The Irrawaddy Magazine |
- China Seeks up to 85 Percent Stake in Kyaukphyu Port
- Daw Aung San Suu Kyi Meets Queen Elizabeth for Lunch
- The Irrawaddy Business Roundup (May 5)
- Burma’s Unsung Four-legged Heroes
| China Seeks up to 85 Percent Stake in Kyaukphyu Port Posted: 05 May 2017 10:32 PM PDT RANGOON — China is looking to take a stake of up to 85 percent in a strategically important sea port in Burma, according to documents reviewed by Reuters, in a move that could heighten tensions over China's growing economic clout in the country. Beijing has been pushing for preferential access to the deep sea port of Kyaukphyu on the Bay of Bengal, as part of its ambitious "One Belt, One Road" infrastructure investment plan to deepen its links with economies throughout Asia and beyond. A consortium led by China's CITIC Group has proposed taking a 70-85 percent stake in the $7.3 billion deep sea port, according to negotiating documents seen by Reuters and three people familiar with the talks between the Chinese state-owned conglomerate and Burma's civilian government. The size of the proposed Chinese stake is substantially larger than the 50/50 joint venture proposed by Burma late last year, an offer rejected by CITIC, said two people involved in the talks. Well-placed sources told Reuters last month that China had signaled it was willing to abandon the controversial $3.6 billion Myitsone dam project in Burma, but would be looking in return for concessions on other strategic opportunities in the Southeast Asian nation—including the Bay of Bengal port. Kyaukphyu is important for China because the port is the entry point for a Chinese oil and gas pipeline which gives it an alternative route for energy imports from the Middle East that avoids the Malacca Straits, a shipping chokepoint. The port is part of two projects, which also include an industrial park, to develop a special economic zone in Burma's western Arakan State. CITIC was awarded the lead role in both initiatives in 2015. Beijing-based CITIC, China's biggest and oldest financial conglomerate, did not respond to several requests for comment on Friday. China's Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a faxed request for comment. Talks to Start Negotiations between Burma and CITIC, which sources said were set to start next week in the country's commercial hub Rangoon, come amid a Chinese diplomatic push to forge better ties with its resource-rich neighbor. Burma's leaders have traditionally been wary of domination by China. But the country last month signed an agreement that will see oil pumped through the pipeline from Kyaukphyu across Burma to southwestern China, while leader Aung San Suu Kyi is due to visit Beijing for a summit on "One Belt, One Road", President Xi Jinping's signature policy, in mid-May. One of the sources, who declined to be named, said CITIC was in the "driving seat" on the port project, and that Burma was unlikely to ask for a stake of more than 30 percent due to opposition from the Chinese firm. "Some people worry that China would have the power to do anything they want and control the project if it owns 85 percent," said the person, who is familiar with the thinking of policymakers in Burma. "But Burma doesn't have other options," the person added, citing the Burma government's financial constraints. The source did not specifically mention a quid pro quo over the Myitsone dam. A second source close to Burma's policymakers corroborated that account, adding that Burma has agreed to choose from one of four options proposed by CITIC, leaving it with a stake ranging from 15 to 30 percent. "Burma has no other choice but the four options given by CITIC," said the second person, who is involved in the talks. Funding would be split between Burma and the CITIC-led consortium in proportion to the stake agreed, the two sources said. Soe Win, who leads the management committee of the special economic zone, confirmed negotiations would start next week but declined to comment on the deal, citing the confidentiality of the talks. Special Economic Zone The nearly $10 billion Kyaukphyu Special Economic Zone, which Burma's government has said would create an economic hub akin to Singapore covering 4,289 acres, is part of Burma's plan to boost the economy in one of its poorest regions. A second consortium led by CITIC has also proposed taking a 51 percent stake in the $2.3 billion industrial park, an offer Burma has agreed to, said the two people involved in the talks. The economic zone faces opposition from activists and residents who criticized the tender process and said the development would have a negative impact on local people. Around 20,000 people are at risk of losing their homes and livelihoods due to land acquisition for the zone, according to the International Commission of Jurists, a human rights watchdog. CITIC's consortiums include China Harbor Engineering Company Ltd, China Merchants Holdings, TEDA Investment Holding and Yunnan Construction Engineering Group. The only non-Chinese state-owned company involved is Thailand's Charoen Pokphand Group. The post China Seeks up to 85 Percent Stake in Kyaukphyu Port appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Daw Aung San Suu Kyi Meets Queen Elizabeth for Lunch Posted: 05 May 2017 10:05 PM PDT LONDON, United Kingdom—Burma leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi met Britain’s Queen Elizabeth for lunch on Friday at Buckingham Palace. Nobel laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi—who serves as Burma's foreign minister while also being de facto head of its civilian government—later met Prince Charles, heir to the throne, and his wife Camilla. Prince William, Charles's elder son, attended the queen's lunch with Daw Aung Suu Kyi, the palace said. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who took power in April 2016 as part of a transition from military rule, has denied ethnic cleansing in the Muslim-majority Arakan State. Attacks on Burma police border guard posts in October last year by a previously unknown insurgent group ignited the biggest crisis so far for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, with more than 75,000 Rohingya fleeing to Bangladesh in the ensuing army crackdown.  The post Daw Aung San Suu Kyi Meets Queen Elizabeth for Lunch appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| The Irrawaddy Business Roundup (May 5) Posted: 05 May 2017 08:10 PM PDT EAC Teams With Unilever in Joint Venture Burma's consumer products manufacturer Europe and Asia Commercial Co. Ltd (EAC) has signed a joint venture deal with global giant Unilever, combining their home and personal care businesses, Reuters reported. The joint entity, with annual sales of more than US$109 million, will provide both companies with a complementary portfolio, better rural reach and economies of scale, said Unilever, which entered the Burma market in 2010. The venture has a goal of tripling sales to round $330 million by 2020, Pier Luigi Sigismondi, Unilever's president for Southeast Asia and Australasia, told Reuters. EAC, whose products include well-known brands of detergent and dishwashing liquid, will also help add to Unilever's manufacturing capabilities. "We felt that maintaining organic growth alone will take us far, but not as far as joining forces with EAC," Sigismondi said. "We have a factory there that produces shampoos, haircare products, and we believe that with this joint venture, we will be able to produce the rest of our personal care range in the country," he added. Global companies have lined up to take advantage of Burma's under-penetrated market, buoyed by the growing middle class and a rise in spending. The Asian Development Bank forecast Burma's economy, which has been opening up after decades of military dictatorship, to grow at 7.7 percent this year—the fastest among Southeast Asian countries. Sigismondi said Unilever, which sells products such as Clear shampoo, Signal toothpaste and Rexona deodorants in Burma, might explore exporting products from the country. Daibochi and Myanmar Smart Pack JV Gets Go-Ahead Malaysia-based Daibochi Plastic and Packaging Industry has received approval from Burma for its joint-venture proposal to set up flexible packaging operations, the Edge Markets reported. The group's subsidiary, Daibochi Flexibles, signed a memorandum of understanding with Myanmar Smart Pack Industrial Co Ltd (MSP) last November to form a company called Daibochi Packaging Myanmar (DPM) to manufacture and market flexible packaging within Burma and export the product to other countries. With the approval by the Myanmar Investment Commission, Daibochi said it will proceed with the completion of the agreement. "We target to officially commence operations in a month's time," Daibochi managing director Thomas Lim said in a statement. Daibochi said it is investing $6.8 million in DPM for a 60 percent controlling stake. MSP is transferring its entire existing business and production assets, as well as workforce into DPM for the remaining stake. DPM will invest an additional capital expenditure of $5.5 million over three years, and it expects to start exporting to Asian countries later this year, Lim said. New product lines are being developed and the group will supply label packaging for a well-known beverage brand in Burma starting later this year, he added. China Border Trade Up Trade at Burma's border posts with China was higher in the first week of April, by more than US$40 million, than in the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Commerce. Total trade value for the week at China border points was $142.6 million according to the ministry's figures. The Muse-China border station saw the largest value trade at more than $90 million. Trade at the Myawaddy-Thailand border was valued at more than $24 million. Total foreign trade over the first week of the 2016-2017 financial year was $731 million, up by more than 29 percent over the same period last year, the ministry's figures showed. Tourist Numbers Travel Upwards The number of visitors to Burma holding tourist visas increased by 22 percent in the first two months of the year compared to the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism. For a more accurate reflection of tourism arrivals, the immigration ministry now counts tourist arrivals only as those who enter the country with a tourist visa. Previously, all foreign visitors in were counted in the figures. Better cooperation between tourism-related ministries under the tourism ministry, and the creation of new tourist destinations has contributed to the rise in visitors, an official from the ministry told the Global New Light of Myanmar. App Launched for Factory Workers An app for industrial workers called "Shwe Job" has been launched with the support of the European Union and the German international development organization GIZ. SMART Myanmar, an initiative to promote sustainable practices in the garment industry launched the app in Hlaing Tharyar Township on May 1 in conjunction with civil society organization Thone Pann Hla. Around 120 garment workers joined the event. The app contains information for factory workers on good practices for occupational safety & health in the workplace, and provides information on factory and labor laws. It also contains a salary calculator which is a tool for workers to understand how their monthly wages are calculated. The goal is to provide a useful and educational tool in an accessible format, according to SMART Myanmar in a statement. "When we started working with Myanmar's garment workers fewer than 1 percent owned smart phones. Now, over 90 percent do. This is an amazing shift in just 4 years. It is this incredible change that prompted us to create a teaching tool which can make full use of the latest and most relevant technologies," said SMART Myanmar team leader Jacob A. Clere. Garment Exports Fetch $1.8bn The cutting, making, and packaging (CMP) garment industry in Burma earned about $1.836 billion in the 2016-17 financial year, according to commerce ministry figures reported by a trade journal. The garments industry includes the manufacture of shoes, clothes and bags, and contributed 16 percent of total export earnings in Burma over the year. Burma exports around 33 per cent of its CMP products to Japan, followed by 25 per cent to the EU. It also supplies to the South Korea, US and Chinese markets. Around 300,000 people are employed in the garment industry. Sweden's H&M and America's Gap are among the major foreign companies to invest in manufacturing operations in Burma. World Bank Loans to Boast Economic Stability The World Bank will provide loans worth $200 million to Burma under a program to assist the government to promote macroeconomic stability and fiscal resilience. The loans are aimed to support reforms to modernize economic management and address challenges such as inflation, public debt sustainability, the efficiency of government spending, and tax collection. They will also provide concessional financing for critical public investments. "The policy actions that we proposed could help sustain confidence in economic policies as well as reduce poverty and help increase access to public services for Myanmar people including electricity, education and health," said U Kyaw Win, Union Minister for Planning and Finance. "For example, low and stable inflation could help Myanmar to attract high quality investments to create jobs and grow in an inclusive manner." The program comes under a plan with two pillars. A macroeconomic stability pillar includes reforms to promote prudent public debt management; an end to Central Bank financing of the fiscal deficit; fiscal discipline of State Economic Enterprises; and policy-based budgeting. The fiscal resilience pillar addresses increasing revenue mobilization; prudent gas revenue management; the financial viability of the power sector; and effective public finance management. The credit will come from the International Development Association (IDA) and the terms for the IDA credit include a maturity of 38 years, with a grace period of six years and a zero interest rate. The post The Irrawaddy Business Roundup (May 5) appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Burma’s Unsung Four-legged Heroes Posted: 05 May 2017 07:19 PM PDT RANGOON— On the first day of their meeting, Police Lance Corporal Aung Phite was hesitant to approach five-month-old German Shepherd puppy Michael. He had been bitten by dogs at least four times in the past and prominent scars on his legs reminded him of his bitter experience with the animals. But the puppy greeted him with a wagging tail and swept his fear away. From this day forward they became "the handler and his sniffer dog," and the bond between them grew and grew. Aung Phite referred to Michael as his "Son" and Michael was ready to jump on Aung Phite's colleagues whenever they pretended to fight his handler. "Since I met Michael, I am no longer afraid of dogs and I like every dog I see," said Aung Phite. Their five-year long companionship came to an abrupt end in April. Michael died of gastrointestinal problems on April 15 during the Burmese New Year water festival after serving as a member of Rangoon's police bomb squad team together with Aung Phite for over four years. Michael's death drew much public attention since he was the most popular sniffer dog in the country. It was partly because he was also the only sniffer dog of Rangoon's Bomb Squad Unit carrying out duties at important public events and state-level occasions in the city. The dog allowed the public to take selfies with him and to pet him. Since Michael's death, Aung Phite and his wife received visits from many strangers who came to console the grieving couple after losing him and to listen to the memories the city's beloved "Sergeant Michael." But Michael's death also shined a spotlight on the harsh working lives of Burma's sniffer dogs and revealed the struggles of their handlers. Aung Phite and his wife Myint Nwe Win said the cause of Michael's death was possibly intense fatigue, brought on after frequent irregular meals carrying out back-to-back missions as the only sniffer dog on duty in the country's biggest city. Like other sniffer dogs, Michael got his salary—40,000 kyats monthly (just under US$30)—for his service. From his salary, 10,000 kyats was for monthly medical care and the rest was for his allowance: only 1,000 kyats per day. After Michael's handler family petitioned the authorities requesting to raise his allowance so that the family could sufficiently cover his costs, Rangoon's police chief provided 1,600 kyats per day out of his own pocket for Michael. "We would need around 4,000 to 5,000 kyats minimum to sufficiently cover the daily cost of such a dog," Aung Phite said, explaining that the average price of decent rice in Burma is around 1,500 kyats per kilogram. Ma Myint Nwe Win said she prepared two boiled eggs and milk for breakfast and two meals of rice or porridge mixed with chicken every day, for the 70-pound animal, which cost the couple about 3,000 kyats per day, not including money for his snacks. Whenever there was any major treatment that Michael needed to go through, the couple had to cover the bill in advance, Ma Myint Nwe Win added.  According to Ministry of Home Affairs, Burma has a total of 136 security dogs serving across different departments of the police force and the army, including the Crime Investigation Department (CID), bomb squads, and border guard forces. Out of the 136 security dogs, 55 finished training at the Central Military Dog Training Academy in Mingalardon Township, Rangoon for the skill of sniffing explosives and drugs. Michael was also the most loved sniffer dog among police official. But he didn't earn this position easily. He passed the police test by finding all 28 real bullets hidden around a stadium in Naypyidaw ahead of the 2013 Southeast Asian Games to examine his sniffing skill. He also helped his team find and disable four improvised explosive devices in Rangoon during his service with the bomb squad. According to a Sergeant who asked not to be named and was once Michael's trainer at the academy, the training starts in August every year and lasts for six months, during which the dogs have to learn obedience and the required skills. There are between 15 and 40 dogs sent by both police force and the army every year at the academy for training, he said. He also said the dogs are trained for at least six hours a day together with their handlers at the academy and it is quite intensive. Trainers have to use gun powder to teach dogs explosive sniffing skills, which has an impact on such dogs' health state, he added. Each year, there "multiple" dogs had died during the training process, he said. "When dogs [on the training course] died, it was found that the most common causes were in the lungs, liver, and intestines—the cause of Michael's death," he said, stressing the need to provide thorough medical care to the dogs regularly. An experienced veterinarian Daw Tin Yee told The Irrawaddy that sniffer dogs normally have shorter lifespans than normal pet dogs, though this impossible to avoid due to the nature of their work. "Not every dog is trainable that way," she said. "Authorities should value such well-trained sniffer dogs and understand that they need [expensive] care." However, she said, she is "not surprised" to learn that sniffer dogs are not valued in a country where the government had no habit of appreciating even people who serve the country. Another veterinarian Ko Soe Moe Lin, who has experience of treating security dogs, told The Irrawaddy that such dogs should receive a monthly or bi-monthly medical check-up as their work has an impact on their health. They should be provided days off after every mission, he added.  Michael started getting sick on March 30 and after three days, he had blood in his stool. Under his veterinarian's care, he seemed much better until he got unwell again on April 10. While sick, he was brought to carry out duties on April 13—the first day of Thingyan—as people started celebrating the water festival in the city. He and Aung Phite were picked up by his team and headed to work around noon, despite Aung Phite wife's protests. "My son was feeling very unwell and I didn't want them to take him out [for duty] but we don't have the right to speak out and have to do as 'they' say so," Ma Myint Nwe Win told The Irrawaddy. After three hours of duty, Michael experienced trouble breathing and was immediately admitted to a dog clinic. Two days later, he stopped breathing. Local filmmaker Ma Kyi Phyu Shin broke the news of Michael's death on Facebook as she witnessed the moment Aung Phite and his wife buried him in their backyard. Her pictures of Michael's funeral saddened her social media followers and the city's dog lovers. Many visited the house of Aung Phite and wife to see Michael's grave and learnt the plight of other sniffer dogs like Michael at the same time, which finally resulted on them founding a charity group named "For Brave Dogs" under the management of filmmaker Kyi Phyu Shin for the welfare of the country's sniffer dogs. The charity group will be launched officially on May 15, the one-month anniversary of Michael's death.  Ma Kyi Phyu Shin explained that the welfare group plans to donate 30,000 kyats monthly to every sniffer dog that on duty after finishing training at the Central Military Dog Training Academy (Mingalardon). In addition to monetary donations, the group will provide necessary medical care for on-duty sniffer dogs with the assistance of veterinarians across the country, she added. Following Michael's death, Rangoon regional government's police authorities bought two yellow Labrador Retrievers that will be assigned as the city's sniffer dogs after training at the Mingalardon academy. The one-and-a-half year old black Labrador Rambo will fill in for Michael until the police have more trained dogs to take on the role.  On April 19, like Buddhist Burmese do when one's family member passes away, Aung Phite and his wife held last funeral rites for Michael on at the police quarters in Rangoon's Yankin Township, where mourners donated food and other offerings to Buddhist monks. Sergeant Michael carried out his duties at nearly 600 important events in Rangoon and Naypyidaw during his four-year service with the squad, including working during the 2014 visit of former US President Barack Obama to Burma, as well as the 2013 Southeast Asian Games. He served at state-level events, presidential visits, football matches, and motion picture academy awards ceremonies, according to Aung Phite. Speaking of his dog to The Irrawaddy's reporter in late April, Lance Corporal Aung Phite recalled his treasured memories of Michael, saying "people told me he imitated the way I walk on my toes." Ma Myint Nwe Win said with tearful eyes how she missed her jaggery-loving son sitting beside her and looking at her face when she applied thanakha before going out. She said she hopes if they were to have a child in the future, it would be the reincarnated spirit of Michael. When asked if they have any plans to get their own dog in the future, Aung Phite said, "there's too much attachment and I am not sure if I will be able to handle this grief again." The post Burma's Unsung Four-legged Heroes appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
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