A number of employees for the Italian-Thai Development Company (ITD) were kidnapped and 16 vehicles were hijacked for several hours on Tuesday by five armed men in eastern Tavoy.

Calling themselves the BBK, the armed gang released the hostages and vehicles a few hours later, but only after extorting 10,000 baht [US $300] from the workers, according to Eh Na, the editor of Thailand-based Karen news agency, Kwekalu who said he met with the hostages on Wednesday.
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Chiang Mai– Gold and antimony mining permits are being sought by companies interested in exploring and operating mines in Karen National Union (KNU) controlled areas.

The KNU operates seven brigades, and gold can be extracted in areas controlled by Brigade No. 2, 3, 5. Antimony can be extracted in areas controlled by Brigade No. 1, 4, 6.
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Mengding County, Yunnan Province – The construction of the China-Myanmar border economic zone was launched in a border county in Southwest China’s Yunnan province on Tuesday.

The Gengma (Mengding) Border Economic Cooperation Zone is in the city of Lincang’s Mengding county, which is expected to become a traffic tip for an opening frontier and largely enhance the progress of resources development, trade, logistics, and industries, said Yang Hongbo, Party secretary of Lincang. (more…)

Bangkok – Thailand’s premier Yingluck Shinawatra offered Aung San Suu Kyi her support in a coming by-election during a historic meeting with the democracy icon in Myanmar, a Thai official said Wednesday.

In Suu Kyi’s first-ever meeting with the leader of a foreign country, the pair’s half-hour talks in Yangon on Tuesday were held in a “good atmosphere”, Titima Chaisang, chief Thai government spokeswoman, told AFP. (more…)

Vietnam and Myanmar have agreed to boost cooperation in trade and investment, with two-way trade expected to reach 500 million USD in 2015.

The agreement was reached between Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and Myanmar President Thein Sein during their talks in the Myanmar capital city of Nay Pyi Taw on Dec. 21.
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Over the past five years, as North Korea’s few friends and allies in the world dwindled, and the international community cracked down on its proliferation activities, Myanmar has apparently become much more important to Pyongyang strategically. From virtually no relationship at all ten years ago, now the two pariah nations have regular high-level military-military dialogues, including some of the senior-most members of the former Myanmar military regime. As The Irrawaddy reported several years ago: (more…)

A near-pandemic optimism over the Burmese government’s unprecedented promises of political, economic, and social reform has seized the international community. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s recent visit started a diplomatic stampede to Burma, with the foreign ministers of the United Kingdom, Japan, and China soon arriving to smell the air of reform.
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Bangalore – In 2011, few countries took the world by surprise as much as Myanmar did. Not only did its new government take a series of steps to usher in democratic reform in the country but it also suspended a giant dam project with China, signaling to the world that it is not quite the Chinese client state it was made out to be. (more…)

Chiang Mai– The Burmese government has formed a special 11-member peacemaking group to talk to the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO). No date has been set for the talks.

KIO spokesman La Nang said it received an e-mail on Sunday, saying the group will be led by Aung Thaung, the Union Solidarity and Development Party general secretary 1. (more…)

Yangon — Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi met Thailand’s prime minister on Tuesday in her first ever audience with a head of government from the region, her political party said.

The meeting was also Suu Kyi’s first with a prime minister since her release from house arrest about a year ago, National League for Democracy spokesman Nyan Win said. (more…)

Along Thailand’s border with Burma, tens of thousands of refuges have few health-care options. At one key clinic, health care workers offer advice for expectant mothers, dental emergencies, prosthetic limbs and medicine to ward of the effects of HIV. (more…)

Thailand is expected to buy at least 2 billion cubic feet per day (cf/d) of natural gas from resource-rich Myanmar over the next 20 years to meet rising energy demand, an energy ministry official said on Tuesday.

Songpob Polchan, Director-General of the Department of Mineral Fuels, said Thailand was now using about 1.1 billion cf/d of natural gas, accounting for 25 percent of the country’s 4 billion cf/d energy demand, mostly for power generation.
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Indo Asian News Service: Myanmar seeks collaboration with Indian business houses

Mumbai, A 34-member parliamentary delegation from Myanmar Tuesday sought co-operation from Indian business houses for strengthening various sectors of their country’s economy.

The delegation, led by Thura U Shwe Mann, speaker of the lower house of parliament Pyithu Hluttaw met business captains at the Indian Merchants Chamber and the Bombay Chamber of Commerce and Industry here.

‘Our talks in New Delhi were extremely beneficial to rebuilding the newly emergent republic of Myanmar. We look to availing Indian assistance for reforming and restructuring various institutions and also our legal framework,’ Mann said on the occasion.

The Myanmarese parliamentary delegation is currently on a visit to India on the invitation of the speaker of the Lok Sabha and chairman of the Rajya Sabha.

‘During our current visit, we held very meaningful interaction with top parliamentarians and party leaders of India and also called on the president of India, Pratibha Patil,’ he said.

The delegation included chairpersons of Myanmarese parliament’s key committees in charge of the departments of legislation, international relations, planning and financial development, economic and trade development, transport, communication and tourism, agriculture, livestock and fisheries, investment and industrial development and others.

Myanmar’s Ambassador to India U Zin Taw accompanied the delegation.

Welcoming the delegation, IMC president Bhavna Doshi said that recently the chamber organised its prestigious ‘India Calling’ conference at Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam for exploring opportunities to promote trade and investment between India and Vietnam and ASEAN’s other member countries such as Myanmar.

‘Consequent to the present economic recession in the developed western countries, India has adopted a ‘Look East’ policy for promoting investments, technology transfer and bilateral trade with ASEAN countries. There are a lot of complementary features between the needs of Indian and Myanmarese economies in sectors such as banking, insurance, infrastructure, oil, roads, agriculture, aviation, tourism and education,’ she pointed out.

Doshi assured that the IMC would be keen to sign an MOU with the Myanmar Chamber of Commerce and Industry for further cooperation in different sectors.

Others who spoke on the occasion included Piyush Goyal, MP, Atindra Sen, director general of BCC and I and Saroj Datta, executive director of Jet Airways who expressed Indian businessmen’s keen desire to collaborate with their Myanmar counterparts in all economic sectors for mutual benefit.

Rangoon– Land prices on the outskirts of Rangoon and in some municipal areas have increased many times over, according to real estate agents.

Rumors that Rangoon will be extended account for the price rise in Dagon Myothit (South, North, East) affecting an area inside the municipality, and also rises in areas around Thanlyin, Kyauktan and Dala townships. (more…)

Former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra has confirmed that he visited Burma last week to pave the way for a trip to the country by his sister, the current Thai PM Yingluck Shinawatra, raising concerns that relations between the two neighbors could once again become entangled in Thaksin’s business interests. (more…)

Beijing – China’s top diplomat and Myanmar’s president agreed on Monday to steer a steady course on relations which have been strained by the former Burma’s suspension of a China-funded dam and Washington’s tentative moves to re-engage with the country. (more…)

He kept his quick wit throughout jail terms, torture and solitary confinement, but it seems nothing quite prepared Myanmar’s most famous comedian for his first trip out of the military-dominated state.

“When I saw the airplane I got a shock, when I saw the airport I got a shock, when I saw the big building and big bridge and good road I got a shock,” he told a packed audience that turned out to hear him in Bangkok.
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Nay Pyi Taw, The Fourth Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Summit opened at the Myanmar International Convention Center here Tuesday under the theme “Beyond 2012: Towards a New Decade of GMS Strategic Development Partnership”.
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At the moment, everyone is rushing to “engage” with President Thein Sein and the top leaders of his new government, and Burma’s ruling clique seems willing to reciprocate. This is a positive development, but if engagement is to be effective, then the political situation must be accurately assessed.
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More bad news came from the United Nations crime trackers last week. The opium crops in Burma have surged significantly, and the increase has spilled over into Laos. It is the first time in this century that there have been such significant increases, and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime is certain that the politics of Burma are to blame. Specifically, the UNODC points to the continuing Burmese wars against ethnic groups in the north as the main reason for more opium growing. The generals’ continuing wars on their people contribute, but the main reason for opium farming seems to be the old reason _ higher prices for the farmers.
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