Myanmar urged to join trans-Asian rail system
Myanmar urged to join trans-Asian rail system
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad urged Myanmar yesterday to join a proposed trans-Asian railway network that would stretch from Singapore to China.
Mahathir also reiterated to visiting Myanmarese Deputy Premier Maung Maung Khin that he hoped Myanmar could be admitted into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as soon as possible, the Bernama news agency said.
A Malaysian foreign ministry official said Mahathir told the vice-admiral, a member of the Myanmarese junta who attended an ASEAN investment forum here, that Myanmar should prepare a rail link to Thailand as part of the trans-Asian system.
The railway is a brainchild of Mahathir and is aimed at further integrating the economies of the backward but resource- rich Mekong basin region. It is envisioned over the long term to be linked to China, and eventually to Europe.
According to Malaysian officials, one possible configuration of the trans-Asian rail system would pass through northern Myanmar from Thailand, and then turn east towards Kunming in southern China.
During the courtesy call by the Burmeese junta leader, Mahathir also requested Myanmar to provide more incentives to attract foreign investors, and said Malaysian business could play an important role in rebuilding Myanmar's economy.
Maung Maung Khin assured Mahathir that the political situation in his country was improving and that he hoped more Malaysian investors would venture into Myanmar.
On bilateral matters, Mahathir urged Myanmar to repatriate some 8,000 Myanmarese nationals currently detained by Malaysia as part of a drive against illegal foreign workers.
The Myanmarese government declined to take them back, saying the workers had no official documents and were thus stateless, but Mahathir urged Yangon to acknowledge that they are Myanmarese nationals and ship them back home.
Myanmar is expected to be inducted together with Laos and Cambodia into ASEAN as early as July, when the group holds a foreign ministers' meeting in Kuala Lumpur.
ASEAN now groups Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.