'Myanmar needs stability, reconciliation'<\/p>\n
SINGAPORE (Agencies): Singapore has told Myanmar's ruling
\njunta that political stability and reconciliation are necessary
\nfor Yangon to attract foreign investments and promote trade.<\/p>\n
Premier Goh Chok Tong made the point during talks with the
\nchairman of Myanmar's State Law and Order Restoration Council
\n(SLORC), Than Shwe, and during a dinner hosted for the visitor
\nlate Thursday.<\/p>\n
\"Besides a conducive economic environment, political stability
\nand reconciliation are necessary for encouraging trade,
\ninvestments and tourism,\" Goh was quoted telling the Myanmarese
\nleader in a statement issued by the Singapore foreign ministry.<\/p>\n
Than Shwe arrived here Thursday for a four-day official visit
\nat the invitation of Premier Goh. It is his first to the city
\nstate since he became SLORC head in April 1992. He is also the
\nprime minister of Burma, Myanmar's official name.<\/p>\n
Than Shwe briefed Goh on political and economic developments
\nin Myanmar during their talks, the statement said.<\/p>\n
It did not specify whether the issue of Myanmarese opposition
\nleader Aung San Suu Kyi, under house arrest since 1989, figured
\nat the meeting.<\/p>\n
Goh said at the dinner for Than Shwe that the opening of the
\nMyanmarese economy to foreign investors and Yangon's steps to
\nbuild a market economy would enable it to join the bandwagon of
\nemerging Asian economies.<\/p>\n
\"If the momentum is sustained by constructive political
\ndevelopments and stable conditions, there will be increased
\ninternational confidence in your country's investment climate,\"
\nGoh told Than Shwe. \"More trade, investments and tourism will
\nfollow.\"<\/p>\n
Singapore and its colleagues in the Association of Southeast
\nAsian Nations (ASEAN) -- Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the
\nPhilippines and Thailand -- have rejected Western calls to
\nisolate Yangon in a bid to force the junta to release Suu Kyi.<\/p>\n
ASEAN's line is \"constructive engagement\" with Myanmar which
\nit feels will produce better results than isolation.<\/p>\n
Before his visit here, Than Shwe was in Indonesia for a four-
\nday official visit -- his first to an ASEAN country.<\/p>\n
Goh welcomed the steps taken by Myanmar to integrate with the
\nregional community, adding that they would contribute to regional
\nstability.<\/p>\n
Than Shwe said in his dinner speech that his visit to
\nSingapore was a \"significant symbol of a concrete step forward\"
\nin bilateral relations.<\/p>\n
He added that Myanmar was taking steps to invite more foreign
\ninvestment and encourage local entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n
Myanmar and Singapore signed an agreement Thursday to step up
\neconomic cooperation and trade, with a joint ministerial panel to
\nbe set up to coordinate bilateral projects initiated under the
\npact.<\/p>\n
Singapore is a leading investor in Myanmar, with investments
\nof more than S$400 million (US$285.7 million).<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Myanmarese military authorities released a leading
\npro-democracy politician a week after detaining him and several
\nother elderly dissidents, sources close to his family said
\nyesterday.<\/p>\n
Kyi Maung, 74, a senior member of Aung San Suu Kyi's National
\nLeague for Democracy (NLD), was arrested in Yangon last Friday
\nsoon after he met the British ambassador. He was released on
\nThursday, the sources said.<\/p>\n
Four or five other elderly dissidents who were detained with
\nhim during a get-together at the home of Tha Hla, a former rector
\nof Rangoon University, were also freed, said the sources, who
\nasked not to be identified.<\/p>\n
Diplomats said the detention of the dissidents last week was
\napparently an attempt by Myanmar's ruling military to prevent
\ndissidents from meeting diplomats.<\/p>\n
Kyi Maung was NLD spokesman until Aung San Suu Kyi and other
\ntop party members were arrested in mid-1989. He took over the
\nleadership, carrying the party through the May, 1990, election in
\nwhich the NLD won more than 80 percent of the seats.<\/p>",
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