Burma10.com | NEWS, CULTURE AND TRAVEL FROM MYANMAR
| RANGOON | MANDALAY | INLE LAKE | BAGAN |
--------------------------------------
|
|
25 February 2008
Myanmar plans opening of second border trade zone by next month
Myanmar is working for the emergence of its second border trade zone of Myawaddy and the formal opening of the trade zone opposite to neighboring Thailand is expected by the end of next month, one of the leading local weekly journals reported Monday.
The 188-hectare Myawaddy trade zone in southeastern Kayin state bordering Thailand's Maesot, which is to highlight export of Myanmar marine products, started building in 2006 in a bid to push transformation of border trade into normal trade, said the Weekly Eleven News.
The Myawaddy trade zone is to stand the second largest zone of its kind in Myanmar after the Muse 105th Mile Border Trade Zone with China's Ruili in southwestern Yunnan province which opened in April 2006.
Besides Myawaddy, Myanmar also trades with Thailand at Tachilek, Kawthoung and Meik (Free on Board) under the border trade system.
Meanwhile, Myanmar is deliberating to open one more border trade zone in Phaya Thonzu with Thailand to boost such trade activities between the two countries, another leading local weekly Yangon Times reported earlier.
Ogawa enters Myanmar market
Health and wellness equipment retailer Ogawa World Bhd has established a foothold in Myanmar and is close to naming a distributor for the Indian market, said its executive director Louis Chong.
He said a distributorship agreement for Myanmar was signed in January and Ogawa’s products would hit the market soon. “We hope to start our business in Yangon in one or two months and in Mandalay around June,” he told The Edge Financial Daily .
Ogawa would market its full range of products there as luxury items targeting the “cream” of consumers. In Malaysia, Ogawa has positioned its products for the middle and upper segments of the consumer market with an emphasis on lifestyle.
“We are very confident of the Myanmar market as the people there are becoming more affluent. We are going to have aggressive road shows, outlet expansions,” Chong said.
He said Ogawa also expected to finalise its choice of distributor for India in three to four months and begin sales in Mumbai.
22 February 2008
Myanmar's Foreign Trade Surges In First Half Year
Myanmar's foreign trade rose 30.46% to USD5.049 billion in the first half of the fiscal year 2007-08 from a year earlier, the Central Statistical Organization said Thursday. Exports reached to USD3.596 billion dollars, while import stood at USD1.453 billion, resulting in a trade surplus of USD2.143 billion. The bulk of growth in exports was accounted by natural gas amounting to USD1.531 billion. Myanmar's other main export goods include agricultural, marine and forestry products, the report said. Its key imports are machinery, crude oil, edible oil, pharmaceutical products, cement, and fertilizer and consumers goods.
18 February 2008
Russian company gains right to explore for minerals in Myanmar
A Russian company has won exploration rights for gold and other minerals in Myanmar, the official media reported, in the latest business deal between the Southeast Asian nation's junta and one of its few international friends.
The Geological Survey and Mineral Exploration Department of Myanmar and the Victorious Glory International of Russia signed a deal Friday for exploration for "gold and associated minerals" in the mineral-rich country, the New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported Saturday.
The agreement covers an area along the Uru River in northern Myanmar, between Phakant in Kachin State and Homalin in Sagaing Division, the newspaper said, with no further details.
Phakant is in a region known as the "Land of Jade," while the Homalin area is known for deposits of gold, which reached a record high level of $936.50 an ounce in early February.
The military, which has ruled the impoverished Southeast Asian nation since 1962, relies on sales of gemstones like sapphires, pearls and jade as crucial sources foreign exchange. More than 90 percent of the world's rubies come from Myanmar.
18 February 2008
Myanmar to allow opening Singapore dollar bank account
Myanmar will allow opening of bank account in Singapore dollar in some state-run banks dealing with foreign currencies, a leading local media reported Sunday.
The state-operated banks, which are authorized to start such bank services beginning later this month, are designated as the Myanmar Foreign Trade Bank (MFTB) and Myanma Investment and Commercial Bank (MICB), the Voice Weekly said.
Observers view that the introduction of Singapore dollar account will facilitate dealing with respect to financial and economic investment between Myanmar and Singapore, according to the weekly. The Singapore dollar account stands after U.S. dollar’s and European dollar’s allowed by the Myanmar financial authorities to open in the country. However, transactions of U.S. dollar account were much affected ever since United States’ financial sanctions against Myanmar were introduced in 2003.
18 February 2008
Myanmar to sell 300,000 tonnes rice to Bangladesh
Myanmar has accepted a request from Bangladesh to sell 300,000 tonnes of rice annually to the south Asian country, a senior Bangladeshi foreign ministry official said on Saturday. “Myanmar, which produces some 1.0 million tonnes in surplus,has agreed to supply 300,000 tonnes of rice to Bangladesh every year,” Foreign Secretary Touhid Hossain told Reuters. The relevant ministry and private traders in Bangladesh, which traditionally depends on imports to feed a population of more than 140 million, would work out how and when to import the rice from Myanmar, he said. The offer from Myanmar was timely as India has banned exports of non-basmati rice to keep prices stable in India’s domestic market. But a pledged 500,000 tonnes of non-basmati par-boiled rice bought by calamity-hit Bangladesh at an average price of $399 a tonne from India, would reach Bangladesh in the next two months.
15 February 2008
Myanmar, S. Korea step up co-op in education, technical sectors
Myanmar and South Korea are stepping up cooperation in the education and technical sectors, outlining more areas of such cooperation, official media reported Thursday.
The two countries' move was proposed at a recent meeting between a S outh Korean delegation representing the Department of Education of Chonnam National University and officials of Myanmar's biggest business organization -- the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI).
The areas of cooperation covers conducting Korean language course, testing of the language, compilation and distribution of Myanmar-Korean language dictionary, production of bio-fertilizer and opportunities for providing educative course to new-generation farmers, said the New Light of Myanmar.
Aimed at promoting the development of Myanmar's education sector, a technology, culture and business education center was established in 2006 by the UMFCCI and the Chonnam National University, according to earlier local report.
Under a memorandum of understanding on the set-up, the Korean university offers certificate courses, trainers and equipment such as computer, while the UMFCCI provides the infrastructure.
In the initial stage, the center offers Korean language and business management courses taught by Korean instructors. Graduate students from the center are arranged to further study in South Korea to acquire master degrees, advance diplomas and higher certifications.
Myanmar and South Korea have maintained cooperative relations in various areas including economic and technical cooperation since decades ago.
13 February 2008
PTTEP, CNOOC may swap stakes in Myanmar fields
Thai state-owned PTTEP and its Chinese equivalent, CNOOC, signed a preliminary agreement to swap 20-percent stakes in their gas projects in Myanmar, PTTEP's President Maroot Mrigadat told local reporters. Maroot said the deal is aimed at reducing the risks for the two companies from the huge capital investment projects in Myanmar. Details of the asset swap will be finalised after the completion of exploration phases in the gas fields.
PTTEP operates four gas blocks in Myanmar. Two of the blocks are now under exploration and one of the offshore gas blocks, M9, has been earmarked for first gas by 2012. The Thai operator will soon sign a preliminary agreement with the Myanmar government to develop block M9. First gas is expected to flow at 300 MMcf/d.
CNOOC holds licences for the A4 and C1 fields. The Chinese company is looking into constructing a gas and oil pipeline to link the gas fields to power plants in the southern Yunnan province.
In the hills above Mandalay, the old British summer capital of Burma is a microcosm of the country's imperial past, and its Orwellian present.
Maymyo's most interesting resident lives anonymously in a mock Tudor villa that looks more Berkhamsted than Burma. He might be the king of this country if the British had not toppled his grandfather, King Thibaw, in 1885.
According to Taw Paya, 84, the old monarchy can still stir emotions in Burma, although his family abandoned any political aspirations long ago.
"It's slowly being forgotten by the educated people," he said, "but the country people still have lingering memories. Whenever one of we the royal types goes out there, everyone crowds around as if you had come down from a satellite."
Taw Paya himself rarely travels -"because of the restrictions this wretched government imposes on one's movements"- but such constraints have always been a fact of his life. "Look here," he said. "When the British were here we were not even allowed to cross the Irrawaddy River." Burma's colonial masters were afraid that King Thibaw's heir would visit the legendary "victory ground" at the town of Shwebo and stir the populace with a myth of royal invincibility.
These days all travellers in Burma have their identity number recorded at every step of their journey, unless they belong to one of the ethnic groups which is not accorded full citizenship and therefore not allowed to travel at all.
Brazilian Falopa to extend contract with Myanmar
Brazilian coach Marcos Antonio Falopa will return to Myanmar this month and extend contract with the Myanmar Football Federation (MFF), local media reported Tuesday.
Falopa, who returned to Brazil on leave a few days after the 24th SEA Games, will come back to Myanmar within two weeks and sign one year contract with much more salary, the Olympic sports journal quoted the MFF as saying.
Meanwhile, the Myanmar football team had improved much and could play systematically during the Falopa's reign, finishing runners-up in the 24th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Thailand in December 2007 and conceding three losses in last year's two tournaments, the 39th Merdeka football tournament in August and the 24th SEA Games football tournament in December, an earlier report of the Olympic sports journal said.
Myanmar will compete in AFC Challenge Cup, Merdeka and ASEAN Championship football tournaments in 2008.
|