The United Kingdom and the Japan International Cooperation Agency have agreed to cooperate in an urban development planning project targeting Mandalay, Pathein of Ayeyarwaddy region and Mawlamyaing of Mon state.

The six-month data collection survey of the regional cities started in January.

The team consists of nine Japanese experts and one consultant from the UK who will work together with locals and government agencies.

“We are now reviewing policies, plans and the current conditions of the three cities.

“After the project, we aim to propose development visions, spatial and structure plans and a roadmap of priorities,” Kuniomi Hirano, representative of Nippon Koei Co, which has been involved in four development planning projects in Myanmar, said last week.

These cities were singled out for their economic potential, especially in tourism, he said.

Yangon is the biggest city in Myanmar with 7 million people, according to the 2014 national census.

According to the World Bank’s report on “East Asia’s Changing Urban Landscape: Measuring a decade of spatial growth”, Yangon’s population grew much faster than its urbanised area, at 2.6 per cent a year from 2.6 million people in 2000 to 3.4 million in 2010, against limited capacity to deal with associated problems like traffic congestion and sewage systems.

The collaboration of the UK and Japan followed the UK’s commitment to finance trade and infrastructure investment in Myanmar to the tune of US$300 million (Bt10.5 trillion).

British Ambassador Andrew Patrick said the UK plans to invest in massive projects, including roads and power.

British firms have a great deal of expertise in urban planning and are enthusiastic about sharing their experience with Myanmar, he said.

They are also very keen on working with the Japanese to support democracy, the rule of law and human rights.

“Infrastructure is one of the key pillars of the economy and democracy. Without infrastructure, the country will not grow and as a result, democracy will not grow,” he said.

Jica has been involved with several development projects in Myanmar in the past five years.

Keiichiro Nakazawa, chief representative of Jica’s Myanmar office, said urban planning was an extra project.

Whether it would be implemented and whether JICA would be part of the implementation depend on the new government.

This would entail huge investment. Road construction alone could demand about 160 billion kyat, he said.

both Japan and the UK are ready to conduct studies in other cities, asked by the new government.

“We are doing our best to help Myanmar people to be prosperous and socially vibrant,” he said.

Besides the 200-billion-kyat grant, JICA last year committed to a 1-trillion-kyat concessional loan, but it was not yet disbursed, he said.

Discussions with the new government are necessary for setting Jica’s new plans. Jica plans to finance more than 60 development projects in Myanmar, he said.

Financing is the biggest challenge for Myanmar’s development.

However, the capacity development of institutions that are managing the operations and maintenance of infrastructure is another key issue that Myanmar needs to address urgently.

“Without proper maintenance and without enough capacity to implement massive projects, improved infrastructure will not be sustained.

“So, the capacity development of institutions as well as human resources is very important,” he added.

A Thai Village in HCM City will be among several events to commemorate the long-lasting friendship of 40 years. It will include Thai trade fairs, a CEO night, book fair and student exchange programme.

“These activities demonstrate the multi-faceted relationship that our two countries have shared for the past four decade,” said Royal Thai Consul -General Panpimon Suwannapongse.

The festival will take place at the September 23rd Park in downtown HCM City. It will include a trade fair, cultural performance, and exhibition of Thai private business sector that have contributed to the growth of Vietnam’s vibrant economy.

There will be three main areas, including the trade fair for Thai products available in Vietnam, an exhibition hall for the Thai private sector, and a restaurant zone where people can sample authentic Thai cuisine from leading Thai restaurants in HCM City.

An on-stage cultural performance of Thai and Vietnamese artists will be organised every night.

“The three-day event will be a great opportunity for the Vietnamese public to learn more about Thailand as well as the bonds between our two nations,” she said.

The event, which will see the attendance of Thailand’s Minister of Culture and leaders of HCM City, will be free and open to the public. Money raised during the event will be donated to charity.

Bank Negara governor Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz says Malaysia is currently adjusting to the reforms introduced by the central bank to ensure the country will not be too vulnerable to factors such as the oil price decline.

She says the country would have been in “great difficulty” if measures such as the subsidy rationalisation, the goods and services tax (GST), financial reforms by Bank Negara, and policies to strengthen the financial institutions had not been implemented.

“But because we did all that, we can manage this transition period of adjustment,” she told reporters after delivering her keynote address at the Wharton Global Forum Kuala Lumpur 2016 yesterday.

Althought the period of adjustment could take up to two years, she says it would ultimately place Malaysia on a more solid platform.

“That is very important because otherwise, we will be very vulnerable to things like the oil price decline.

“Our economy is still growing and the factors that are affecting our growth now are transitionary factors.

“We will go through this period of adjustment, and then we should be able to resume our growth, because we have the underlying foundations,” she says.

Under the recalibrated Budget 2016, Malaysia’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth had been revised to a narrower range of 4 per cent-4.5 per cent for this year, compared with 4 per cent-5 per cent under the original budget.

Last year GDP stood at 5 per cent as opposed to 6 per cent in 2014,

Earlier in her speech, Zeti said while Asean economies had seen immense growth in intra regional trade and investment, financial integration in the region had not seen significant progress.

Progressive economic integration, she said, was a key factor that underpinned the region’s potential.

“Asean is one of the most diverse region in the world in term of its economic size, level of income, resource endowment, economic structure, the financial sector development and economic systems.

“The region has therefore leveraged on its diversity and this is reflected in the increase in cross-border production networks and the significant increase in intra regional trade and investment activities,” she says.

Since 1990, Asean intra-regional trade grew from 18 per cent to 24 per cent of its total trade, while intra-regional investment activities quadrupled, after the Asian Financial Crisis, from 4 per cent to 17 per cent now.

“Asean economies have now reached that stage whereby greater regional financial integration can unlock growth potential.

“Going forward the push for regional financial integration is something that central banks in the region need (to do) to bring about a more effective intermediation of funds, bringing the excess savings from one country, to be channelled to productive investments in another,” she says.

Zeti says the Asean region, having one of the highest savings rates in the world, has the potential to match some of the massive requirements for financing in certain parts of the region, for investment projects and infrastructure development.

Financial integration, she said, would facilitate the channelling of funds from surplus countries towards productive investments in opportunities in the region.

“It will contribute towards achieving more stable conditions in the regional financial markets,” she added. While Asean has drawn lessons from the European experience of monetary and financial integration, she says, the approach taken by Asean is distinctly differrent. Unlike the European Union, in which the formation of a monetary union with a single currency represents a major element in realising its economic integration, the Asean region had come to a decision some time ago, in the early 2000s based on a study by Asean central banks, that a common currency would not be pursued.

“This is because the Asean economies did not have the pre-conditions to achieve such a monetary union, and the effort to achieve such pre-conditions would involve immense cost to our economies.

“It was therefore concluded that the region would instead be better served by greater regional financial integration to achieve the very same objective of a shared economic prosperity for the region,” she said.

The Asean region has experienced a long term annual average growth of more than 5 per cent, much higher than the global average, and this is expected to be sustained going forward, she said. Collectively, Asean is now the sixth largest economy in the world with a population of 630 million and a combined GDP of US$2.5 trillion.

With a young population, Asean has the third largest labour force in the world, after China and India. By 2020, Asean is expected to account for more than US$2 trillion of additional consumption to the world economy.

“The AEC has often been misunderstood – there are a lot of myths surrounding it that worry people,” said Manpower Minister Muhammad Hanif Dhakiri in a meeting with the House of Representatives’ Commission IX overseeing labor affairs on Thursday.

“Many people think foreign workers will flock into the country, but that’s not entirely true,” he went on.

Hanif said the number of foreign workers coming to Indonesia had in fact decreased over the past five years, from 77,000 in 2011 to 69,000 in 2015. After the implementation of the AEC, foreign workers may only be employed in certain jobs, covering eight professions and 12 sectors. Most of the jobs are in the line of managers, directors, advisors, commissioners, expert technicians or expert supervisors, the minister explained.

The AEC is one of three ASEAN pillars, alongside the ASEAN Political-Security Community (APSC) and the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community (ASCC). The primary goal of the AEC is to create a single market among ASEAN nations. However, questions still arise among the public about the potential impacts of the AEC on the country’s business environment.

“People are worried that foreign workers will flood into Indonesia while our local workers are not yet ready to compete,” said lawmaker Djoni Rolindrawan at the meeting.

Hanif said the government planned to improve the quality of Indonesian workers, providing them with better education and training programs. School-age children should go to a good-quality school and uneducated people of productive age should be offered good-quality training courses in the field of their choice, he noted.

“The standard of our education and training programs should be balanced. If there is a certification program for teachers, there should also be an instructor certification program. If there are scholarships for students, there should be scholarship offers for trainees too,” said Hanif.

Minister of Posts and Telecommunications Hiem Phommachanh represented the Lao government to receive LaoSAT-1’s In-Orbit Delivery and witness the opening of the Lao Asia-Pacific Satellite Company Limited.

The minister stressed the importance of gaining the maximum benefits for the country from the satellite.

“In particular, in the economic sense, how can we make profits in order to pay off the loan and save to buy a new satellite after the old one expires in 15 years’ time,” Hiem said.

The minister added that the satellite business is new for Laos but the government has confidence in the satellite partnership company ‘Lao Asia-Pacific Satellite Company Limited.’

Although the government of Laos will hold a greater share than other partners they still believe that those partners will help Laos to overcome the challenges and benefit the country in the future.

The ministry and the related Chinese companies held a ceremonial handover of the first satellite to Laos as well as the official launching of Lao Asia-Pacific Satellite Company Limited.

Hiem said communication via satellite is a new technology in this era and to implement the policy of integration, the government pursued everything to make it happen and finally, Laos launched the LaoSAT-1 satellite.

Work on the satellite project began in 2008 but was delayed while funding was procured. Then in 2012, the Lao government signed a US$259 million loan agreement with the Export-Import Bank of China.

In November 2015, the LaoSAT-1 satellite was launched into space and until now the experiments relating to the satellite’s technical capabilities have proved it is fully functional for telecommunications.

The satellite was launched from China into the 128.5 degrees East orbital slot, which has been specifically allocated to Laos.

The satellite launch is part of government efforts to propel the country towards industrialisation and employ advanced technology for telecommunications.

Vice General Manager of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) Yang Baohua said the launch of the first Lao satellite into orbit recently was also the first time for CASC to launch a satellite in an Asean country, and it had helped to improve aerospace science and technology between Laos and China.

“The satellite will lift up the image of Laos on the international stage and it will also push the level of Lao science and technology development as well as socio-economic and cultural developments. We believe that the cooperation between the CASC and Laos will be improved and enlarged to new levels in the country,” Yang said.

The LaoSAT-1 satellite represents a new technology for Laos which can help further the country’s socio-economic development and boost the quality of telecommunications in Laos.

However it still a challenge for the government and those shareholders to ensure adequate benefits for the country in the future, in particular local people by allowing low cost telecommunications, which is something everyone is looking for.

The PLBs were developed as part of the implementation of a second economic policy package and expected to serve as a distribution centre or warehouse for imported basic material. In this way, logistics costs will decrease significantly, said Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro in Jakarta on Thursday.

“This year, we want to complete the 11 PLBs and synchronize the system with Custom and Excise Office. Next year we are targeting 50 more PLBs. With these 50 companies, in the next two to three years, we expect Indonesia to become a logistics hub,” he said.

As the upgraded version of bonded warehouses, Bambang further explained, PLBs provide increased benefits such as a longer storing period of up to three years, compared to a bonded warehouse which only stores materials for one year,

Secondly, he said, the PLBs are allowed to stock inventories owned by other companies. Meanwhile, a bonded warehouse was only allowed to store items stored by the bonded warehouse owner. Third, PLBs can store overseas goods, owned by companies abroad in Southeast Asia.

This year, there will be 11 PLBs built. One of them, owned by Cipta Krida Bahari, was inaugurated by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo on Thursday. Another, currently being built by Petrosea and Pelabuhan Panajam in Balikpapan, will specifically serve the oil and gas industry.

Kamadjaja Logistics is building a food and beverage industry PLB in Cibitung, Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indonesia is preparing a automotive industry specific PLB in Karawang, and Gerbang Teknologi Cikarang will develop a PLB in Cikarang to serve the textile industries.

Agility International is developing personal care and home-care industry PLB in Halim, while Dunia Express has committed to develop two PLBs, located in Sunter and Karawang, to serve the textile industry.

Lastly, for synthetic supporting industry, Vopak Terminal will develop a PLB in Surabaya, Dahana will develop its PLB in Subang for the oil and gas industry, and Khrisna Cargo is constructing two PLBs in Benoa and Denpasar for small medium enterprises (SME) industry.

Indonesia’s logistic costs are currently two-fold higher than that of Singapore and Malaysia.

“If we want to buy goods, we have to go to another country. The production is in Indonesia but the warehouse is abroad. With PLBs, logistics costs will be cheaper because we can save on transportation cost,” said Jokowi after the inauguration ceremony for Cipta Krida Bahari’s bonded logistics services.

THE NATIONAL League for Democracy (NLD) yesterday proposed Aung San Suu Kyi‘s close aide Htin Kyaw as the next president of Myanmar – a position that he may not be totally in control of, as the Nobel laureate pledged during the election four months ago that she would run the country “above” her proxy.

Htin Kyaw, however, is not a nobody in Myanmar politics although an observer said he only joined the party officially two months ago. The 69-year-old university lecturer was Suu Kyi‘s school friend and helps run a charity named after Suu Kyi‘s late mother, Daw Khin Kyi.

Htin Kyaw, a soft-spoken economics graduate whose life has been entwined in Myanmar’s struggle for democracy, is the son of influential poet and veteran NLD member Min Thu Wun.

In a varied career, Htin Kyaw also held positions in the industry and foreign affairs ministries in the late 1970s and 1980s before retiring from government service as the military tightened its grip.

He has long been part of Suu Kyi‘s inner circle and in the past sometimes acted as the veteran activist’s personal driver.

His wife, Su Su Lwin, is a sitting NLD MP whose late father was once party spokesman.

Though Suu Kyi is banned from the top job under the army-drafted charter, she has still pledged to rule the country from “above” her appointee.

“It’s clear he will be a proxy president,” said Soe Myint Aung of the Taguang Institute of Political Studies in Yangon, echoing terminology used in the local English-language media. “It would be difficult for him to deal with non-NLD party members in the cabinet and administrative officials as he is not a real president, just a puppet president.”

While little is known of the practicalities of the arrangement, the nomination demonstrates her faith in Htin Kyaw’s absolute loyalty to act as her proxy.

While he is the favourite for the post, Htin Kyaw’s nomination will need to go through votes in the NLD-dominated legislature and will not be confirmed for several days.

Under Myanmar’s indirect system for electing a president, three candidates are nominated – one by the lower house, one by the upper house and one by the military bloc in parliament, who under the constitution hold a quarter of seats in both houses.

After the candidates have been vetted by a parliamentary commission, both houses will come together to vote in a joint session, with the winner elected president and the two losing nominees becoming vice presidents.

Since the NLD has a comfortable majority in both chambers it effectively controls two of the nominations. The NLD nominated Henry Van Thio, a member of the Chin ethnic group in the country’s northwest bordering India and Bangladesh, as its candidate from the upper house.

Henry is tipped to be a vice president to represent ethnic minorities, a key component in Myanmar politics.

“I am happy and honoured personally, as well as a Chin ethnic, to be selected to do the highest duty for our country,” Henry said as he left parliament. “We, the ethnic people, will do our best for every sector in the nation-building process.”

To fulfil the military quota, local media have named Thet Swe, a former navy chief who resigned last year to run in the election representing the far-flung Coco Islands. The military MPs, who will make their nomination separately, did not attend the parliament meeting yesterday morning.

The president picks the cabinet that will take over from President Thein Sein’s outgoing government on April 1, with the exception of the heads of the home, defence and border security ministries, which will be appointed by the armed forces chief.