Yangon called to speed up 'road map'

Yangon called to speed up 'road map'

THAILAND: Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra on Monday called
on Myanmar to speed up its newly-announced democracy "road map"
and urged the international community to support the isolated
regime's efforts.

Myanmar's newly installed Prime Minister Gen. Khin Nyunt on
Saturday announced a seven-point plan to reconvene a suspended
national convention to draft a new constitution and then hold
"free and fair" elections, but gave no timetable for the roadmap.

Analysts dismissed the move as a sham and merely a rehash of
the junta's often-stated intentions to pursue a gradual
transition to "disciplined democracy."

World leaders have been up in arms since Yangon detained
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi following May 30 clashes
between her supporters and a junta-backed mob in which dozens
were feared killed. --AFP

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Aglance-Obituary-Vietnam-Oanh
Vietnam economist dead at 82
JP/10/ASEAN

Vietnam economist dead at 82

VIETNAM: Nguyen Xuan Oanh, a Harvard-educated economist who
helped push communist Vietnam toward a market economy and worked
to re-establish relations with the United States, has died. He
was 82.

Oanh was involved in creating "doi moi," an economic reform
package launched in 1986 to pull the country out of famine by
allowing more private enterprise and loosening state control over
the economy.

He died on Friday at Cho Ray General Hospital in Ho Chi Minh
City after being admitted more than 10 days earlier, said
hospital deputy director Ha Van Duc, who declined to give the
cause of death.

Oanh was born in 1921 in Bac Giang province, 60 kilometers
north of Hanoi, according to the Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.

He graduated from Harvard University in 1954, worked for the
International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in the 1960s
before returning to Vietnam, according to the Sai Gon Giai Phong
(Liberated Saigon) newspaper. --AP

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Aglance-Malaysia-SAfrica
S. African leader arrives in KL
JP/10/ASEAN

S. African leader arrives in KL

MALAYSIA: South African President Thabo Mbeki arrived in Malaysia
on Monday for a three-day visit to strengthen relations and hold
talks with Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

Mbeki, accompanied by his wife and a 70-member delegation
comprising government officials and business leaders, was greeted
at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport by Malaysian Foreign
Minister Syed Hamid Albar.

Mbeki is scheduled to receive an official welcome at
Malaysia's Parliament on Tuesday. He will also meet with Mahathir
to discuss how to boost ties between African and Southeast Asian
nations, as well as international issues such as the fight
against terrorism, officials said.

Both countries are expected to sign agreements to bolster
economic, scientific, technical and cultural cooperation during
Mbeki's visit. --AP