Yangon: Thai state-energy firm PTT Exploration and Production International has signed a deal with Myanmar to explore for oil and gas in an offshore site, state-run media said.
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Yangon: Traders of Myanmar and China are striving to reach a targeted bilateral trade volume of 1.5bn US dollars in the coming years set by the two countries, a local news journal reported Tuesday [26 July].
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Vientiane: China’s foreign minister cut short a visit to Laos on Wednesday, skipping a regional security forum to travel on to Myanmar.
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Vientiane: Friends and critics of military-ruled Myanmar on Wednesday welcomed its decision to skip the chairmanship of Southeast Asia’s bloc next year but warned it must get serious about establishing democracy and free Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
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Burma has appointed a new ambassador to Thailand, the official New Light of Myanmar reported on Wednesday. The Burmese Embassy in Bangkok said they expected the new ambassador, Ye Win, to arrive in August. His predecessor, Myo Myint, has already returned to Rangoon, the embassy added.
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The UN Security Council on Tuesday voted for a series of measures to protect children involved in armed conflict, including those conscripted by the Karen National Liberation Army (the military wing of the Karen National Union) and Burma’s military, it said in a statement.
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The pariah state relinquishing next year’s Asean chair is only a start – it must do much more to reform itself. Burma has made a shrewd and calculated move to win over Asean by announcing its willingness to skip playing host to the group’s annual meeting next year.
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Robert Zoellick, the new deputy US secretary of state, has the most difficult assignment of his short tenure in Laos this week.
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July 25: Burma’s narrow-minded generals are a barrier to Asian development
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Asean-based activists have called for the regional body to ensure that the deferral of Burma’s chairmanship becomes a catalyst for genuine reforms.
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The fate of Burma’s former prime minister Gen Khin Nyunt remains cloudy despite receiving a long prison sentence on charges of corruption and bribery last Thursday.
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July 25: Does the NLD’s future still rest with its “young Turks”?

Rangoon: With the 60th birthday of Burma’s democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi in June now behind them, Burma watchers, journalists, diplomats and activists are reflecting on the state of her opposition National League for Democracy and wondering what the future holds for its members.
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Guwahati: Illegal timber trade continues to flourish along the Indo-Burma border in the north-eastern States, especially Manipur. This is in spite of the Supreme Court of India’s ban on illegal felling in the North-east imposed in 1996.
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Bangladesh returned two detained Myanmar border guards to their country’s authorities on Tuesday and both sides agreed to intensify a crackdown on gun-toting rebels along the frontier, official said.
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A ceasefire group in southern Shan State has been issuing official permits to grow opium poppies to farmers since April, reports Kantarawaddy Times, an independent Karenni (Kayah) news group yesterday.
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After months of speculation and increasing pressure from the international community, Burma relinquished the rotating Asean Chair at the Ministers’ Meeting in Vientiane on Tuesday.
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Manila: The Philippines on Tuesday hailed the decision of military-ruled Myanmar (Burma) to give up the chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) next year.
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Vientiane: Foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have expressed dissatisfaction at the way the issue of the UN Security Council expansion has overshadowed other issues connected to the comprehensive reform of the UN.
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Laos: The U.N. envoy leading reconciliation efforts in Myanmar said Tuesday that its foreign minister refused to see him while at a regional conference, in a snub to international efforts to bring democracy in the military-ruled country.
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As expected, Burma’s ruling junta won’t take up Asean’s rotating chairmanship in 2006.
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