Thursday, March 13, 2014

Shan Herald Agency for News

Shan Herald Agency for News

Presentation and discussion of the new book "Aung San Suu Kyi: The Face of Burma's Resistance"

Posted: 13 Mar 2014 06:16 AM PDT

Please be invited to join a presentation and a discussion of the new book The Face of Resistance: Aung San Suu Kyi and Burma's Fight for Freedom, by Aung Zaw, founder and editor of The Irrawaddy news organization and winner of numerous international journalism awards,  including an evaluation of the democracy icon's legacy, credibility, and potential. The author will also provide insight into issues currently affecting Burma during this unprecedented time in its history, including prospects for next year's national elections. The event will be held on 20 March 2014, 2 - 4 pm. at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University.

FCCT: A Discussion with David Miliband of the IRC- Wed, 19 March @ 10:30 am

Posted: 13 Mar 2014 06:13 AM PDT

A Discussion with David Miliband, President and CEO of the International Rescue Committee

Impressions of the IRC's work at the Thailand-Myanmar border

10.30 am, Wednesday March 19, 2014

Admission Free

David Miliband, President and CEO of the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and former Foreign Secretary of the UK, will be at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand (FCCT) on 19 March 2014 at 10:30 am to give impressions of his recent trip to the Thailand-Myanmar border, visiting IRC's work in local communities and temporary shelters where the IRC has been providing services to refugees and other displaced people from Myanmar for nearly three decades.

Miliband's visit comes at a time when the refugee situation in Thailand is in flux. Refugees who live in temporary shelters in Thailand are closely monitoring changes and political reforms taking place in Myanmar, including ceasefire negotiations between the government and non-state ethnic armed groups.

Under what circumstances will refugees from Myanmar be able to return home? How have funding reductions on the Thailand-Myanmar border affected services for refugees? What will happen to the estimated two million migrants from Myanmar temporarily residing in Thailand? What can ASEAN do to improve the situation of refugees in the region?
David Miliband and Christine Petrie, Thailand Country Director for the IRC, will be on hand to discuss these and IRC's important work globally.

For more information, please contact Christine Petrie at +66.81.733.4610 or email: Christine.Petrie@rescue.org.

Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand
Penthouse, Maneeya Center Building
518/5 Ploenchit Road (connected to the BTS Skytrain Chitlom station)
Patumwan, Bangkok 10330
Tel.: 02-652-0580
E-mail:  info@fccthai.com
Web Site:  http://www.fccthai.com

The peace process: One/Single Text negotiation

Posted: 13 Mar 2014 06:11 AM PDT

One of the good news that came out of the latest meeting between the Armed Resistance Movements (ARMs)'s Nationwide Ceasefire Coordination Team (NCCT) and Naypyitaw's Union Peacemaking Work Committee (UPWC), 9-10 March, was that the "one text" also known as "single text" negotiating technique would be reactivated.

The technique was introduced by the newly established Pyidaungsu Institute (PI) for Peace and Dialogue following the deadlock between the two sides reached in November in Myitkyina. The PI's suggestion that the "one text document" technique should be given a chance was accepted. The result was the report by both sides, after meeting again on 15 December, that they were 50% in agreement. Two weeks later they met again and found that they were 80% in agreement.

However, since then there had been no mention of the "one/single text document" by either side. The result was the negotiators were unable to report little headway about their talks—until now.

For those who are unfamiliar with the technique, the following excerpt may be useful:

"A single-text negotiating strategy is a form of mediation that employs the use of a single document that ties in the often wide-ranging interests of stakeholders in a conflict. Parties to the conflict add, subtract and refine the text, which represents a "placeholder agreement" and is intended to be the foundation for a final ratified agreement. However, since all parties must agree to the final document and offensive entries may lead to a cessation of the process, disputants must also be sensitive to how their changes to the text will be perceived by the other parties… "The advantage of this model," Scott McCreary suggests, "is it encourages parties to talk to...focus on each other's interests instead of drafting competing documents that meet only the interests of smaller coalitions."" (M. Shane Smith)

A successful example of the one text negotiation was the Camp David Accord signed between Israeli Prime Minister Begin and Egyptian President Sadat on 17 September 1978.

The next meeting between the NCCT and UPWC has been scheduled at the end of March.
Let us therefore hope it turns out right.

Strike when the iron is hot: A report about Myanmar’s Hospitality & Tourism Conference 2014

Posted: 13 Mar 2014 06:09 AM PDT

Reinhard Hohler, Chiang Mai (09.03.2014)

Some 300 participants gathered at the Traders Hotel in Yangon, Myanmar on February 18-19, 2014 to attend the 2nd annual Hospitality & Tourism Conference, which was organized by Sphere Conferences, Singapore and co-organized by the Myanmar Tourism Federation, as well as supported by the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism.

It was up to H.E. U Htay Aung, Union Minister, Ministry of Hotel and Tourism, to give the opening address by mentioning the golden opportunities and potentials Myanmar offers in tourism being located between China and India. He also stressed the importance of Myanmar's Tourism Master Plan, which runs between 2013 and 2020 to accomplish some 39 projects. In addition, Maung Maung Swe, Vice Chairman of the Myanmar Tourism Federation, introduced the mission of his organization to promote Myanmar as a tourism destination, to help in the process of sustainable tourism development, to welcome and assist investors, and to develop human resources for tourism-related industries.

Strategic programs and activities in the hospitality and tourism sector were outlined by Daw Khin Than Win, Director, Tourism Promotion Department and Public Relations, Ministry of Hotels and Tourism, referring to the vision that Myanmar will reach 7 million tourist arrivals in 2020, such as E-Visa, branding and marketing, while a representative from the Directorate of Investment and Company Administration, Ministry of National Planning and Economic Development, revealed some details of Myanmar's Foreign Investment Law. So far, China is the largest investor in Myanmar, followed by Thailand and Hong Kong.

In the afternoon of the first day, Thomas Kyaw Min Htin, Executive Committee Member of the Myanmar Tourism Federation, singled out some new destinations in Myanmar for investment such as the Chin State with its capital Hakka, Putao in Kachin State, areas in Shan and Mon States, as well as beach tourism and river cruises. Also, there was a panel discussion on sustainability for long-term management, where Steven Schipani, Social Sector Specialist of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), called the "heart" must go on to make Myanmar a better way to live and minimize environmental impact.

Later, there was a chance for interested participants of the conference to visit the small Myanmar Hotel Solutions, Food & Beverage Show held at the Myanmar Convention Center, Min Dhamma Road in Yangon, to source for the newest products from Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand.

Before the gala dinner back at the Traders Hotel, there was an awards ceremony to name  Traders Hotel as Myanmar's most outstanding one, Amazing Ngapali Resort as most sustainable one, Yangon's Padonmar Restaurant as best one, and Asian Trails as the best travel agency in Myanmar.

The second day of the conference saw the keynote panel discussion on developing strategies to reduce the human capital gap faced by the hospitality industry moderated by Daw Kyi Kyi Aye, Senior Consultant, Myanmar Tourism Federation. Also, CEO Charles Blocker, IC Partners Thailand, highlighted the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) as a "hot" investment area. There followed a local hoteliers sharing session on getting familiarized with the Myanmar hospitality industry to underline the importance of the quality of services, as well as a panel discussion on strategies to help small and medium hotel establishments enhance their offerings in a competitive market.

The successful conference ended in the afternoon of February 19 with the spotlight on new and emerging trends and projects within the Myanmar hospitality sector. So, John Farrell, Director of the Myanmar Yacht Services, introduced the Myeik Archipelago as Asia's next tourism frontier to explore, but warned that access to the islands will be one big challenge because of safety, pollution and bad weather most of the year. Arild Molstad from Norway, Director of Partnership for Change, talked about Inlay Lake in Shan State, which becomes a model for private-public community partnership and has the potential to develop into a world heritage site.

The Closing Conservation, brilliantly moderated by Jehan Wick, General Manager of Yangon's Kandawgyi Palace Hotel, finally postulated that government officials and investors should "strike when the iron is hot" and going on from here instead of wait and see. Phyoe Wai Yar Zar, Joint Secretary General, Myanmar Tourism Federation, even admitted that Myanmar's tourism industry is still in its infancy and "finding your own niche" is still possible. Education is most important and this was also the point of Achim Munz, who attended the conference as a resident representative of the German Hanns Seidel Foundation, Myanmar.

The closing remarks were given by U Aung Zaw Win, Director General, Ministry of Hotels and Tourism, and it was announced that the next 3rd Hospitality & Tourism Conference under the theme "New Frontiers" will be held in Nay Pyi Taw in January 2015 in conjunction with the upcoming ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF) on January 22-29, 2015.

For further information, please contact GMS Media Travel Consultant Reinhard Hohler based in Chiang Mai/Thailand by e-mail: sara@cmnet.co.th
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