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.

The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) in its 2016 worldwide cost of living survey released on Thursday (March 10) ranked Singapore as the costliest ahead of Zurich, Hong Kong, Geneva and Paris.

London was sixth and New York seventh on the list that compares the cost of a basket of more than 160 items – from food, toiletries and clothing to domestic help, transport and utility bills – across 133 cities.

The cheapest cities to live in were Lusaka, the capital of Zambia, followed by Bangalore and Mumbai in India, the EIU said.

The survey is designed to help human resource and finance managers calculate cost-of-living allowances and come up with compensation packages for expatriates and business travellers.

Singapore was still the priciest city even though its cost of living when compared to costs in New York – used as the study’s base city – has come down by 10 per cent from a year ago, the EIU said.

It also noted that costs across the world have been highly volatile because of the rising US dollar, currency devaluations and movements, and falling oil and commodity prices.

This has caused big shifts in its ranking of cities.

Thus, Singapore’s lead over the next two cities has nearly evaporated. Hong Kong, because of its currency’s peg to the strong US dollar, shot up seven places to joint second place with Zurich in just 12 months.

And the unpegging of the Swiss franc from the euro helped Zurich and Geneva (4th place) retain the unenviable title of Europe’s most expensive cities as they escaped Eurozone austerity and the economic fallout from falling oil prices, said the EIU.

In contrast, a weaker Aussie dollar pushed Sydney and Melbourne out of the top 10, down to 20th and 21st place respectively.

New York and Los Angeles also shot up the ranking because of currency headwinds, not price increases. With the falling cost of oil and a strong US dollar pushing down prices, inflation has been relatively low across the US.

Despite this, New York went from 22nd to 7th place – its highest global position since 2002 – and has risen by some 42 places up the ranking since 2011, when it was barely among the 50 most expensive cities, let alone the top ten. Similarly, Los Angeles catapulted 19 places in one year to joint 8th place.

“In nearly 17 years of working on this survey I can’t recall a year as volatile as 2015,” said Jon Copestake, EIU survey editor.

“Falling commodity prices have created deflationary pressures in some countries, but in others currency weakness caused by these falls has led to spiralling inflation,” he added.

The EIU said that despite topping the ranking, Singapore still offers relative value in some categories, especially compared with its regional peers.

For general basic groceries, Singapore offers the same value as New York. This compares with Seoul, which is 33 per cent more expensive, Tokyo (26 per cent) and Hong Kong (28 per cent).

However, Singapore remains consistently expensive in other categories. It is the most expensive place in the world to buy and run a car, thanks to our Certificate of Entitlement system. Transport costs in Singapore are 2.7 times higher than in New York. Alongside Seoul, Singapore is also a very expensive city in which to buy clothes and pay for utility costs, said the EIU.

He was nominated by the NLD-led lower house of parliament on Thursday morning (March 10) and is one of three nominees for the post. Another candidate, nominated by the upper house, is Henry Van Hti Yu, an ethnic Chin minority and NLD lawmaker. The third nominee is due to be announced by the army, which has a block of 25 per cent of parliament seats.

But Htin Kyaw’s stature makes it obvious that he is the NLD’s choice for president and will be easily voted into the post by sitting Members of Parliament. This means the other two nominees will take up the positions of vice-president.

The vote is likely to take place next week, after procedural requirements including setting up of scrutinising committees.

Htin Kyaw, 69, has economics degrees from Rangoon and Oxford universities. More importantly, he comes with a sterling political and intellectual pedigree. He is the son of prominent writer and intellectual Min Thu Wun, who was an early leader of the NLD and well known to Suu Kyi‘s father, independence hero General Aung San.

Min Thu Wun, who died in 2004, was also close to U Thant, the first Asian Secretary-General of the United Nations. They were born within two weeks of each other in 1909.

Htin Kyaw’s wife Su Su Lwin is also close to Suu Kyi, and is herself the daughter of a former army colonel, the late U Lwin, who was an early member of the NLD, helping to set up the party and leading it in the 1990s.

Su Su Lwin, who won a by-election in 2012 from her father’s old constituency Thongwa, won again last November. She is head of the lower house’s international relations committee.

“This is why it is important for governments to support the development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which is the biggest source of employment in Asean.

“If employment is seriously threatened, barriers will rise, which will cause the AEC to be rolled back, if not fail,” he said in statement yesterday.

The Asean-Bac had met up with Malaysian SMEs and SME associations to learn the challenges being faced by the sector since the AEC was pronounced last year.

It is part of a series of dialogues to be held nationwide with multiple SMEs and other organisations.

There is also Malaysia’s ratification of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) looming which would increase the pressure of liberalized markets on SMEs, Asean-Bac added.

“As the entity mandated by Asean leaders to provide private sector feedback and guidance to boost Asean’s efforts towards economic integration, this meeting and others to come will be submitted as recommendations through Asean-Bac for the consideration of Asean leaders during the next AseanLeaders summit in Vientiane in September,” Munir added.

Munir pointed out that the 2025 Blueprint placed a responsibility on Asean-Bac to coordinate private sector viewpoints and to ensure more effective collaboration between the private and official sector in Asean.

Asean-Bac had met early in February in Vientiane to map out its work plan for the year and its representatives had a session with Asean economic ministers in Chiangmai at the beginning of this month.

“Asean-Bac Malaysia is committed to ensuring it provides the necessary support to Malaysian SMEs and indeed, SMEs across the Asean region,” he said.

He said the recently launched Growth Accelerator Exchange, a financing programme for SMEs in November 2015, was an effort by Asean-Bac to mitigate the daily challenge of reducing the cost of doing business for micro, small and medium enterprises.

With the date fast approaching for Suu Kyi‘s National League for Democracy (NLD) to take power, efforts to portray the party and its former foes as working cordially together towards a smooth transfer of power have faltered, according to politicians and officials familiar with the situation.

“She believed that she would be able to work with the military, but after the last meeting with the commander-in-chief, she realised that she cannot negotiate with them,” said a senior NLD Upper House lawmaker briefed on the talks. “It’s quite clear that she has moved on from waiting for the military to collaborate.”

Talks between the NLD and the military began soon after Suu Kyi‘s party won a landslide victory in a historic election on November 8, heralding the country’s first democratically elected government since the military took power in 1962. But Suu Kyi has become frustrated with the intransigence of the military on issues ranging from a constitutional amendment that would allow her to become president to the location of the handover ceremony before the start of the new government on April 1, say sources in her camp.

General Tin San Naing, the spokesman for military MPs, declined to comment on the details of negotiations. The military has stressed its belief that it has a vital role to play in politics until the transition to democracy is secure, and had worried that changing the constitution quickly could set a dangerous precedent.

Myanmar’s junta handed power to a semi-civilian government made up of ex-generals in 2011, after nearly 50 years of military rule, but the constitution it drafted left the military with considerable power.

As well as a clause that effectively bans Suu Kyi from becoming president because her children are British citizens, the constitution also gives the military three powerful ministries and 25 per cent of the seats in parliament that amounts to a veto over any constitutional change. The charter will force the NLD government to work with the military.