http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90778/90858/90863/6529993.html
Myanmar has moved its natural gas exploration work from an offshore block AD-7 to another offshore block A-3 after claiming that successful survey was conducted at AD-7, according to a report of the official newspaper New Light of Myanmar Sunday.
The report came after Myanmar rejected on Thursday Bangladesh's demand for stopping natural gas drilling at block AD-7, which Myanmar claimed that it falls on its exclusive economic zone and the Daewoo International Corporation of South Korea has started test drilling there since September this year.
According to the report, drilling machines were moved to Thanda-1 exploration well in block A-3 on Nov. 6-8 after completing drilling in block AD-7 up to Nov. 5.
"Continued tasks will be undertaken according to the work program, " the report added.
According to the report, Myanmar opened up to tender for gas exploration in some offshore blocks in its exclusive economic zone in Rakhine state in 2000. Daewoo won the tender for three blocks A-1, A-3 and AD-7 in 2004 and 2005 respectively. Of them, the block A-1 has been discovered with gas which can produce on a commercial scale.
On Thursday, Myanmar reacted on Bangladesh's protest by rejecting the latter's demand for stopping natural gas drilling at block AD-7, which Myanmar said it falls within its territorial waters.
Claiming that the country is acting in accordance with international laws with regard to boundary ownership, the Thursday statement turned down Bangladesh's demand which it described as an unlawful and mistaken one.
"To protect the interest of our own country in accordance with the international laws," the statement insisted that the drilling will carry on up to the end.
"When the test drilling was being conducted, neighboring Bangladesh claimed that the AD-7 block falls within its territorial waters and unlawfully demanded that the drilling shall be suspended immediately," the statement added.
Source: Xnhua
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Myanmar moves gas exploration work to another offshore block
Myanmar troop build-up on Bangladesh's border
http://www.asianewsnet.net/news.php?id=2528&sec=1
The Daily Star
Publication Date: 09-11-2008
Tension between Bangladesh and Myanmar intensified Friday as Myanmar started reinforcing border troops after talks in Myanmar over disputed waters in the Bay of Bengal failed.
This also prompted Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) to be on alert at strategic points in Bandarban and Cox's Bazar districts.
According to sources in BDR, the paramilitary forces have been put on alert in Rezu, Chakdhala, Asadtali, Fultali, Lebuchhari, Dhumdhum, Amtali, Tamru and Ukhia borders in the two districts.
Bangladesh Navy intelligence gathered information Thursday that Myanmar had begun mobilising ground troops near the Naf river but the mobilisation was not visible. Then the Navy alerted the BDR.
BDR sources yesterday said since Myanmar continued reinforcing troops along its border with Bangladesh, Bangladesh has also taken appropriate steps as a precautionary measure.
Local sources said BDR also alerted people living in the border areas apprehending untoward incidents. A number of schools in the areas were vacated and BDR troops took position there.
The dispute emerged after Myanmar started oil and gas exploration last week in a stretch of sea claimed by Bangladesh. Bangladesh deployed naval ships to the area and simultaneously sent a diplomatic team to Myanmar seeking to resolve the issue through negotiations.
Officials claimed that the meeting ended without any resolution but Bangladesh notified Myanmar authorities its claim on the territory. Bangladesh was in good terms with the Myanmar authorities until this dispute emerged.
In 1991, Myanmar had driven more than 250,000 Rohingyas into Bangladesh creating a war-like situation between the two countries. Bangladesh gave shelter to the Rohingyas and through diplomatic moves made Myanmar agree to take them back.
But repatriation of them remains slow and Bangladesh still has several thousand refugees on its soil.
Our Bandarban correspondent quoting Naikkhangchhari UNO Nowab Aslam Habib reports: Tension built up as Myanmar forces mobilised along the border. No untoward incident in Naikkhangchhari was reported, he said.
A defence source said BDR is unable to keep a close watch on 173km-long remote and hilly border area. BDR has only five watchtowers in that long stretch of border. Following the 1991 incident with Myanmar, BDR recommended increasing the number of towers there but there was no follow up.
Locals alleged that the Nasaka, border force of Myanmar, shot four Bangladeshis dead near the border last Sunday. Agitated people on Friday captured two Myanmar citizens, Mohammad and Azizul Haq, at Rezu-Amtali border areas. They are now under BDR's custody.
To review the situation, an eight-member high-level BDR team led by Chittagong Sector Commander Colonel Akhtar visited Lembuchhari and Chakdhala border areas of Naikkhangchhari.
Meanwhile, sources said the situation in the Bay of Bengal remains unchanged. There was no exploration activities for the second day yesterday but the Myanmar ships remain anchored 55km southwest at 227 degrees from St Martin's Island.
The Myanmar ships started exploration activities on November 1 ignoring Bangladesh Navy warnings of trespassing on Bangladesh waters. The area is well within Bangladesh's territory and marked as deep-sea blocks 8-13. Bangladesh officially lodged protest before Myanmar ambassador last Sunday. Myanmar also protested before the Bangladeshi ambassador in Myanmar the same day.
Bangladesh later on requested North Korean government to ask Daewoo, which is conducting the exploration for Myanmar, to stop its activities in the Bay. Bangladesh also requested Myanmar's closest ally China to ask Myanmar to quit Bangladeshi waters till the maritime boundary is marked as per the UN guideline.
On Thursday, China suggested that Bangladesh and Myanmar settle their dispute through friendly negotiations, apparently stepping back from taking any measure.
"We hope the countries will settle it through equal and friendly negotiations and maintain a stable bilateral relationship. As their friend, China will contribute in an appropriate manner," said Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang at a press conference, reports Xinhua.
Children in Burma: Money for molasses
http://washingtontimes.com/news/2008/nov/09/burma-sugar-babies-children-molasses/
By 8 a.m., the Mandalay Tourist Jetty is already bustling with activity. Boats docked offshore bring all kinds of supplies, including peanuts, charcoal and molasses, which local people unload. Children use plastic bowls and old paint cans to collect molasses, which is brought in in large metal drums. (Barbara L. Salisbury/The Washington Times)
Picture 1 of 11 [Close]
Photo Gallery: Burma's sugar babies
http://washingtontimes.com/news/2008/nov/09/burma-sugar-babies-children-molasses/
Barbara L. Salisbury and Betsy Pisik
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Buzz up!MANDALAY, Burma | As the sun breaks over the horizon on Mandalay Bay, a little boy with bulging ribs pulls on a pair of too-large shorts and grabs a plastic bowl.
A young mother collects 2,200 kyat (a little more than two U.S. dollars) for the molasses that her children have spent all day on the beach collecting. This money can make a big difference for the families who live along the water's edge next to the Mandalay Tourist Jetty. This money will help feed and clothe the entire family. (Barbara L. Salisbury/The Washington Times)
The child, who is 9 but looks younger, scampers with other boys and girls across the beach, scraping up puddles of molasses spilled onto the sand, salty wooden ramps and ship holds as cargo is loaded and unloaded at the busy Mandalay Bay Tourist Jetty.
The children will refill their bowls all day, racing back and forth between the heavy drums of sloshing molasses and their rickety homes to fill larger metal containers. When the sun is about to set and the day's molasses has been painstakingly collected from drippings, droppings and splashes, the little boy in the billowing red shorts finally will return home, possibly to supper.
His mother will lift the larger can onto her head, and walk to a collection center where it will be processed into brown sugar to make candy. The family's take for a day's labor: between 1,000 and 2,000 kyat - about $1 to $2.
"It breaks my heart to see them doing this," said a Burmese physicist walking past the jetty who spoke on condition that he not be named. "I'm sure their parents don't want to have to ask them to do it."
click image to view gallery
In the Mandalay Bay, children scamper across the beach, scraping up puddles of molasses spilled onto the sand, salty wooden ramps and ship holds as cargo is loaded and unloaded at the busy Mandalay Bay Tourist Jetty. When the sun is about to set and the day's molasses has been painstakingly collected from drippings, droppings and splashes, the mothers will take a large can to receive the family's take for a day's labor: between 1,000 and 2,000 kyat - about $1 to $2.
Burma - or Myanmar, as it is now known - is achingly poor.
Although rich in natural gas, oil and sapphires, the Southeast Asian nation is among the least-developed countries on the continent. The annual U.N. Human Development Index rated Burma at 132 out of 177 - behind Laos and Cambodia but ahead of East Timor.
Most of the country's vast resources are controlled by the government, a repressive military regime that is isolated from the West and even its own people. But visitors, and there are a few, don't need statistics to tell them what kind of country Burma has become. So many people are living a hand-to-mouth existence with barely adequate food, clothing or shelter. Most of the little education, health care and sanitation available to the ordinary Burmese people is supplied or supplemented by the few relief agencies permitted to work by the military government.
"Aid alone will not bring sustainable human development, never mind peace and democracy," said Robert Templer, the International Crisis Group's Asia program director. "Yet, due to the limited links between Myanmar and the outside world, aid has unusual importance as an arena of interaction among the government, society and the international community."
One-third of Burma's 51 million people live on less than $2 a day, most of them in the rural areas. The situation has only gotten worse since May 2, when Cyclone Nargis slammed into the Irrawaddy Delta, killing up to 140,000 and displacing or fracturing hundreds of thousands of families.
Just as painful, the storm flooded much of the country's most arable land, destroying desperately needed rice, cereal and other food crops.
The government - a conclave of generals that recently moved the country's capital from Yangon to inaccessible Nay Pi Taw in the country's jungle-thick interior - has spent about 5 percent of its annual budget on health care and 15 percent on education, according to the most recent World Bank statistics available.
One brave and defiant young boy sneaks a quick handful of molasses from an open container while the foreman's back is turned. (Barbara L. Salisbury/The Washington Times)
In a land this poor, the privileges of childhood are few: Tiny hands pull weeds in the tobacco fields. Slender arms carry firewood for cooking. Bony backs sway atop donkey carts laden with trash pickings.
One-third of the children under age 5 are underweight or stunted. Ten percent of them will never learn to read. One in five Burmese children born last year will not survive to 40 years of age.
Children as young as 5 become novices in the hundreds of monasteries and nunneries in this deeply Buddhist country, a life of prayer and discipline but also protection. Within these walls are free education, food and shelter from the dangers of a society eroded by chronic poverty.
Without education or skills, "increasing numbers of children work in the informal economy or in the streets, where they are exposed to petty crime, risk of arrest, abuse and exploitation," warned a recent UNICEF country report.
Another U.N. evaluation notes that children well below the age of 18 are forced into armed gangs or recruited into militias and even Burma's national army. This is in violation of the country's own national legislation that prohibits the recruitment of children and international norms that reject their forcible conscription. Forced labor continues to feed the need for workers in mining, construction and timber industries.
By comparison, the children who work the Mandalay Bay Tourist Jetty are relatively well off. They race barefoot over sand and splinters and dodge men straining under the 350-pound drums of molasses to collect the spillage in old metal paint cans. But they are surrounded by friends and tolerated by the stevedores who unload the daily cargo.
Families perch in their makeshift homes along the shore all the way down to the horizon - a community at the water's edge.
It is hard to overestimate the importance of sugar cane in the Burmese economy. It grows on the fertile plains in the north around Takaung and is transported by rickety wooden ships down the Irrawaddy River to Mandalay, where it will be processed into brown sugar and rum.
Five to 10 boats arrive at the Mandalay jetty each day, along with ships carrying charcoal, peanuts and rice. It is impossible to know how many families support themselves by scraping molasses off the boat and truck decks into paint cans or plastic bowls, wading through a fetid surf that is filled with cooking refuse, human waste and washing.
While other 9-year-olds in Mandalay and Yangon dress in green-and-white uniforms and go to school, the keen-eyed boy in the baggy red shorts is engaged in the lowest labor, unskilled and unpaid.
His family may never live in a better home than the jerry-rigged platform with tarpaulin "walls" that offer no protection against monsoons or even animals.
"I was in school," said another molasses-spattered boy who decided to work on the beach instead. "I left because you can't make money when you're in school."
Outside her house, a mother uses a small plastic bowl to strain the molasses her children have collected, removing any bugs or debris that may have fallen into it during transport on the boat or when the children collected it from the beach. (Barbara L. Salisbury/The Washington Times)
The activity on the molasses boats is nonstop. While two men carry a drum of molasses down the wooden planks to the shore, a third plank is used as a return for men who have dropped off other containers. This process starts at daybreak and only ends when the sun goes down. (Barbara L. Salisbury/The Washington Times)
A mother from the village along the Mandalay Tourist Jetty carries a full container of molasses on her head to a small warehouse a few blocks away. Because the large containers, once full, are too heavy for the children to wield, it is the mothers who carry it to market to be sold. (Barbara L. Salisbury/The Washington Times)
While her mother sleeps in their home behind her, a young girl empties a full paint can of molasses into her family's larger bucket. At the end of the day, her mother will take this bucket and sell it to a local businessman, who will turn it into brown sugar. (Barbara L. Salisbury/The Washington Times)
A young girl places her hand underneath the tail pipe of a truck to catch a few small drops of molasses. Burmese children spend all day, from dawn until dusk, collecting small drips and puddles wherever they may fall. (Barbara L. Salisbury/The Washington Times)
A small child reaches his hand up to collect molasses as it drips down the side of a metal container in a stack that is higher than he is. This scenario continues day after day at the Mandalay Tourist Jetty, where the young children diligently collect small puddles, splashes and drips of molasses to fill their buckets and bowls in order to earn money for their families. Many cannot afford to go to school, while others opt not to go because they cannot earn money in school. (Barbara L. Salisbury/The Washington Times)
A small plastic bowl is nearly full with molasses collected from the dirty, muck-filled sand along the Irrawaddy River, which is used as a bathing area, washing area and toilet by the families who live at the water's edge. The small children who collect the molasses can earn about $1 to $2 a day for their families. (Barbara L. Salisbury/The Washington Times)
By 8 a.m., the Mandalay Tourist Jetty is already bustling with activity. Boats docked offshore bring all kinds of supplies, including peanuts, charcoal and molasses, which local people unload. Children use plastic bowls and old paint cans to collect molasses, which is brought in in large metal drums. (Barbara L. Salisbury/The Washington Times)
• Betsy Pisik wrote from the United Nations.
Stop underwriting the Burmese military junta
http://windrosehotel.blogspot.com/2008/11/stop-underwriting-burmese-military.html
I've just heard—thanks to my Swedish friend Eva—about a campaign to pressure Lloyd’s of London to stop insuring the military dictators of Burma. I thought that it was more than well worth a post, so here we go again with the issue of Burma.
First of all, let’s summarize the situation. Burma's military junta has been hanging on to power for years using repressive tactics, such as jailing monks and opposition leaders such as Aung San Suu Kyi. Recently the military junta has also been denying their citizens relief after last year’s devastating cyclone. Up till now Burma’s military dictators remain entrenched, propped up by dealings with Western companies. Well, one way the Burmese democracy movement has found to push for change is to cut off the businesses that prop them up by shaming those companies themselves—exposing them one by one, and forcing big companies to pull out—especially the insurers who underwrite the generals’ economic stranglehold.
Lloyd’s of London, the worlds foremost insurance market, is precisely one of the generals’ lifelines—Lloyd’s chairman Lord Levene also sits on the board of the junta-linked Total, which pays Rangoon $2m a day for oil. That is why the campaigners—Burma Campaign-UK and the Avaaz group—are urging to join them now by mass emailing the huge company, while the media furore is growing, to push Lloyd’s to terminate its Burmese contracts to save face.
“The Burmese people’s struggle is long and tough,” say the campaigners, “but as in South Africa, international pressure on the regime’s exploitative ventures could tip the balance. Because it’s hard or impossible for them to continue without insurance, this is an effective and wide-reaching approach for citizens everywhere to have a real impact.”
So far, as a result, the British government has begun to ask Lloyd's to cease its business with the Burmese military junta. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of emails and telephone calls have been bombarding key staff at Lloyd’s of London.
I think it's a very worthwhile cause. Please follow this link to take action.
Bangladesh boosts presence on Myanmar border
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gZBDpBMg_nz3QBWcAEZjg03UkIFA
DHAKA (AFP) — Bangladesh has deployed more troops along its border with Myanmar, a military official said late Saturday, as tensions between the two countries simmer over a disputed stretch of water.
Colonel Mohammad Anisuzzaman, of the border Bangladesh Rifles, told AFP that extra troops had been deployed in the past two days along the 271-kilometre (168-mile) border it shares with military-ruled Myanmar.
"Because of what is happening in the Bay of Bengal we have taken precautionary measures along the border. We have intensified the presence of our troops there and they are on high alert," he said.
Myanmar has also sent soldiers to the border, a senior Bangladeshi border official told AFP.
Talks between the two countries have failed to resolve the dispute, which began six days ago when Myanmar instructed the Korean company Daewoo to begin drilling in a disputed mineral-rich area.
Bangladesh says it has had assurances from the firm and the South Korean government that work is winding up, but Myanmar, which has discovered huge reserves of natural gas in the Bay of Bengal, insists its exploration work is legal.
More talks between the two nations are due to be held in Dhaka on November 16 and 17.
Tensions flared when Myanmar sent warships to support Daewoo drilling some 50 kilometres south of Bangladesh's Saint Martin Island.
Bangladesh immediately deployed four warships to the area.
OBAMA TO ENGAGE IN MYANMAR- MANIPUR'S HISTORICAL NEIGHBOUR
http://nsanajaoba.blogspot.com/2008/11/obama-to-engage-in-myanmar-manipurs.html
Guwahati
9 November,2008
_____________
Barack Hussein Obama,the US president-elect might change his predecessor's apathy to Myanmar[Burma] by pro-actively engaging in the Asean that Condolizza Rice marginalised.Asean is ten ,and the new administration could not peripheralise ten Asian states- the Asean entity in terms of economic and security relationship.Could it be bilateral or multilateral is a choice of the new dispensation- a choice has to be there.Burma's neighbours- Manipur et.al. are unquiet for more than half a century.Obama would know gradually, where Manipur does exist in proximity of Burma,yet try to overlook it as an Intra-Indian imbroglio.
For political reasons,both the SPDC military junta as well as the NLD leadership have greeted the president-elect.The junta doubts if Obama would change Bush's indifference ,and the opposition desires a multilateral approach to Myanmar.The NLD states," we want the US to work with the international community and the United Nations[on Burma]."
In retrospect,both Obama and his VP- mate Biden had supported US sanctions against Burma.In September 2007, Obama denounced the military junta for the latter's attack on peaceful demonstrators in Burma.
His adviros Samantha,P has proposed multilateral approach to the country's political and economic unrest. He cannot afford to take on a hardline stance against the present Burmese dispensation,once on the shaddle of power, for he would require- sooner or later - an engagement with the Asean.
Bush administration and Condolizza Rice skipped annual Asean forum indicating lack of concern ,that really is one for the US.The US would, as in the past, voluntarily by default leave the entire Burmese political and security space to either Russia or China or both, in the changing political equations. Obma advisor Robert Gelbard has already hinted at the imminent Russian and Chinese move towards re-enforcing a'regional architecture'.
The 'axis of evil ' -the pet forteign policy theory of Bush administration might not remain a tag to the new dispensation, particularly in a situation, which the US strtegists, would look forward to a possible 'change from within' in Myanmar.Had Myanmar been restive, her next door neighbour- Manipur had been relatively unquiet in Indian political architecture.Obama would have a concern on Burma and evade a feeble concern on Burma's next door neighbour.
Posted by Naorem Sanajaoba,Professor of Law,Assam,India at 2:38 AM
လြတ္လပ္မႈ-(၇)-ဆရာေတာ္ဦးေဇာတိက
ငါဟာ လြတ္လပ္တဲ့သူ ျဖစ္ရမယ္။ အဲဒီလို လြတ္လပ္တဲ့သူျဖစ္ဖို ့တာဝန္ကို ငါယူတယ္။ လြတ္လပ္တဲ့သူျဖစ္ဖို ့
လိုအပ္တဲ့ စိတ္ဓာတ္အင္အား ငါ့မွာ ရိွတယ္၊ သတိၱ ငါ့မွာ ရိွတယ္၊ စည္းကမ္း ငါ့မွာ ရိွတယ္၊ ဇဲြ ငါ့မွာ ရိွတယ္ လို ့ ရဲရဲဝံ့ဝံ့
ေျပာနိုင္တဲ့သူ ျဖစ္ရမယ္။ အဲ့ဒီလိုေျပာနုိင္တာကိုက လြတ္လပ္မႈတာဝန္ကို ယူတာပဲ။ ငါ့မွာ အရည္အခ်င္းရိွဖို ့၊ သတိၱရိွဖို ့၊
စည္းကမ္းရွိဖို ့၊ ဇဲြရိွဖို ့ ပညာတတ္ ျဖစ္ဖို ့ ငါတာဝန္ယူတယ္ လို ့ ေျပာနိုင္တဲ့စိတ္ဟာ လြတ္လပ္တဲ့စိတ္ျဖစ္တယ္။
ကိုယ့္ကိုယ္ကိုကိုယ္ လြတ္လပ္တဲ့သူျဖစ္ဖို ့ တာဝန္ကို ယူထားတဲ့သူဟာ ကိုယ့္အရည္အခ်င္းေတြကိုကိုယ္ အျမဲတန္း
ျမွင့္တင္ေနရမယ္။ ကိုယ့္ရဲ့ေတြးေခၚပုံ၊စဥ္းစားပုံကို ပိုျပီးသဘာဝက်ေအာင္ တိက်ေအာင္ ေလ့က်င့္ေနရမယ္။ ကုိယ့္
စိတ္ဓာတ္ကို ခိုင္မာေအာင္ ရင့္က်က္ေအာင္ ေလ့က်င့္ေနရမယ္။ ငါဟာ ဥာဏ္ရိွတဲ့သူ၊ သတိၱရိွတဲ့သူ၊ “အမွားအမွန္”
“အေကာင္း အဆိုး”၊ “တရားတယ္ မတရားဘူး”၊ ဆိုတာကို ခဲြျခားျပီး သိတဲ့သူ ဆိုတာကို ေဖၚျပနုိင္ရမယ္။
ကိုယ့္ဘဝမွာ က်န္းမာေရးခ်ိဳ ့တဲ့တာတုိ ့ တျခားလည္းပဲ လူမႈေရးနဲ ့ ဆက္ဆံေရးတို ့ ဘာတို ့မွာ အခက္အခဲေတြ
ျပႆနာေတြ အဆင္မေျပမႈေတြ ျဖစ္လာတဲ့အခါမွာ ဒီလိုကိစၥေတြ၊ ဒီလိုအဆိုးေတြ မျဖစ္ခင္မွာ ကိုယ့္ကိုယ္ကိုကိုယ္ ျမင္ပုံ၊
ကိုယ့္ဘဝကိုကုိယ္ ျမင္ပုံ၊ ေလာကိုက ျမင္ပုံ၊ လူေတြကို ျမင္ပုံ၊ ဘာေတြမ်ား လဲြေနသလဲ ဆိုတာကို ေသေသခ်ာခ်ာ
ႀကည့္ျပီးေတာ့ သိျပီးေတာ့ ရိုးရိုးသားသားေလး လက္ခံျပီးေတာ့ အတတ္နိုင္ဆုံး ျပဳျပင္သြားရမယ္။ အဲသလုိ လုပ္လိုက္လို ့
ရိွရင္ ကိုယ့္ဘဝကိုကိုယ္ တာဝန္ယူရာ ေရာက္တယ္။ အဲသလုိ တာဝန္ယူတာဟာ အမွန္ေတာ့ လြတ္လပ္မႈ တစ္မ်ိဳးပဲ။
ကိုယ့္ဘဝကို ကိုယ္ တာဝန္ မယူနိုင္တဲ့သူဟာ လြတ္လပ္တဲ့သူ မဟုတ္လို ့ ေမတၱာရဲ့ နက္နဲတဲ့သဘာဝကို သူ
မသိနို္င္ဘူး။
Burma lifts post-cyclone rice export ban
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-11-08-burma-cyclone_N.htm
Rangoon, Burma (AP) — A Burma newspaper says the military government has lifted a rice export ban it imposed after Cyclone Nargis devastated the country's main rice-growing areas in the Irrawaddy Delta and south of Rangoon in May.
The Voice weekly said rice exports will resume with 60,000 tons being sold by private companies, although it gave no further details.
The newspaper is privately owned but subject to state censorship like all Burma media.
In the 1950s, Burma was the world's top rice exporter, selling more than 1 million tons a year, but exports have dropped significantly since then.
Burma exported 107,600 tons of rice in April before the May 2-3 cyclone.
Mekong river nations consider Asian rice cartel
http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/news/stories/200811/s2414143.htm?tab=latest
Updated November 8, 2008 11:06:28
Southeast Asia's five Mekong river countries are actively studying a plan to set up an association of rice-exporting nations.
Vietnam's prime minister made the announcement after a regional summit of the Mekong River nations with Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Burma.
He says these nations are the rice bowl of the Asian region and their exports account for about 50 percent of the world market so they have an important role to play in ensuring food security.
Thailand proposed a rice exporters' cartel last April, as world grain prices reached record levels.
It backed away from the plan after the Asian Development Bank and rice importing nations criticised it, saying it would exacerbate hunger and poverty
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