combat drugs, cooperation in intelligence work is a must. We must not keep information to ourselves but share it with concerned agencies for analysis and use," Noraset told the Post.

    A health ministry survey last year found that some 2.65 million Thais, or 4.3 percent of the population, are hooked on drugs -- the vast majority to methamphetamines.Yaaba has been found everywhere from primary schools to nightclubs. Thai authorities estimate that more than 700 million methamphetamine pills were trafficked into Thailand last year, while the United Nations already puts the figure at 800 million tablets.

    The drugs trade has been a perennial irritant to relations between Thailand and Myanmar.Tensions flared between the two countries last March when their armies clashed after becoming embroiled in fighting between the Red Wa and another ethnic army backed by the Thai military.The incident sparked a six-month row that was defused when their two leaders exchanged official visits over the last half of 2001.

    However, Thai Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai called for greater efforts to control the narcotics trade earlier this month at the start of talks with his Myanmar counterpart Win Aung. Surakiart paid tribute to stronger links forged with Myanmar, and said better cross-border coordination had led to "a series of arrests of major drugs traffickers."

    "We are asserting tremendous pressure on the drugs syndicates. But we still have a long way to go in eliminating or even to see a clear reduction in the volume of narcotic drugs that are threatening our societies," he said."Much more energy, resources and determination will still be required for us in our war against the drugs menace."

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    Myanmar's Imports, Exports Up in 1st 10 Months of 2001

    YANGON, Jan 20, 2002 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- The value of Myanmar's imports and exports totaled 4,306 million U.S. dollars in the first ten months of 2001, up 28.72 percent from the same period of 2000, the country's Central Statistical Organization (CSO) said in its latest data.

    Of the total, imports were valued at 2,416.7 million dollars, increasing by 20.59 percent, while exports amounted to 1,889.3 million dollars, rising by 40.99 percent. However, the trade deficit stood at 527.4 million dollars during the period, 20.57 percent less than that in the same period of 2000, the CSO said.

    During the period, the import value of intermediate goods, capital goods and consumer goods accounted for 39.89 percent, 33.54 percent and 26.57 percent of the total imports respectively. The data show that there are 14 countries and regions in the world with which Myanmar is mainly trading. Of them, Thailand had the largest bilateral trade volume with Myanmar during the ten-month period with 744.53 million dollars, followed by Singapore (694.9 million), Malaysia (431.25 million), Japan (379.81 million), India (329.24 million) and Republic of Korea (328.61 million).

    The statistics also show that Myanmar's bilateral trade with five member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations(ASEAN) -- Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines -- totaled 1,978.23 million dollars in the first ten months of 2001, up 49 percent from the same period of 2000.

    The regional bilateral trade accounted for 45.86 percent of Myanmar's total foreign trade during the ten-month period with its import from these ASEAN members representing 1,109.62 million dollars and its exports taking up 868.61 million dollars. The figures also indicate that Myanmar's private sector accounted for 1,479.89 million dollars or 61.23 percent of the total import value, while it made up 940.44 million dollars or 49.57 percent of the total export value in its foreign trade during the period.

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    Myanmar Crude Oil Production Increases by 22.6 Percent in 1st 10 Months of 2001

    YANGON, Jan 20, 2002 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- Myanmar produced a total of 3.91 million barrels of crude oil in the first ten months of 2001, 22.6 percent more than the same period of 2000, according to the latest corrected data issued by the country's Central Statistical Organization (CSO).

    During the period, the country yielded 7,332.51 million cubic-meters of natural gas, up 12.5 percent from the corresponding period of 2000. Meanwhile, during the 10-month period, the country imported 209.89 million U.S. dollars worth of crude oil to meet its domestic demand, increasing by 247.67 percent from the same period of 2000.

    The CSO figures also show that Myanmar exported 5,138.97 million cubic meters of natural gas in the first 10 months of 2001, up 347.88 percent from the corresponding period of 2000 and the export earning went to 477.89 million dollars, 359.9 percent more than the same period of a year earlier.

    Other official statistics show that since Myanmar opened to foreign investment in late 1988, such investment in the oil and gas sector coming from oil companies of Australia, Britain, France, Indonesia, Japan, Thailand and the United States has reached 2.355 billion dollars in 51 projects, taking up 31.8 percent of the country's total contracted foreign investment by sector.

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    Myanmar Lacquerware Festival Opens in Ancient City

    YANGON, Jan 19, 2002 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- A Myanmar Lacquerware Festival was inaugurated Saturday in Bagan, the country's ancient city in northern Mandalay division.

    The five-day lacquerware festival, sponsored by the Cottage Industries Department of the Myanmar Ministry of Cooperatives, is aimed at publicizing the country's traditional lacquerware at home and abroad and promoting the standard of Myanmar lacquerware.

    At the festival, where a wide range of lacquerware, Myanmar artistic handicrafts and personal goods will be put on sale, will also be attached with activities covering talks on lacquerware, related paper reading sessions and lacquerware contests.

    Myanmar's lacquerware enjoy a relatively high degree of popularity domestically and internationally. There are many categories of Myanmar lacquerware which include daily household necessities and handicrafts.

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