Myanmar Morning News For January 17

Myanmar, Bangladesh reach agreement to complete return of Rohingya Muslims within two years
Bangladesh and Myanmar have agreed to complete within two years the return of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims who fled an army crackdown last year in Myanmar.
— ABC

Rohingya insurgents on the move in Myanmar
An attack by Rohingya militants in western Myanmar in the opening days of the New Year – their first military activity after a protracted three-month hiatus – provided a glimpse of the direction in which the conflict is likely headed in the coming year.
— Asia Times

MOEE to provide 3,600 MW of additional power in four years
The Ministry of Electricity and Energy (MOEE) has pledged to provide an additional 3,600 megawatts of electricity within the next four years, Deputy Minister Dr. Tun Naing said in Parliament Monday.
— Myanmar Times

ADB launches $500 Instagram contest
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has invited citizens of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) to post photos on Instagram that showcase the area’s development and encourage regional cooperation. Three winners will win $500, $200, and $100, respectively.
— Coconut Yangon

Govt moves to complete five power projects
Electrical consumption in Myanmar has increased to about 16 per cent on average and the government aims to complete five power projects in the 2018-19 fiscal year, said Dr Tun Naing, deputy minister for electricity and energy during a parliament session held on January 15.
— Eleven Myanmar

Eight seats in play for by-election due later this year: UEC member
Aung Myint, a member of the Union Election Commission, told a session of Parliament’s Upper House on Monday that a by-election would be held sometime in 2018 to fill eight vacant seats in legislatures at the state, regional, and national level.
— Coconut Yangon

Richardson seeks to resolve Myanmar crisis, free journalists
Former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson said Tuesday that he hoped two Reuters journalists will be freed in conjunction with his visit to Myanmar next week as a member of an international advisory panel seeking to resolve the crisis in the country.
— Fox Business

Myanmar, Laos reach MoUs on sectoral cooperation
Myanmar and Laos have reached three memorandums of understanding on bilateral cooperation in three sectors, Myanmar News Agency reported Tuesday.
— Xinhua Net

Metro Pacific studies Myanmar potentials
INFRASTRUCTURE conglomerate Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) is studying investment opportunities in the toll-roads sector in Myanmar, Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan said on Monday, even as the group targets to close an expressway deal in Malaysia this year.
— BusinessMirror

47 fishermen killed in Mon State seas
The number of fishermen killed on the high seas is increasing in Mon State, and in most cases the perpetrators are not brought to justice, according to data from Ye township police.
— Myanmar Times

Myanmar plans purchase of Lao hydropower
Office Head of the Ministry of Energy and Mines, Dr Daovong Phonekeo, told Vientiane Times on Monday the two sides will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) this week, which will allow Myanmar authorities to initiate a feasibility study.
— Eleven Myanmar

Educating Myanmar’s youngest refugees
Sofia Begum is a case study in the power of hope. Three months ago, armed vigilantes attacked the six-year-old’s village in Myanmar’s Rakhine State. Sofia saw neighbours killed, an uncle wounded by gunfire, and her home razed.
— Gulf-Times

Snub-nosed monkeys disappearing from Myanmar
Eight years after its discovery, the critically endangered Myanmar snub-nosed monkey is still threatened with extinction, prompting the re-actualisation of the conservation status to uncover how the species is faring, according to the Fauna & Flora International (FFI) release on January 10.
— Myanmar Times

Ethnic nationalities want 21st Century Panglong Conference deferred
Ethnic nationalities will negotiate with responsible persons from government to defer the third session of 21st Century Panglong Conference which is scheduled to be held in the last week of January as they need to continue their discussions in a series of political negotiations for holding the conference effectively.
— Mizzima

At least 1 killed in vessel collision in Myanmar’s western state
At least one person was killed, one injured and four others went missing in a collision involving a cargo ship and a fishing vessel in Pauktaw township, Myanmar’s western Rakhine state, said a release of the Home Affairs Ministry Tuesday.
— Xinhua Net

Yangon-Mandalay train journey will shorten to 8 hours by 2023
Japan has thrown its weight behind Myanmar’s railway development by funding the Yangon-Mandalay railway, according to the country’s foreign minister Taro Kono who held a joint press conference in the capital with State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi on January 12.
— Myanmar Times

Children of Myanmar Still Victims of Grave Violations Despite Measures to End Recruitment and Use
The United Nations Secretary-General, in his fourth report on the impact of armed conflict on children in Myanmar, documents progress in the Government of Myanmar’s efforts to end the recruitment and use of child soldiers, but notes that on-going clashes and the recent wave of violence in Rakhine add to the plight of conflict affected children in the country.
— ReliefWeb

What elephant attacks tell us about the state of the Rohingya crisis in Bangladesh
Mohammed Alam and his young family were enjoying their first good night’s sleep in a long time when the elephant attacked their tent.
— Public Radio International

In Maungdaw, signs of recovery amid scenes of devastation
THERE’S NOT much left of Myo Thu Gyi village, a once thriving community close to downtown Maungdaw, which was devastated like scores of others in the violence that engulfed northern Rakhine State after the attacks by fighters from the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army late last August.
— Frontier Myanmar

Onion prices continue to plunge
A viss (1.6 kilograms) of onion was K3,200 in the first week of January. The new harvest to the Pakokku market in Magway Region has brought down the prices to K2,400 per viss.
— Eleven Myanmar

Feature photo Bernard Oh

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 17 added by Leakhena Khat on January 17, 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.