Chandra Mohan Patowary, Assam’s minister of commerce and industry and head of the mission, said the visit aims to brief decision-makers in Myanmar on the growth potential of Assam and the larger northeastern region of India as well as their proximity to Myanmar.

“Connectivity is our main target. Once connectivity is strengthened, business will automatically take off,” he said.

“In this regard, we are looking at improving air travel connectivity as well as transportation and roads to connect the [India’s] Northeast with Myanmar, as we see good opportunities for both sides.”

Patowary said the Assam government would facilitate cooperation between Indian and Myanmar businesses.

“Many big names are here and there are many more to follow,” he said, referring to two Indian companies — Oil and Gas Corporation Ltd and Indian Oil Corporation Ltd — that are already engaged in oil and gas exploration and production in Myanmar.

The India-Myanmar Chamber of Commerce is also organising a business mission to India next month, including top officials from Indian and Myanmar corporations . It will also meet with the governments of Rakhine and Mandalay states to explore further opportunities for cooperation in Northeast India.

Patowary said oil and gas, health, education, tourism and manufacturing are among the most promising sectors for bilateral ventures.

“By aggressively addressing challenges in these sectors, Myanmar’s economy will grow fast. We must work together to make it happen,” he said.

“We are exploring opportunities in many Southeast Asian countries, and Myanmar is really important to us. We also want Myanmar businesses to explore opportunities in the Indian market, particularly in the Northeast. Under our Act East Policy, we have opened our trade routes so we can connect through railways, waterways and airways.”

India plans to build cross-border infrastructure to enable stronger international economic ties eastwards. It will include construction of roads and international highways as well as providing seaport and rail links to boost logistics for traders across India, Bangladesh, China, and Asean, he said.

Recently, Assam-based Numaligarh Refinery Ltd exported wax to Myanmar, which Patowary has hailed as a development that underlines India’s increasing engagement with its eastern neighbour.

“Myanmar can export minerals and forest products thanks to advantages in transport cost to Northeast India. Additionally, Myanmar’s coastal areas have huge deposits of natural gas,” he said.

Patowary said India’s demand for energy is expected to rise rapidly and the growing economy and gas supply from Myanmar are of great advantage to the nation.

“Services like healthcare, hospitality and tourism can improve trade between Myanmar and Northeast India,” he said.

He foresees bilateral cooperation in the tourism sector, citing high potential for destination weddings and movie-making as well as visits to the border areas where various ethnic groups reside.

“Many ethnic groups are living along the Indo-Myanmar border from Arunachal Pradesh through Nagaland and Manipur to Mizoram. The political boundary keeps them separate,” he said.

“Softening of the border is bound to increase contacts between people sharing the same ethnicity across the boundary.”

At the event, India’s Ambassador to Myanmar Saurabh Kumar stressed the importance of connectivity in all dimensions: physical, transport and air with Southeast Asia and South Asia.

“We need more people-to-people and cultural contacts, so we build relationship between Southeast Asian countries and India. This trip reflects the initiatives that we are taking to implement the Act East policy,” he said.

India is currently the 11th largest investor in Myanmar and the country’s fifth largest trading partner. Kumar foresees a surge in the inflow of Indian investments from both public and private sectors.

“We look forward to more delegations from India visiting this country, and we also welcome delegations from Myanmar visiting India. This has already started picking up and we look forward to moving ahead,” he said.

Senior government officials, members of the diplomatic community, business executives, US exchange programme alumni, media representatives, and other invited guests also attended the celebrations.

The ceremony began with the national anthems of Brunei and the US being played by Jerudong International School (JIS) student Shana Holmes and the JIS Saxophone Chamber Group.

The US Ambassador spoke of how people-to-people connections had energised and added special meaning to the relationships between Brunei and the US. These ties were illustrated by the many Bruneians who raised their hands when the ambassador asked who had studied in the US, participated in exchange programmes, or trained with the US military.

The night also saw US Ambassador present a State University of New York at Albany T-Shirt to the Minister of Education, who earned his Master’s Degree there.

A special exhibition on Bioinspired Sensing Technologies, a collaborative project between Universiti Brunei Darussalam and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in the US was also showcased.

The Finance Ministry’s Customs and Excise Directorate General said it would slap a plastic bag duty of Rp 200 (US 1.4 cents) per sheet.

“The duty has considered many factors,” Heru Pambudi, the customs and excise director general, told reporters at the House of Representatives building on Tuesday.

“[The duty] could not be too high or too low as we need to balance many factors,” he added.

Earlier that day, the ministry held a hearing with House Commission XI overseeing finance on plastic bag duties. At the hearing, Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said that the duty on plastic bags will be set at Rp 30,000 per kilogram, assuming that a kilogram of plastic bags contains 150 sheets. Hence, plastic bags will cost Rp 450 to Rp 500 per sheet after duties. The imposition of duties on plastic bags is expected to cause inflation of 0.045 percent.

Heru said the ministry had paid attention to industry players, people’s purchasing power, manpower and the environment. He said the duties could not be set too high because it would disrupt industries.

Heru added that the imposition aims to reduce plastic consumption, especially bags made from resin or non-recyclable materials. In addition, the government plans to set lower rates for recyclable plastics.

Indonesia is not the only country to impose duties on plastic bags. Denmark, South Africa, Taiwan, Ireland and Malaysia have imposed duties of Rp 40,000 to Rp 100,000 per kilogram of plastic bags.

Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said the agreement referred to last week by the President was just a verbal understanding reached by the two leaders during a bilateral meeting in 2016.

“I think there was no signing involved. They only talked. You know, heads of state have their word of honor. There was no need for that,” Panelo said.

The President mentioned the deal on Monday last week in explaining why he could not bar the Chinese from fishing in the West Philippine Sea, the waters within the Philippines’ 370-kilometer exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the heavily disputed South China Sea.

Exchange for Panatag access

He said the agreement allowed Filipinos to fish again at Panatag Shoal, also known as Scarborough Shoal, which China blockaded after seizing it from the Philippines in 2012.

“Remember we weren’t allowed in Scarborough (Shoal) before. They were being shooed away. But after that (the agreement), things were OK,” Panelo said.

Asked whether the agreement was legally binding, Panelo replied: “Why not? What’s wrong with that?”

He added: “Even in law, even it’s verbal, it’s still valid and binding, as long as there is mutual consent between the two parties. That’s why it’s an agreement.”

Lawmakers and maritime law experts said the deal was a violation of Article XII, Section 2 of the Constitution, which requires the state to protect Philippine territory and reserves the use of the country’s marine resources for Filipinos.

They said that such a deal needed congressional approval and that the President could be impeached for violating the exclusivity clause.

Arrest threat

Their comments angered the President, who on Saturday threatened to arrest those who would bring a complaint for his impeachment.

Gen. Oscar Albayalde, the Philippine National Police chief, on Monday said he would obey a presidential order for the arrests, but stressed that there should be investigations first.

Told that filing an impeachment complaint against the President was not a crime, Albayalde said other offenses could be cited, such as sedition and libel.

Vice President Leni Robredo, speaking on her radio program on Sunday, called for transparency from Malacañang on the deal with Xi.

“[W]e do not know the terms of [the] agreement. If this is… a treaty, then it has to be approved by Senate,” Robredo said.

The Vice President insisted that the government must defend Philippine waters and ensure that only Filipinos would benefit from resources found in the country’s seas.

But Panelo said he agreed with the President that forcing the implementation of the exclusivity clause would be “courting danger.”

“China would not want that,” Panelo said.

China claims nearly the entire South China Sea, including the greater part of the Philippine EEZ and waters close to the shores of other Southeast Asian claimants in the strategic waterway — Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam.

In 2016, however, the UN-backed Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, ruling on a challenge brought by the Philippines, declared China’s claim had no basis in international law and said it violated the Philippines’ sovereign right to fish and explore resources in its own exclusive economic zone.

China ignored the ruling and went on to build artificial islands on seven Philippine-claimed reefs in the South China Sea that it later developed into military outposts.

The President also set aside the ruling in exchange for aid, loans and investment from China.

Last week, after drawing flak for his refusal to enforce the exclusivity clause, the President said the proviso was meant only for the “senseless” and “thoughtless” among his critics.

The Palace defended the President’s remarks, saying he was actually going beyond the provision and carrying out the government’s prime duty of protecting the nation.

“What use is that provision if you aggressively enforce the arbitral ruling and it will precipitate and trigger armed conflicts between the two sides?” Panelo said.

Just for now

President Duterte said Xi had warned that China would go to war if the Philippines insisted on its claim over the South China Sea.

Panelo on Monday said the exclusivity clause was the basis of the verbal understanding with Xi.

He dismissed Bayan Muna’s criticism that the agreement was disclosed only last week, saying it had been mentioned a couple of times in the past.

“We’ve been saying that even before, even myself. There was a deal, that’s why Scarborough Shoal was resolved,” Panelo said.

He, however, said the deal did not mean the Philippines would no longer assert its rights in the South China Sea.

“That’s the modus vivendi. We’re giving way as of now. But it doesn’t mean that we won’t invoke it in due time,” Panelo said, referring to the Hague court’s ruling.

Joint exploration

Besides the fishing deal, the President also spoke last week about the apparent falling through of a proposal for joint exploration for oil in the West Philippine Sea between China and the Philippines.

“Since I cannot assert jurisdiction, I then said, ‘So let’s split it.’ They agreed. They said, ‘For you, mayor, we will agree to 60-40.’ Now nobody’s talking about it,” the President said in an interview.

He also recalled how China warned of “trouble” if the Philippines insisted on drilling for oil at Recto Bank.

Panelo, however, said on Monday that the Palace remained hopeful that the joint exploration would still push through.

“We can still talk about it. Friends are able to talk about anything,” Panelo said.

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Designed in the shape of the Nike logo also known as Swoosh, the brooch is nicknamed “The Broosh”.

It is adorned with 34 Swarovski crystals, to symbolize William’s age when she won the Wimbledon women’s singles tournament in 2016.

This marks the first time the Nike logo is decorated with Swarovski crystals.

Read also: Serena Williams to take Bumble’s woman-first message to Super Bowl

Director for NikeCourt global design Abby Swancutt said that she wished to express nostalgic feelings through the brooch, as reported by Kompas.com. (

“I also wanted her to feel like it was something her grandmother could have worn, but of course give it a modern spin and make it just right for Serena,” Swancutt said in a post by Nike.

In the competition, Serena will wear a white knitted outfit from Nike, as stipulated by the tournament’s all-white dress code.

Previously, Serena wore a black-and-white Nike outfit at the French Open 2019 competition. Designed by Off-White founder Virgil Abloh, the outfit comprised of a crop top, skort and midriff.

The Health Ministry said that the Starfresh and Waterfuns brands were found to contain pseudomonas aeruginosa, which contravenes the Food Act 1983 and the Food Act Regulations 1985.

The products recalled were the 500ml and 1500ml bottles with expiry dates of May 11,2021 and May 13, 2021.

The Ministry also told the company to recall its products and the company’s license was suspended on Friday (June 28).

“The Ministry would like to advise those who have purchased the bottled water with the brands and expiry dates not to consume them,” said its director general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah in a statement on Monday (July 1).

On Saturday (June 29), the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) noted that the import of all bottled drinking and mineral water from the manufacturer was not permitted with immediate effect, following the detection of the pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria for the second time.