Mungpi
Mizzima News
October 13, 2008
New Delhi – Attempting to boost bilateral trade, India will seek the opening of two more trade centres along the porous Indo-Burma, when Jairam Ramesh, Minister of State for Commerce and Power visits Burma for two-day, (October 14 to 15), talks with junta officials in the Southeast Asian country's second largest city, Mandalay.
According to a press statement from the Indian Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Ramesh, who will lead an official delegation for trade and investment, will raise the "Indian desire" to expand border trade with Burma by opening two more trade points along the 1,600-kilometre porous border the two countries share.
With only one trade point in Moreh town in Manipur state currently operational along the border, India will propose two additional centres in "Avangkhu in Nagaland and Zowkhathar in Mizoram, which happens to be a long-standing demand of these two states," the statement said.
Ramesh, who will be visiting Burma for the third time this year, will also propose the expansion of the number of items to be traded, which currently stands at 22, in view of moving towards free trade in these centres.
India and Burma in recent years have maintained regular high-level visits to discuss bilateral relationship. Observers view Ramesh's visit, which will begin on Tuesday, as another trip to appease the military generals that have ruled the country since 1962.
"This trip is a part of the two countries [India and Burma] strategy to boost bilateral relationship," said Dr. Tint Swe, a minister of the Burmese government – National coalition Government of Union of Burma, in exile.
Ramesh will also reiterate India's offer to include Burma in the duty free tariff preference scheme, which India has announced for Least Developed Countries (LDCs), the statement said.
Following the talks in Mandalay, Ramesh and the Burmese Prime Minister Lt-Gen Thein Sein on October 16, will inaugurate a Centre for Enhancement of IT Skills set up in Rangoon with Indian assistance of $ 2 million.
The Centre will be run by Indian professionals and will train 1000 youths every year and students will be initially awarded with a diploma certificate of the Pune-based Centre for the Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), which is an institution under the Ministry of Information Technology.
Look-East Policy
Dr. Tint Swe, who is based in New Delhi and who has been vociferous in his criticism of India's 'Look East' policy, said the proposal for the two trade points are in line with India's look east policy, which according to him has failed.
"India, while it wants to appease the Burmese junta, also seeks to tell the people of the Northeast that it is implementing development projects for them," Dr. Tint Swe said.
He said, for more than a decade, the look east policy has not brought any sustainable development to the people of Northeast India as well as the Burmese people on the other side of the border.
"India is miscalculating and should realise that the look east policy is failing after more than a decade of experience," he added.
Under the look east policy of India, first introduced in the early 1990s, India began to cosy up to Burma's military rulers by building roads, opening border trade, providing financial loans, giving technological assistance and even by supplying military hardware.
According to analysts, India has been vigorously pushing for a warmer bilateral relationship to counter the growing Chinese influence on Burma, and to tame its growing insurgency in its Northeastern states, who use Burmese soil as a safe haven to fight the central government.
But Dr. Tint Swe said despite India's efforts, Burma's military rulers are playing their own game and are using India to show the world that it has the support of the largest democracy.
"India cannot achieve the objectives that it hopes through its look east policy," Dr. Tint Swe said.
Northeast connection
Meanwhile, a student body in India's north eastern states said the Indian government's plan to propose two more trade points along the border with Burma will provide no significant benefits to the people of the region but will be applauded by a few businessmen.
Muanpuia, Vice Chairman of the North East Students Organisation (NESO), an apex student body of northeast India, said, "The look east policy of India overlooks the interest of the people of the Northeast."
"The benefits of the two trade points will directly go to the military junta of Burma and to the Indian government," said Muanpuia, adding that the Centre is just trying to appease the people of northeastern states by opening the trade centres while it seeks to gain the support of the Burmese generals.
"India first of all should not deal with the Burmese military junta, and it should stop claiming that it is helping the northeastern states to develop," Muanpuia added.
Instead, he said, India should review the 'Look East' policy as it does not bring any benefits to the people of the Northeast while the junta in Burma is claiming that it is being supported by the world's largest democracy to continue its rule.
NSN Lotha, advisor of the NESO, said the trade centres, if opened, will not provide substantial benefits to the people of Northeast but will be a vantage point for India to bargain with the Burmese military government for closer cooperation.
India in the past two decades has tried in several ways to appease the Burmese military government. According to the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, India's exports to Burma for the fiscal year 2007-08 accounted for about $ 185 million, while its imports from Burma is valued at around $ 810 million, comprising mostly of pulses. Burma thus enjoys a substantial trade surplus with India.
However, despite targeting a US $ 1 billion trade in 2006-07, it fell short with a trade volume of only at US $ 650 million. However, Indo-Burmese bilateral trade has been increasing with the trade amount reaching US $ 557.68 million in 2005-06, which is 25 per cent up from the previous year, 2004-05, when it stood at US $ 341.40 million.
Monday, October 13, 2008
More trade points on Indo-Burma border; Is it beneficial?
Britain pledges to do all it can for Burma
Mungpi & Solomon
Mizzima News
October 13, 2008
New Delhi - The British government has pledged it will do all it can to help usher in democracy in Burma. This was in response to an online petition submitted by campaigners in United Kingdom.
The British government's response to the petition, which is posted on the Prime Minister's website (www.number10.gov.uk/Page17117), said the political situation in Burma has continued to be a priority for the Government and the Prime Minister personally over the last 12 months. It pledged that it will do all it can to help the people of Burma.
"The Government will continue to do all it can to help the people of Burma achieve the peaceful, prosperous and democratic future they deserve," the response said.
The Government was responding to an online petition launched by the Burma Campaign UK in the wake of the brutal suppression of peaceful protesters in September 2007 by Burma's military rulers.
The response, posted on October 9, also extended the Government's concern over the Burmese peoples' plight, who not only endure continued oppression at the hands of the military regime, but also faced the devastating impact of Cyclone Nargis, which lashed the country in May, killing tens of thousands and devastated more than 2.4 million lives.
The online petition signed by more than 5,000 people congratulated the British Government for continuously supporting the Burmese democracy movement but urged Prime Minister Gordon Brown to personally engage world leaders on the issue of Burma and set a time frame and benchmarks for change.
"We call on the Prime Minister to set benchmarks and timelines for change in Burma, after which, if no progress has been made, steps will be taken to increase political and economic pressure on the regime," the petition said.
Meanwhile, a Burmese human rights activist, Zoya Phan, on Monday highlighted the sufferings of Burmese people under the repressive rule during her talk at the 12th annual Forum 2000 Conference being held in Prague, in the Czech Republic.
Zoya Phan, International Coordinator of the BCUK, who is attending the conference being held from October 12 to 14, said she was able to make a great number of people aware on the situation in Burma.
"A lot of people don't know about Burma, after my speech they came to me and asked about the country," Phan said.
Phan is on a lobbying trip to the Czech Republic and is one of the speakers at the conference which is being attended by senior politicians from all over the world, including former Presidents, Prime Ministers, and opposition leaders from Russia, Zimbabwe and other countries with terrible human rights records.
"Still most people in European countries don't know what is going on there [in Burma] and governments are still doing business with the regime, while they are not giving enough humanitarian assistance [to the Burmese people],"Mark Farmaner, Director of the BCUK said.
Zoya Phan is the daughter of the deceased Pado Mahn Shar La Phan, leader of ethnic Karen rebels, Karen National Union, and is currently residing in UK, where she is actively involved in campaigning and lobbying on the issue of Burma.
Eight opposition youth arrested
Mizzima News
Than Htike Oo
October 13, 2008
Chiang Mai – Burma’s ruling junta, continuing its detention of opposition activists, has arrested eight youth for their alleged involvement in the dissemination of politically sensitive tracts.
Four members of Generation Wave and four other youth were arrested on the 9th and 10th of October for their believed to be connection with the distribution of anti-government pamphlets.
"They were arrested at 4 p.m. after distributing pamphlets. It seems they were followed by someone after distributing the pamphlets and were all later arrested from one of their houses," said Moe Thway of Generation Wave.
Seven youth were arrested from a house in South Okkalapa Township on the 9th of October and another was arrested the following day, based on statements given during interrogation.
Moe Thway said the pamphlets, bearing the Generation Wave logo, incorporate the words, '2008: The end of dictatorship.'
The whereabouts of arrested Generation Wave members Khaing Mon (also know as Nyein Chan), Ye Thu Ko (also knows as Nyi Nyi), Zin Min Aung and Aung Paing are still not known.
However, the four others – as of yet unidentified – are being held at the South Okkalapa Police Station.
Following last year's monk-led protests, known as the Saffron Revolution, several youth began forming clandestine activist groups, a movement which has slowly gained in momentum.
In one of the distributed pamphlets, Generation Wave urges people to topple the military regime through a mass movement like the 2007 protests.
Thailand, Singapore further energy investments in Burma
Mizzima News
October 13, 2008
Thailand and Singapore have upped the stakes in the quest to secure access to Burma's lucrative energy market, agreeing to a further investment into hydropower production with the ruling junta last Thursday.
According to yesterday's New Light of Myanmar, Burmese officials, on October 9, inked the latest memorandum of understanding (MoU) on hydropower projects with the Thai-based Italian-Thai Development Public Co. Ltd and the Singapore-based Windfall Energy Services Ltd of the British Virgin Islands.
The MoU, for a reported 600 megawatt hydropower project, is but the latest in a series of investments in Burma's hydropower market, as regional actors race to secure resources to meet burgeoning domestic energy needs.
The hydropower plant, to be located in Burma's southern Tanintharyi Division, will reportedly produce over 35 billion kwh annually.
Just last month, India invested in two similarly scaled projects, while Burma's second in-charge, Vice-Senior General Maung Aye, discussed the prospects of additional hydropower plants with Bangladesh counterparts in Dhaka last week.
China and South Korea, in addition to Thailand, India, Singapore and Bangladesh, have also been actively engaged in Burma's hydropower market over recent years.
Foreign direct investment (FDI) in Burma, said by the United States Department of State to be just under 15 billion dollars as of the close November 2007, is dominated in dollar terms by hydropower projects.
Hydropower projects represent 43 percent of FDI in Burma as of 2008, and account for twice as much as the oil and gas sector and six times the figure for hotels and tourism.
Thailand is far and away the biggest supplier of FDI to Burma, accounting for half the total. Britain, for whom the Department of State includes British territories such as the British Virgin Islands, is listed as the second biggest source of FDI to the cash-strapped Southeast Asian country, providing an infusion of some 1.9 billion dollars.
FDI in Burma is now at the highest level it has achieved since 1988.
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