Dec 16, 2003 Issue # 2388

INSIDE BURMA
BBC Monitor: Burma Outlines Plans for Democratic Transition During
Meetings in Thailand
Narinjara: Force labour for construction Ngapali Sea beach tourism complex
Xinhua: Myanmar making efforts to tackle environmental issues
Xinhua: Myanmar anticipates more active ASEAN-Japan cooperation
UPI: Myanmar army 'tortures' child recruits

ON THE BORDER
Irrawaddy: Police Raid Migrants in Mae Sot

DRUGS
Irrawaddy: Junta's War on Drugs 'A Charade'
Shan: Poppies blossom in the north - again

BUSINESS / MONEY
Xinhua: Myanmar's fishery exports decline

REGIONAL
Nation: Bangkok meet sees progress on road map
Japan Times: Rengo backs detained Myanmar activist

OPINION / OTHER
World Markets Research: One-Day Talks Prompt Ruling Junta to Pledge New
Constitution for Myanmar



INSIDE BURMA
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Dec 16, BBC Monitor
Burmese PM meets Japanese House of Representatives members, officials

Source: TV Myanmar, Rangoon, in Burmese - Text of report by Burmese TV on
14 December

Gen Khin Nyunt, prime minister of the Union of Myanmar Burma , received Mr
Tomo Takahara, president of the Myanmar Economic and Management Institute,
at the guest hall of the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo at 0800 on 11 December.
At the meeting, they discussed the enhancement of Myanmar-Japan friendship
existed for a long time throughout the history; cooperation in the
development of Myanmar ICT Information and Communication Technology ;
successful holding of the 6th Myanmar-Japan Chamber of Commerce Meeting in
Japan; cooperation in Myanmar's education sector; and the holding of World
Buddhism Summit in Myanmar in 2004.

At 0830, Gen Khin Nyunt received Mr Hideo Watanabe, member of the Japanese
House of Councillor, at the guest hall of the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo. At
the meeting, promotion of Myanmar-Japan friendly relations and cooperation
in economic and health sectors were discussed.

At 0900, Gen Khin Nyunt received Mr Koichi Kato, member of the House of
Representatives of Japan, and Mr Iwakura, senior adviser to Liberal
Democratic Party of Japan, at the guest hall of the Imperial Hotel. At the
meeting, status on Myanmar's drugs elimination endeavours; cultivation of
opium-substitute buckwheat; and joint drug elimination tasks between the
government and national races leaders were discussed.

At 0930, Gen Khin Nyunt received Mr Yohei Sasagawa, president of the
Nippon Foundation, at the guest hall of the Imperial hotel. At the
meeting, cooperation of Sasagawa Foundation in Myanmar; implementation of
seven-point future programme of Myanmar; peace talk negotiations between
the government and national armed group members, and enhancement of
Myanmar-Japan friendship and economic cooperation were discussed.

At 1000, Gen Khin Nyunt received Mr Yoichi Yamaguchi, former Japanese
ambassador to Myanmar and NGO Asia Maternal and Child Welfare Association
president, at the guest hall of the Imperial Hotel. At the meeting,
assistance provided to social sector of Myanmar including Maternal and
Child Welfare Association was discussed.

At 1130, Gen Khin Nyunt received Mr Chigemoto Okuda, Japan-Myanmar
Economic Cooperation president, at the guest hall of the Imperial Hotel.
At the meeting, promotion of air transport between the two countries and
development of Myanmar tourism industry were discussed.

At all of these meetings Gen Khin Nyunt was accompanied by U Win Aung,
minister of foreign affairs; U Khin Maung Win and U Kyaw Thu, deputy
foreign affairs ministers; U Saw Hla Min, Myanmar ambassador to Japan; U
Soe Tint, director-general of the Government Office, Thura U Aung Htet,
director-general of the Protocol Department and U Aung Bwa,
director-general the ASEAN Affairs Department.

In the evening at the guest hall of the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, Gen Khin
Nyunt received Maj-Gen Shusuke Kayanuma of the Ministry of Defence of
Japan and wife, and Col Hirofumi Yusa who discharged duties of military
attaches of Japan in Myanmar. They were accompanied by Mr Yuji Miyamoto,
Japanese ambassador to Myanmar.

Present at the call together with Gen Khin Nyunt were U Win Aung, minister
of foreign affairs; U Khin Maung Win, deputy foreign minister; U Saw Hla
Min, Myanmar ambassador to Japan; Col Hla Myint, military attache and
departmental heads.

At the call, the former military attaches thanked for the convenience in
discharging their duties while in Myanmar because of the cooperation and
assistance of the Myanmar authorities. They said that they can never
forget the period they lived in Myanmar.
_____________________________

Dec 16, Narinjara
Force labour for construction Ngapali Sea beach tourism complex

Sandoway, Dec 16: Large number of valuable timber trees were being felled
for the construction of tourism complex, in Ngapali sea beach of Sandoway
in Arakan state, by the military headquarters of western command of Burma
and locals were being used as unpaid forced labour, a report said.

It is learnt that the military personnel were also building permanent
quarters inside the reserve forest, at Khamong village of Talaing daung
village track under the Ann Township, to extract valuable woods from these
reserve forest.

The villagers were being used for forced labour for various works like
construction of houses, locating of specific trees and logging them
without any payments.

One victim said, not only do the villagers have to supply their physical
labour free of cost but also have to provide buffaloes.

"We are being forced by the military personnel," said a villager of
Khamong. The villagers not only have to work without any payments but they
even have to manage food and water on their own.

Force labourer for logging was being extracted from the following
villages: Kalaing daung, Khamong, Mhroy, Raymathin and two other Chin
tribal villagers Hang Royk and Pathagrow under the Ann township.

The SPDC and the military junta are in a hurry to build complexes to
attract foreign tourists at Ngapali seaside. They are using country's
natural resources, valuable timber and force labourer, to execute this.

It is should be mentioned that at Ann township price of a ton of wood is
Kyat 1,50,000, 4,00,000 in Sittwe and 2,00,000 in Sandoway, a Timber
merchant told the reporter.
_____________________________

Dec 16, Xinhua
Myanmar making efforts to tackle environmental issues

The Myanmar government has been making efforts to tackle the country's
environmental issues with an aim to ensuring its economic development
undertakings while protecting the environment, Myanmar Times reported
Tuesday.

A National Commission on Environmental Affairs was set up in February 1990
and a National Environmental Policy was formulated in 1994, followed by
the drawing up of the Myanmar Agenda 21 in 1997 to provide guidelines for
national environmental protection activities in the 21st century.

The government has allocated 38 places as wildlife sanctuaries or national
parks, and taken measures to ensure that commercial extraction of
timber be conducted on a sustainable annual allowable quota that will
leave the country's forest resources intact for future generations.

Meanwhile, the country's forests, wildlife and scenic areas are being
conserved under related acts and a total of 8.73 million hectares have
been placed under forestation or reforestation under a project of
greening the dry zone in central Myanmar.

In the industrial sector, the government has grouped industrial
enterprises into industrial zones in an effort to reduce pollution of
other municipal areas to minimum.

The government has also regulated the safety level of industrial
pollutants from factories, setting ceilings for the emissions of
atmospheric pollutants, such as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and
nitrogen oxide as well as dust particles in the air.

In the mining sector, regulations on the disposal, treatment and recycling
of industrial waste are being carefully made under international
guidelines.

In the agricultural sector, the government is closely monitoring the use
of agricultural pesticides which contain heavy metals in order to prevent
contamination from their toxic chemicals.

In the education sector, the government attaches crucial importance to
environmental education, especially in environmental protection,
introducing the subject of environmental studies in the curricula of
universities.

Myanmar has signed into the Vienna Convention for the Protection of Ozone
Layer in 1988, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification and
the New York Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of
Wild Flora and Fauna CITES in 1997.

Myanmar, along with 12 other Asian nations, has implemented the Least-Cost
Greenhouse Gas Abatement Strategy, a project dealing with biodiversity and
climatic change issues.
_____________________________

Dec 16, Xinhua
Myanmar anticipates more active ASEAN-Japan cooperation: Media

Myanmar anticipates more active cooperation between the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations ( ASEAN) and Japan in international affairs, said
official newspaper The New Light of Myanmar on Monday.

Such cooperation is possible as Japan remains not only a major trade
partner of ASEAN but also the biggest investor of the ASEAN region, the
paper said in an editorial.

The editorial came after Myanmar Prime Minister General Khin Nyunt
returned from a two-day ASEAN-Japan Commemorative Summit held in Tokyo
last Thursday and Friday.

Myanmar also anticipates that ASEAN-Japan cooperation in fighting
terrorism, narcotic drug trafficking, disarmament and cross-border crimes
will be further strengthened due to latest international developments and
changes, it said.

The editorial hailed the pledge of Japan to provide assistance for
development of infrastructures, information and communication technology
and human resources development of the four newer ASEAN members of
Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, saying that the move will contribute
much to the whole ASEAN region.

Noting that there are many sectors of possible cooperation between ASEAN
and Japan, the editorial added that Myanmar looks forward to enhancing
cooperation between ASEAN and Japan in economy and development
undertakings for the improvement of the living standard of the regional
people, stressing the paramount importance of human resources development
for regional members.
_____________________________

Dec 16, United Press International
Myanmar army 'tortures' child recruits

The Myanmar army regularly forces children into service, beats them and
prevents contact with their families, according to two recent deserters.

In an interview with Radio Free Asia's Burmese service, Cpl. Than Naing
said that military recruiters would drag away boys, ages 13 and 14, as
they left school. He and his companion, Yan Paing Soe, had both been
conscripted in this way as teenagers.

Though some parents are able to locate their children and pay for their
release, it was seven years before Than Naing succeeded in contacting his
family.

The men said the children were poorly fed and forced to do the same labor
as adult men.

"It was as if they were torturing the soldiers," Yan Paing Soe told RFA.

The two men were among 26 soldiers who defected to the opposition Shan
State Army in the border region near Thailand on Nov. 24 and Nov. 26,
after killing their commanding officers.

It was an unprecedented act in a country governed by a military junta, in
which military officers enjoy wide-ranging powers and lead privileged
lives.

In a report earlier this year, the New York-based Human Rights Watch
claimed that soldiers aged 11 to 18 make up 20 percent of Myanmar's
troops. The government denies that it employs child soldiers.

Myanmar was formerly known as Burma.


ON THE BORDER
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Dec 16, Irrawaddy
Raid Migrants in Mae Sot

Thai police raided a monastery today in the border town of Mae Sot, where
about 260 Burmese migrant workers were planning to sue their Thai employer
for insufficient pay. Witnesses in town said the police would deport all
of them back to Burma in a few days.

This afternoon dozens of police officers surrounded a monastery where the
workers, including about 200 women, were camping after they had decided
not to continue work at Nasawat Apparel garment factory and to file
charges against the factory, said Ye Htut who witnessed the incident.

Ye Htut, a member of the Mae Sot-based Yaung Chi Oo, a Burmese workersﾂ’
association, said the police first arrested Dr Khin Sein, a Burmese
physician who was helping the workers at the monastery. They then tried to
arrest 25 of the leading workers, but other workers prevented police from
doing so. He added that later the police beat and arrested all the
workers.

It is unclear how many workers were injured in the clash, but Ye Htut said
that all workers were being detained at the Immigration Detention Center
in Mae Sot, and would be deported to Burma soon. In accordance with
Burmese law, workers deported to Burma can face up to seven years in
prison for leaving Burma illegally.

All workers at the Nasawat factory walked out after the employer fired 25
workers last week. The workers had led a demonstration in November to
demand fair wages and fair treatment, said Moe Swe, leader of the Yaung
Chi Oo Association. He said the employers initially agreed to the workersﾂ’
demands and also pledged not to fire the leaders. However, the 25 workers
were dismissed on Thursday.

Moe Swe said that police confronted the workers while they were planning
to file charges with the aid of his association and other NGOs working
with migrant workers. He added that the workers were paid half the minimum
wage of 133 baht (US $3.20) a day.

Mae Sot lies opposite the Burmese border town of Myawaddy and has over
80,000 Burmese migrants working in garment factories, agriculture,
construction and in private homes as domestic workers.


DRUGS
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Dec 16, Irrawaddy
Junta's War on Drugs 'A Charade'

Burmaﾂ’s military government is striving to gain international legitimacy
and earn more foreign aid to shore up its ailing economy by launching a
drug eradication program in the country, yet the campaign is just a
charade according to a report published last week.

"Show Business," an investigative analysis of Rangoonﾂ’s ﾂ‘war on drugsﾂ’ in
Shan State published by the Thailand-based Shan Herald Agency for News
(SHAN), concluded, "Only political reform can solve Burmaﾂ’s problems."

At the end of 2001, the Burmese military government initiated its campaign
against opium production in Shan State, aiming to reduce output by 50% in
the 2003-2004 opium growing season. According to the report, the juntaﾂ’s
drug campaign selectively targeted northern Shan State, affecting mostly
poor farmers in "unprotected areas," which have been subject to mass
arrests and extrajudicial killings.

However, the campaign has been careful to avoid poppy plantation areas
under the control of ethnic armed groups that have forged ceasefire
agreements with the government. It seems that the "crackdown" allows
numerous local ethnic militia and ceasefire organizations to produce drugs
in exchange for cooperation with the government. Southern and eastern Shan
State has hardly been affected at all, the report says.

The report claims that the junta and its allies still run at least 93
heroin and methamphetamine refineries in Shan State, even after some small
refineries were burnt down by the junta. It also states that Burmese
military personnel are involved in all levels of opium production and
trafficking, from providing loans to opium farmers and security for
refineries to collecting taxes on opium and storing and transporting
heroin.

The UN Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) project in Burma, funded by the
United States, Germany, Japan and Italy, is aimed at developing a
sustainable approach to changes wrought by the opium ban. The UNODC
received US $2.3 mi