PM's Myanmar visit snag as she awaits okay from Nay Pyi Taw

Piyanart Sivalo

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- A question mark hangs over Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's planned visit to Dawei, Myanmar, scheduled for this month, as Nay Pyi Taw has yet to endorse the proposed itinerary.

Yingluck was expected to highlight the mega-investment project in the port town, for which she recently signed a preliminary cooperation agreement with Myanmar President Thein Sein. The Thai government sent a team led by high-ranking officials including Foreign Ministry permanent secretary Sihasak Phuangkatekaew and National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB) secretary-general Arkom Termpitayapaisit to Dawei last week to prepare for the meeting.

Last Sunday, Foreign Minister Surapong Towichukchaikul told the media that Yingluck would visit Myanmar from September 19 to 21, after the trip was postponed from its initial schedule of September 13-15. Surapong said the earlier dates were just an initial proposal by the Thai side.

A source at Government House said Bangkok is still waiting for a response from Nay Pyi Taw. In addition, the level of the meeting has not been set. In the meantime, the prime minister is scheduled to inspect water-management systems in Krabi and Phuket, two of the Kingdom's main tourism destinations.

The prime minister's team reported that the upcoming visit to Myanmar might be led by officials at the ministerial level, not the premier, as the visit was aimed at following up on the cooperation memorandum of understanding, which was changed from a government-to-private sector to a government-to-government basis. The agreement does not specify that the prime minister should lead the visit.

A source at the Foreign Ministry speculated that Nay Pyi Taw might still lack confidence in the Thai government's stance on several issues affecting Myanmar's domestic politics. Former foreign minister Kasit Piromya was accused during the Abhisit Vejjajiva administration of interference for calling on the then government to release democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi along with all other political prisoners. Suu Kyi and many prisoners have been released since reforms began after Thein Sein became president in 2011.

Moreover, the Yingluck government appeared to support Suu Kyi (now opposition leader) during her visit to Thailand in July, when she attended the World Economic Forum as a guest of the Thai government, reportedly upsetting Thein Sein.

The Dawei project was initiated by Thai construction firm Italian-Thai Development Plc, which signed an MOU with Myanmar's Port Authority in 2008. The 10-year project will includes deep-sea ports, heavy industries and office building and commercial areas. ITD was awarded a contract, of which the first phase is worth an estimated US$8.6 billion (Bt270 billion). The entire project could be worth $58 billion or more.

After Myanmar began to open to foreign investment early this year, the mega-investment project came into the spotlight, drawing interests from several countries. ITD's contract for developing the industrial estate in the Dawei Special Economic Zone was eventually scaled down from 250 to 200 square kilometres.

-- The Nation 2012-09-01

I'm not one who supports duplicate threads...but in this case can mods post this to the Myanmar News forum also?

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Chalerm's finger pointing won't have helped.

But it takes time, to get some suitable stock, into the hi-so shop-windows of Dawei and Rangoon, in-preparation for the visit !

The Myanmar govt should rightly be concerned that Ital Thai already swollen with debt isn't in a financial position to undertake the project. And their own cornerstone investor already pulled out of the project. So the question is who will finance the project, and they are already considering all the evidence from a raft of studies that suggest the project will cause massive environmental damage with most of the economic benefits enjoyed by Thai companies and very little benefit to local Myanmar people

.......or.........there is much more to the story........as there often is with any of her visits abroad........

I'm sure she'll find a basket weaving demonstration or some such inanity as an excuse not to attend parliament.

Was this during the flood test in Bangkok?

i hope they will also inforce a max of 49% foreign ownership of their own company and do never allow them to buy land, only rent

like all we farang kwais are sentenced to till the end of times

The Thai govt. is getting into bed with thieves, whores, liars, scoundrels, and a govt. that is deeply involved with drug manufacturing, promoting, and exporting. As Suu Kyi so aptly put it when she visited Thailand "There is little justification for the unbridled exuberance that I seeing regarding investment in Myanmar". Yes, the generals have not proven themselves yet. Only time will tell if they are serious. At this point, they simply look they want to attract the billions in DFI, without instituting true reform.

Maybe she can't get a visa.

The Thai govt. is getting into bed with thieves, whores, liars, scoundrels, and a govt. that is deeply involved with drug manufacturing, promoting, and exporting. As Suu Kyi so aptly put it when she visited Thailand "There is little justification for the unbridled exuberance that I seeing regarding investment in Myanmar". Yes, the generals have not proven themselves yet. Only time will tell if they are serious. At this point, they simply look they want to attract the billions in DFI, without instituting true reform.

Maybe the generals are waiting for the man from Exim to call first.... like before.

There's been a lot of talk about how Myanmar has opened up, however, this story shows just how far they still have to go!

The Thai govt. is getting into bed with thieves, whores, liars, scoundrels,

Nothing new there then, a home from home really.

There's been a lot of talk about how Myanmar has opened up, however, this story shows just how far they still have to go!

When the Burmese workers go home to satay, you will know it's really changed. They still don't trust the government. Meanwhile Yingluck better hope nothing important comes up until this is sorted.

Hope she doesn't bring back any "knock off" handbags & gets stopped at customs ??

Who is Nay Pyi Thaew,? Doesn't say in the article.

I can imagine him being pretty miffed if Thais make a habit of not giving him his official title.

Who is Nay Pyi Thaew,? Doesn't say in the article.

I can imagine him being pretty miffed if Thais make a habit of not giving him his official title.

I don't imagine 'he' will be too miffed at all...

...Nay Pyi Taw is a place, not a person. Its the capital of Myanmar

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Who is Nay Pyi Thaew,? Doesn't say in the article.

I can imagine him being pretty miffed if Thais make a habit of not giving him his official title.

I don't imagine 'he' will be too miffed at all...

...Nay Pyi Taw is a place, not a person. Its the capital of Myanmar

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Ho Ho. Now I do feel better.

:-)

Ho Ho. Now I do feel better.

:-)

And that's Mister Nay Pyi Taw to you - where are your manners?

Ho Ho. Now I do feel better.

:-)

And that's Mister Nay Pyi Taw to you - where are your manners?

Whom in Nay phi thaw approves the schedule then? It appears no one actually knows or wants to report the names of their counterparts

.......or.........there is much more to the story........as there often is with any of her visits abroad........

Are you privy to insider information? You seem to know more than most about the PM

Whom in Nay phi thaw approves the schedule then? It appears no one actually knows or wants to report the names of their counterparts

This one will be up to Thein Sein....I imagine it is on hold for the moment as he is tied up with some internal deck shuffling with his own cabinet....others would say he is still miffed over Aung San Suu Kyi's visit a couple of months back, but I doubt it.

I'd say it will happen, just some protocols to be sorted out on both sides yet...

Whom in Nay phi thaw approves the schedule then? It appears no one actually knows or wants to report the names of their counterparts

This one will be up to Thein Sein....I imagine it is on hold for the moment as he is tied up with some internal deck shuffling with his own cabinet....others would say he is still miffed over Aung San Suu Kyi's visit a couple of months back, but I doubt it.

I'd say it will happen, just some protocols to be sorted out on both sides yet...

Well they may struggle to find him in Daewei.

he Thai government sent a team led by high-ranking officials including Foreign Ministry permanent secretary Sihasak Phuangkatekaew and National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB) secretary-general Arkom Termpitayapaisit to Dawei last week to prepare for the meeting.

Last Sunday, Foreign Minister Surapong Towichukchaikul told the media that Yingluck would visit Myanmar from September 19 to 21, after the trip was postponed from its initial schedule of September 13-15. Surapong said

Who is Nay Pyi Thaew,? Doesn't say in the article. I can imagine him being pretty miffed if Thais make a habit of not giving him his official title.

Thats the new capital, where all the rich hang out.

....where all the rich hang out.

??????????

Spent much time there? Not exactly a place to go hang out....

The Burmese generals are making (what appears to be, but I wouldn't trust them an inch) an attempt to show the world they're cleaning up their act. Maybe they no longer want to be seen to be too close to a government made up of terrorists, murderers, thieves and liars.

Who is Nay Pyi Thaew,? Doesn't say in the article. I can imagine him being pretty miffed if Thais make a habit of not giving him his official title.

Thats the new capital, where all the rich hang out.

Nay Pyi Taw is a ficticious city that the superfreak president, and generals created, to protect themselves from their imagined foreign invasion. It was during a period when they were doing more drugs than usual, and they were experiencing major bouts of paranoia. From what I hear, everyone who has been there, or works there, absolutely hates the place, as there is no real center, no life, no spirit. Just a capital, with alot of corrupt, power hungry military types, who are trying very hard to fool the world into believing they have an interest in reform. Wait. Wait. Wait. Do not invest. Give the pigs a chance to demonstrate they are willing to cede some power, and that they are not completely addicted to the billions a year they get from being some of the planet's largest heroin dealers.