Myanmar morning news for April 4, 2019

Rakhine aid access ban leaves 95,000 lacking basic services, say INGOs
Nearly 100,000 people in Rakhine State are unable to access essential services because of a ban on aid organisations entering townships affected by fighting between the Tatmadaw and the Arakan Army, humanitarian groups have warned in a joint statement.
— Frontier Myanmar

Sugar export licences to be suspended on lack of demand
The Ministry of Commerce (MOC) last month suspended 103 licenses to re-export sugar due to a lack of demand from China, said U Win Htay, deputy chair of the Myanmar Sugar and Sugarcane Related Products Merchant & Manufacturers Association.
— Myanmar Times

Curfew imposed in western Myanmar town
A curfew was imposed in Minpya town, Myanmar’s western Rakhine state, on Tuesday, the town’s General Administration Office said.
— Xinhua

ADB upbeat on Myanmar’s economic path
MYANMAR’S economy will continue to grow in the next two years, despite patchy progress on the government’s economic reforms and a slight decline in the pace of expansion last year, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) says.
— The Nation (very annoying popup)

Leading Myanmar and Malaysia builders sign agreement to collaborate
Capital Diamond Star Group Co, one of Myanmar’s leading diversified companies, and Sunway Group of Malaysia, have signed a memorandum of understanding in Mandalay to implement infrastructure and construction projects in Myanmar.
— Myanmar Times

Japanese business hotel opens in Myanmar economic zone
Japan’s Super Hotel chain has opened the first lodgings in Myanmar’s Thilawa Special Economic Zone outside Yangon, anticipating demand from business travelers as foreign companies build factories in the region.
— Nikkei Asian Review (paywall)

Myanmar Signals It Will Give Cold Shoulder to New UN Rights Investigator on Rohingya
The United Nations on Tuesday announced the appointment of an American prosecutor as head of an independent team that will probe human rights violations in Myanmar’s volatile Rakhine state, focusing on atrocities committed against Rohingya Muslims and other minority groups.
— Radio Free Asia

EU donated EUR 221 million to education in Myanmar
European Union supported education in Myanmar with EUR 221 million to provide equal acesses to better quality education for all Myanmar students.
— Scandasia

Myanmar, China raise efforts to develop tourism industries
Myanmar and China are taking big steps to develop each other’s tourism industries.
— Myanmar Times

Switzerland for continuing pressure on Myanmar
Switzerland on Tuesday supported Bangladesh’s stance seeking international community to mount pressure on Myanmar for taking back forcibly displaced nationals of the country.
— Newagebd

First blockchain Thai-Myanmar money transfer service to launch
More than three million Myanmar migrant workers live and work in Thailand and send money home to their families.
— Banking Tech

EOI invited to lease three businesses of Fisheries Department
The Fisheries Department has invited EOI (expression of interest) applications to lease and engage in three businesses on a long-term basis on the department’s owned 530-acre land under BOT system.
— Eleven Myanmar

MMID announces dividend, share price appreciation, aims for stock exchange listing
Investors in the Myotha Industrial Park Project, which is under implementation in Myingyan township, Mandalay Region, have profited from their shares in the project, U Tun Tun Aung, managing director of Mandalay-Myotha Industrial Development Public Company (MMID) told the media on March 29, just before the company’s fifth shareholders meeting.
— Myanmar Times

Nowhere to go: Myanmar farmers under siege from land law
The Myanmar government has tightened a law on so-called ‘vacant, fallow and virgin’ land, and farmers are at risk.
— Aljazeera

In rural Myanmar, rail lines founder while military spends
The pre-dawn air is crisp at Saikkhaung village, in Myanmar’s largely rural Shan State, as I board the 5 a.m. train for the three-hour journey to Taunggyi, the state capital. Women sit on the floor in the passenger coaches, stringing together sardine-sized fish to be sold in the daily market near Taunggyi railway station, alongside fruit, vegetables, cotton longyis (sarongs) and skewered field rats, fat with pilfered corn and ready for the grill.
— Nikkei Asian Review (paywall)

Displaced Kachin hungry for home in Myanmar
With the sound of gunfire mostly absent in Myanmar’s northern Kachin State, after the army unilaterally implemented a partial ceasefire in late December to promote peace talks with local militias, those displaced by the conflict say they want to go home.
— UCA News

India-Myanmar commodity flow temporarily ceased
As the India had temporarily blocked the traffic flow at their border gates, commodities flow at the Reed border area had come to a halt, according to Reed Township administrator Kyin Lan Kham.
— Eleven Myanmar

JICA plans two-step loans for farmers to buy farm machinery
Myanmar Agricultural Development Bank will loan Ks 50 million to an individual farmer and K500 million to a group of farmer who want to purchase rice mills, oil mills and combined harvesters under a two-step loan plan of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), according to sources from the bank under the Ministry of Planning and Finance.
— Eleven Myanmar

8 workers remain captive by insurgents in Myanmar’s western state
Eight construction workers out of 13, kidnapped by ethnic insurgent group the Arakan Army(AA) in Paletwa township, Myanmar’s Rakhine state, were still held captive, after five were released, said the Office of the Commander-in-Chief of the Defense Services late on Tuesday.
— Xinhua

Myanmar to turn historic Secretariat Building into museum
Myanmar’s historic Secretariat Building, known as Ministers’ Office previously, is nearing completion with its renovation work and is scheduled to open as a museum in July, according to the Secretariat Conservation Trust (SCT) on Tuesday.
— China.org

Myanmar dispatches around 90 Myanmar fishing workers to Thailand
Myanmar has sent around 90 Myanmar fishing workers to Thailand under a MoU system, according to the Myanmar Labour Attaché Office in Bangkok of Thailand on April 2.
— Eleven Myanmar

Asia Tech Image expanding capacity in Myanmar
Asia Tech Image expanded monthly CIS (contact image sensor) production capacity at its factory in Myanmar to 900,000 modules at year-end 2018, and plans to increase it to 1.10-1.15 million units in third-quarter 2019, according to the Taiwan-based company.
— Digit Times

Youths to study textile industry in Guangxi in June
A chinese study programme will train 20 Myanmar youths in textile industry skills, the Myanmar Textile Manufacturers’ Association said.
— Myanmar Times

US government concerned about conflict and humanitarian access
The United States is deeply concerned about the harm to civilians of the ongoing conflict in Rakhine and Chin States between the Arakan Army and the Myanmar military, according to a press release dated 2 March from the US Embassy in Yangon.
— Mizzima

Alarming increase in the number of orphans in Myanmar
On a bamboo floor that creaks and squeaks with every step, lie two infants just months old. Around them can be heard the sound of other young children and lullabies.
— Myanmar Times

Calls grow to turn Tak into proper SEZ
An ambitious plan to turn the border village of Kokko in Myanmar into a new Chinatown has sparked calls for the Thai government to speed up making Tak a fully-fledged special economic zone (SEZ).
— Mizzima

Not only university grads are educated, leader tells workers
The idea that only university graduates are educated is outdated, State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said on Monday during a visit to Ayeyarwady Region.
— Myanmar Times

US lawyer to head probe into Myanmar atrocities
The United Nations has appointed the head of a mission to investigate atrocities against Rohingya and other minorities in Myanmar.
— UCA News

Woman from Myanmar held at Kolkata airport with USD 1,80,000
A woman from Myanmar was held at the Kolkata airport on Monday, who was in possession of USD 1,80,000.
— Newkerala

Asia Tech Image expanding capacity in Myanmar
Asia Tech Image expanding capacity in Myanmar Adam Hwang, DIGITIMES, Taipei Wednesday 3 April 2019 Asia Tech Image expanded monthly CIS (contact image sensor) production capacity at its factory in Myanmar to 900,000 modules at year-end 2018, and plans to increase it to 1.10-1.15 million units in third-quarter 2019, according to the Taiwan-based company.
— Tech

Myanmar’s government and military urged to provide reliable access for humanitarian actors across Rakhine, Kachin, and northern Shan States
The United States is deeply concerned about the harm to civilians of the ongoing conflict in Rakhine and Chin States between the Arakan Army and the Myanmar military. We call on all parties to renew their efforts to end the fighting and work toward a peaceful resolution of the conflict.
— Eleven Myanmar

Committee formed to fight against Myitsone Dam
YANGON — Environmentalists, scientists, writers and monks called for the cancellation of the Myitsone dam at a meeting in Yangon on Monday, at which a committee was formed to fight for the termination of the US$3.6 billion, China-backed project.
— Frontier Myanmar

Feature photo Myanmar Autism Association

This week’s Myanmar morning news photo features World Autism Awareness Day, April 2.

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.