Myanmar Morning News For January 11

Myanmar Formally Charges Two Reuters Journalists
Two Reuters journalists jailed in Myanmar have been formally charged with violating the country’s Official Secrets Act.
— VOA

Myanmar’s military admits to role in killing of 10 Rohingya Muslims found in mass grave
Myanmar’s military has acknowledged that its security forces and Buddhist villagers killed 10 Rohingya Muslims whose bodies were found in a mass grave in a village in troubled Rakhine state.
— ABC

Foreign trade volume reaches over US$24 bn
Myanmar’s foreign trade volume has reached over US$24 billion within nine months of the current fiscal year and US$5 billion is still needed to meet the target of the foreign trade volume, according to statistics from the Ministry of Commerce.
— Eleven Myanmar

Myanmar Sugar Development to build $65 million sugar mill
The Myanmar Sugar Development Public Co has secured state approval Tuesday to set up a new sugar mill in Kathar township, Sagaing Region. The mill will produce sugar for local consumption, as well as its byproducts, ethanol and electricity, U Win Htay, managing director of the company, was quoted by Dealstreet Asia as saying.
— Myanmar Times

Fresh Fighting Another Setback to Myanmar Peace Process
Two years after Myanmar’s State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi promised to make the country’s 70-year civil war a priority in her leadership, there has been little to celebrate about the peace process.
— VOA

Survey: 85 per cent of Internet surfing on smartphones
Up to 85 per cent of Internet surfing is made by smartphones and 65 per cent of Internet surfers use Facebook, with the Chrome browser the most popular, according to a survey by MOA.
— Eleven Myanmar

Banking on satellite communications
Richard Bowles, regional managing director for ASEAN at Arianespace, which launches satellites, is convinced banks’ struggle to reach Myanmar’s unbanked population will end with the launch of its first satellite, slated for some time next year.
— Myanmar Times

Myanmar: an innovation lab for localisation
Myanmar occupies a special place among the different contexts where localisation has had a major influence on the way aid practices have evolved. It was the focus of one of the case studies during the research project, “More than the Money: Localisation in Practice”, that Groupe URD carried out for Trócaire.
— ReliefWeb

More Asian travellers expected to arrive in 2018
Industry players forecast tour packages from Asian markets to jump 25 percent in 2018 and 2019, while arrivals from European countries could dip by almost 20pc for the same period.
— Myanmar Times

Myanmar Says it is Still Waiting For Repatriation Forms From Bangladesh
Though Myanmar has nearly completed housing for 5,000 returning Rohingya Muslim refugees, officials are still waiting for Bangladesh to send lists of those who are eligible for repatriation slated to begin later this month, government officials said Wednesday.
— Radio Free Asia

A difficult year for Myanmar
For Myanmar, 2018 may be crucial. The year 2017 did not proceed favourably for either the civilian government or the military establishment, which continues to hold considerable power over state institutions.
— The Hindu

Yangon to build toll gates at 11 townships
The Yangon Regional Municipal Office has launched a tender, open to local companies only, for the construction of toll gates at 11 townships within the Yangon municipal area.
— Myanmar Times

Myanmar hotels win Asean tourism awards
Ten hotels across Myanmar won Asean Tourism Awards, according to an announcement from the Director of Hotels and Tourism of the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism.
— Eleven Myanmar

Myanmar’s press freedom goes into free fall
Myanmar’s media has long been on the rack. Yesterday the situation worsened markedly when police formally charged two Reuters reporters with breaching the Official Secrets Act.
— The Nation

Myanmar migrant workers coming back from Thai and Malaysia
At the end of 180-day grace period for undocumented migrant workers in Thailand, Myanmar migrant workers started coming back home at Myawaddy on January 8.
— Eleven Myanmar

JICA SME loans K60b in 2015-17
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)’s two-step loans for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Myanmar amounted to over K60 billion in 2015-17, according to the government.
— Myanmar Times

Feature photo Jean-Marie Hullot

Find our previous morning news feature photos in the AEC News Today Morning News Feature Photos gallery where you will find a pictorial display of daily life throughout the Asean Economic Community (AEC).

Myanmar morning news by AEC News Today is your one stop source for Myanmar news on matters of governance and policies affecting Asean business communities. It is published M-F by AEC News Today: Governance, not government; policies not politics.

Myanmar Morning News For January 11 added by Leakhena Khat on January 11, 2018
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Leakhena Khat

Leakhena is a junior journalist at AEC News Today who is also currently studying International Relations, which she finds adds perspective to her work reporting on the Asean Community.

“I love what I am doing so much as it gives me a lot of great experience and provides challenges to my mind.