Volume XII, Number 236 12th Waning of Tazaungmon 1366 ME Wednesday, 8 December 2004

Established 1914

Emergence of the State Constitution is the duty of all citizens of Myanmar Naing-Ngan.

YANGON, 7 Dec—Chairman of the State Peaceand Development Council of the Union of MyanmarSenior General Than Shwe received Prime Ministerof Lao People’s Democratic Republic Mr BounnhangVorachith and party at the Credentials Hall of PyithuHluttaw Building here at 3 pm today.

Also present on the occasion were Vice-Chair-man of the State Peace and Development Council

Senior General Than Shwe receives LaoPDR Prime Minister and party

Vice-Senior General Maung Aye, member of theState Peace and Development Council General ThuraShwe Mann, Prime Minister Lt-Gen Soe Win, Sec-retary-1 of the State Peace and Development Coun-cil Lt-Gen Thein Sein, Minister for Foreign AffairsU Nyan Win, Deputy Minister for Energy Brig-GenThan Htay, Myanmar Ambassador to LPDRU Tin Oo, Director-General of the State Peace and

Development Council Office Lt-Col Pe Nyein andDirector-General of Protocol Department Thura UAung Htet.

The Laotian Prime Minister was accompaniedby Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of ForeignAffairs Mr Somsavat Lengsavad and senior officialsand Laotian Ambassador to Myanmar Mr ChanthavyBodhisane.—MNA

Prime

Minister

Lt-Gen Soe

Win greets

his Laotian

counterpart

Mr

Bounnhang

Vorachith at

the airport.

MNA

Senior General Than Shwe and party pose for a documentary photo together with visiting Laotian Prime Minister Mr Bounnhang Vorachith and partyat the Credentials Hall of the Pyithu Hluttaw Building. — MNA

YANGON, 7 Dec —At the invitation of PrimeMinister of the Union ofMyanmar Lt-Gen SoeWin, a goodwill delega-tion led by Prime Minis-ter of the Lao People’sDemocratic Republic MrBounnhang Vorachith ar-rived here on an officialvisit by special aircraftthis morning.

The delegation waswelcomed at the YangonInternational Airport byPrime Minister Lt-GenSoe Win, Secretary-1 ofthe State Peace and De-velopment Council Lt-Gen Thein Sein, YangonDivision PDC ChairmanYangon Command Com-mander Maj-Gen MyintSwe, Minister for ForeignAffairs U Nyan Win,Minister for Religious Af-

Lao PDR Prime Minister arrives on official visit� � � � � � � � � � � �� � � � � � � � � � � �� � � � � � � � � � � �� � � � � � � � � � � �� � � � � � � � � � � �� � � � � � � � � � � �� � � � � � � � � � � �� � � � � � � � � � � �� � � � � � � � � � � �� � � � � � � � � � � �

� � � � � � � � � � � � �� � � � � � � � � � � � �� � � � � � � � � � � � �� � � � � � � � � � � � �� � � � � � � � � � � � �� � � � � � � � � � � � �� � � � � � � � � � � � �� � � � � � � � � � � � �� � � � � � � � � � � � �� � � � � � � � � � � � �� � � � � � � � � � � � �

fairs Brig-Gen ThuraMyint Maung, DeputyMinister for Energy Brig-Gen Than Htay, MyanmarAmbassador to Lao PDRU Tin Oo, Ambassador ofLao PDR to Myanmar MrChanthavy Bodhisane andembassy staff, ProtocolDepartment Director-Gen-eral Thura U Aung Htetand officials.

Prime Minister Lt-Gen Soe Win, Secretary-1Lt-Gen Thein Sein andparty accorded a warmwelcome to the PrimeMinister of Lao PDR andhis entourage on their ar-rival at the airport at 9.50am.

Next, Prime Minis-ter Lt-Gen Soe Win andhis counterpart of LaoPDR, from the dais, tookthe salute of the Guard of

Honour at the airport.Meanwhile, the StateBand played the nationalanthems of Lao PDR andMyanmar.

Afterwards, thePrime Ministers inspectedthe Guard of Honour.Prime Minister Lt-GenSoe Win cordially greetedthe members of the good-will delegation. The Lao-tian Prime Minister cor-dially greeted Secretary-1 Lt-Gen Thein Sein andparty and staff and theirfamilies of the LaotianEmbassy.

Later, the visitingPrime Minister and hisentourage, together withPrime Minister Lt-GenSoe Win and party, wentby car to the hotel wherethey will put up.

MNA

* Stability of the State, community peaceand tranquillity, prevalence of law andorder

* National reconsolidation* Emergence of a new enduring State

Constitution* Building of a new modern developed

nation in accord with the new StateConstitution

* Development of agriculture as the base and all-rounddevelopment of other sectors of the economy as well

* Proper evolution of the market-oriented economicsystem

* Development of the economy inviting participation interms of technical know-how and investments fromsources inside the country and abroad

* The initiative to shape the national economy must be keptin the hands of the State and the national peoples

* Uplift of the morale and morality ofthe entire nation

* Uplift of national prestige and integ-rity and preservation and safeguard-ing of cultural heritage and nationalcharacter

* Uplift of dynamism of patriotic spirit* Uplift of health, fitness and education

standards of the entire nation

Four political objectives Four economic objectives Four social objectives

2 THE NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR Wednesday, 8 December, 2004

Wednesday, 8 December, 2004

PERSPECTIVES

World Buddhist Summit forperpetuation and propagationof the Buddha Sasana

The World Buddhist Summit is going tobe held in full swing in the Union of Myanmar,the nation where Theravada Buddhism flour-ishes, from 9 to 11 December. It is to take placein the Maha Pasana Cave at Kaba Aye wherethe Sixth Great Buddhist Council (Synod) washeld. Now preparations are well under way.

The Maha Pasana Cave is a historic place.It was in 1956 that venerable elders from fiveTheravada Buddhist nations, namely, Myanmar,Sri Lanka, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia, at-tended the Council to recite and verify the scrip-tures of the Buddha. Therefore, the Governmentis planning to hold the World Buddhist Summitat this place.

A rehearsal of the World Buddhist Sum-mit took place at the Maha Pasana Cave on 6December. Prime Minister Lt-Gen Soe Win, alsoChairman of the Leading Committee for Hold-ing the World Buddhist Summit, attended theceremony and left necessary instructions to allthose responsible.

Myanmar has a Sangha population ofnearly 400,000 and Sangha Nayaka Committeesat different levels, together with the Ministry ofReligious Affairs, are taking care of the Sasana.And the Government and the people are veryreligious and they are always ready to supportthe Sasana and provide four necessities to theSangha. Therefore, Buddhism is flourishing verywell in Myanmar.

Heads of State and Government, delegates,Buddhist leaders, participants and observersfrom 37 nations have been invited and they aregoing to attend the World Buddhist Summit. Atthe Summit, there will be talks on the teachingsof Buddha, seminars and paper-reading sessions.Moreover, a joint declaration will be issued atthe end of the Summit.

We believe that the World Buddhist Sum-mit will contribute a lot to perpetuation andpropagation of the Buddha Sasana and peaceand stability of the world and that it will be atotal success.

* Oppose those relying on external elements, acting as stooges, holding negative views* Oppose those trying to jeopardize stability of the State and progress of the nation* Oppose foreign nations interfering in internal affairs of the State* Crush all internal and external destructive elements as the common enemy

People’s Desire

Ambassador calls on F & R Minister

YANGON, 7 Dec —Singaporean Ambassa-dor Mr T Jasudasencalled on Minister forFinance and RevenueMaj-Gen Hla Tun thisafternoon at the latter’soffice at 3pm today.

Also present atthe call were DeputyMinister Col Hla TheinSwe, Governor of theCentral Bank ofMyanmar U KyawKyaw Maung and offi-cials.

MNA

Foreign Minister returns from Second East Asia ForumYANGON, 7 Dec —

A Myanmar delegationled by Minister for For-eign Affairs U NyanWin arrived back here

by air yesterday eveningafter attending the SecondEast Asia Forum held inKuala Lumpur, Malaysia,from 5 to 6 December, at

the invitation ofMalaysian Foreign Min-ister Mr. Datuk Seri SyedHamid Albar.

The Myanmar del-

egation was welcomedback at Yangon Interna-tional Airport by Minis-ter for Culture Maj-GenKyi Aung, Minister at thePrime Minister’s OfficeU Than Shwe, DeputyMinister for Foreign Af-fairs U Kyaw Thu, the di-rectors-general and re-sponsible officials of theMinistry of Foreign Af-fairs and the Chargé d’Affaires of MalaysianEmbassy.

The Myanmar del-egation member DeputyDirector-General of Min-istry of Foreign Affairs UPe Than Oo also arrivedback on the same flight.

MNA

On-job Training CourseNo 17 for Auditors concludes

YANGON, 7 Dec—The On-job TrainingCourse No 17 for Audi-tors concluded at the Au-ditor-General’s TrainingSchool this afternoon,with an address by Au-ditor-General Maj-GenLun Maung.

Also present on theoccasion were DeputyAuditor-General DawThin Thin, Director-Gen-

eral of the Auditor-Gen-eral’s Office U MyoMyint, the deputy direc-tors-general, officials ofthe training school, fac-ulty members and train-ees.

The one-monthcourse was attended by 85auditors from the Auditor-General’s Office and re-gional auditor offices.

MNA

YANGON, 7 Dec —Myanmar Sarsodaw Daycommemorative BookFair organized byMyanmar Writers andJournalists Associationcontinued today atYangon Trade Centre inPazundaung Township.

Sarsodaw Day commemorativeBook Fair continues

A total of 48 pub-lishing houses partici-pated in the fair and thereare 76 book shops. Over7,000 bookworms todayvisited the fair and thesale fetched over K 2.1million.

MNA

Tiger Cup soccer live on TVYANGON, 7 Dec — Myanma Radio and TV

will telecast live all the matches the Myanmar teamplays at the Tiger Cup soccer tourney to be held inKuala Lumpur, Malaysia, which begins 7December.

The broadcasting of Myanmar’s fist matchagainst the Philippines will begin at 4.30 pm on 8December. — MNA

Minister Maj-Gen Hla Tun receives Singaporean AmbassadorMr Thambynathan Jasudasen. — F & R

Minister U Nyan Win and party being welcomed back at the airport. — MNA

Book lovers browsing and choosing publications atthe book fair. — MNA

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THE NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR Wednesday, 8 December, 2004 3

A customer reads comics on a computer at a Tokyo Internet cafe. Fujitsu andCisco Systems have teamed up to provide routers and switchers that will enable

businesses to build advanced Internet Protocol networks.—INTERNET

A US Marine patrols the central Iraqi city of Yusufiyah on 6 Dec, 2004.INTERNET

Arroyo suspends all logging permits MANILA , 6 Dec— Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Sun-

day suspended all logging permits nationwide and urged tougher measures tocrack down on illegal logging through legislations.

Arroyo made the decision followinglandslides and logging torrents togetherwith flash floods killed hundreds ofpeople during the series of typhoonsthat battered the Luzon region over thepast two weeks.

Secretary Corazon “Dinky” Solimandisclosed over ABS-CBN News Chan-nel on Saturday that Arroyo had orderedthe cancellation of all logging permits inInfanta, Real and General Nakar inQuezon. The three towns were report-edly among the worst-hit areas as mudand giant rocks cascaded down fromsurrounding mountains.

The Department of Environment andNatural Resources announced on Thurs-day the imposition of a total logging banin Quezon Province, as well as in thetowns of Dingalan and San Luis in neigh-bouring Aurora Province, after killer

flash floods buried several communitiesin the two provinces and killed hundredsof people.

Arroyo also urged Congress to amendexisting environmental laws to imposestiffer penalties against illegal loggersand their cohorts.

Senator Richard Gordon has sug-gested a bill according to which prison-ers who are not harded criminals beenlisted to plant trees as part of the refor-estation plan to be launched by the gov-ernment, while Senate Minority LeaderAquilino Pimentel Jr has called for a25-year total log ban.

Environment officials estimate thecountry’s actual forest cover as sevenmillion hectares, while about 200,000hectares of forest areas are destroyedannually through legal and illegal log-ging.—MNA/Xinhua

Singaporean couples may face HIV tests before marrying SINGAPORE, 6 Dec — Couples in Singapore may face mandatory HIV tests before marrying, Singapore

media reported on Sunday, a week after the government said all pregnant women would be screened forHIV/AIDS to stem a rise in new infections.

Pakistan seizes2.3 tons of morphine

QUETTA (Pakistan), 6 Dec— Pakistani authoritiesseized 2.3 tons of morphine worth millions of dollarsand a large quantity of arms from a remote southwest-ern village near the Afghan border, a paramlitaryofficer said on Sunday.

The drugs and arms such as rocket launchers,mortars and anti-aircraft rounds smuggled from Af-ghanistan were found dumped in a village after a raidby paramilitary Frontier Corps near the town of Chaghiin Baluchistan Province on Saturday, Lieutenant-Colo-nel Rizwan Malik told reporters.

Chaghi lies some 185 miles west of Quetta, capitalof Pakistan’s Baluchistan Province.—MNA/Reuters

Health Minister KhawBoon Wan said Singaporeplanned to seek publicfeedback on the pre-mari-tal HIV tests in thewealthy, tightly control-led city-state, where thenumber of new HIV in-fections reached a recordhigh this year.

“If you ask me as aparent, I think there is no

harm. I have three girlsand you do not know whattheir boyfriends will belike,” Khaw was quotedby The Straits Times astelling local reporters onSaturday.

“I think we are morelikely to succeed if we treatthis as a purely public healthproblem, so let’s take awaythe morality and religion

from all this,” he said.Although the South-

east Asian island has oneof Asia’s lowest levels ofHIV infection, it is tight-ening defences after datafrom health workersshowed women and girlsin Asia increasingly at riskof becoming infected withthe deadly disease.

Khaw said Singapore

was at the beginning of asecond wave in the devel-opment of HIV, wheremore women are becom-ing infected. The numberof new infections are al-ready at a record high thisyear with 257 cases re-ported in the first 10 monthsof 2004, topping the 242new cases reported for allof 2003.— MNA/Reuters

1,276 US troops killed sincebeginning of Iraq war

WASHINGTON , 6 Dec—As of Monday, 6 December, 2004, at least 1,276members of the US military have died since the beginning of the Iraq warin March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. At least 998 died asa result of hostile action, the Defence Department said. The figures includethree military civilians.

The AP count is six higher than theDefence Department’s tally, last up-dated at 10 am EST Monday.

The British military has reported 74deaths; Italy, 19; Poland, 13; Spain, 11;Ukraine, nine; Bulgaria, seven;Slovakia, three; Estonia, Thailand andthe Netherlands, two each; and Den-mark, El Salvador, Hungary and Latviaone death each. Since 1 May, 2003,when President Bush declared thatmajor combat operations in Iraq had

ended, 1,138 US military members havedied, according to AP’s count. Thatincludes at least 889 deaths resultingfrom hostile action, according to themilitary’s numbers.

The latest deaths reported by themilitary:

Three Marines were killed in actionin two separate incidents Sunday inAnbar province. Two Marines werekilled Friday in fighting in westernAnbar province. —Internet

Two Filipinos hurt in Iraq raidBAGHDAD , 6 Dec—Two Filipinos working in two US military camps in Iraq

were injured when terrorists attacked the two camps late last week.Reports reaching the

Department of ForeignAffairs (DFA) confirmedthat Adulfo Adrea, 25, amechanic working forPrime Product Inc, a US-owned subcontractor ofKellog Brown and Root(KBR), was injured in thethigh when a rocket-pro-pelled grenade hit CampVictory on 3 December.

Another Filipino, MarkReyes, who was workingat Camp Anaconda, wasalso injured in a mortarattack. The report camefrom Philippine chargé’daffaires Eric Endaya, whois now based in Baghdad,along with two remainingembassy officers. He saidthat the two workers arenow out of danger.

Acting Foreign AffairsSecretary Jose Brillantessaid efforts to locate Fili-pino kidnap victimRoberto Tarongoy are stillongoing. Tarongoy wasamong the foreign work-ers of a Saudi-based com-pany in Iraq who were kid-napped inside the villawhere they hold office on1 November.—Internet

HK to upgrade fire safety standards for better protectionHONG KONG, 6 Dec — Hong Kong’s

Fire Services Department (FSD) is com-mitted to upgrading the fire safety stand-ards of old buildings for better protec-tion. Director of Fire Services LamChun-man said on Saturday at a cer-emony for the annual Fire PreventionCampaign 2004/05 that this year’s cam-paign will focus on upgrading fire safetymeasures. He urged owners and occupi-ers of commercial buildings to improvethe fire safety standards of their build-ings for better protecting all residents.

He stressed that the scope of fire

safety work included the improvementof hardware like fire services installa-tions and equipment, as well as the sup-port of software such as building man-agement and fire prevention publicity.

The Fire Safety (CommercialPremises) Ordinance was brought intooperation in 1997 and implemented inphases.

The ordinance requires the ownersand occupiers of pre-1987 commercialbuildings and prescribed commercialpremises to upgrade their fire safetystandards.— MNA/Xinhua

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4 THE NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR Wednesday, 8 December, 2004

BEIJING , 7 Dec— Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said here Monday thatChina and Italy can strengthen their cooperation in a number of areas to“enrich bilateral relations”.

Chinese Premier meetsItalian President

During a meeting with visitingItalian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi,Wen proposed that China and Italy canadvance their cooperation in political,economic, cultural, educational, tour-ism and media sectors.

China and Italy established diplo-matic relations 34 years ago. Earlier thisyear, Beijing and Rome agreed to set up“full-range strategic partnership rela-tions” and formed a China-Italy govern-mental commission to guide the growthof relations.

“Two-way visits at different lev-els between the two countries have beenfrequent, and bilateral cooperation vig-

orous,” Wen noted. “We have had closecoordination in international arenas.”

On his first state visit to China asPresident of Italy, Ciampi said he agreedwith Wen’s proposals on developing bi-lateral ties.

The President compared the cur-rent visit with his first visit to China in1983 as governor of the Central Bank ofItaly and said Italy-China cooperationhas had fruitful results.

The Italian President said his cur-rent visit to China aims to enhance rela-tions with China in areas of politics,culture and economy.

MNA/XinhuaWindow work : Window cleaners work on a highrise building in Beijing on 5

Dec 2004.—INTERNET

HANOI , 7 Dec— Along with Singapore, Viet-nam will take concrete measures to link the econo-mies of the two countries, and strive for brighterfuture of the Association of South-East Asian Na-tions (ASEAN).

Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khaimade the statement when holding talks with his visit-ing Singaporean counterpart Lee Hsien Loong onMonday, Vietnam News Agency reported.

During the talks, the prime ministers focused onmeasures to implement the initiative to link the twoeconomies proposed by Singapore during Khai’s visitto the island state in March 2004. In the short term, thetwo countries will join hands in six areas, namelyinvestment, trade, transport, information technologyand telecommunications, finance and banking, andeducation and training.

Khai affirmed that Vietnam always treasuresand wants to beef up multifaceted cooperative andfriendly relations on the win-win basis with Singapore,considering the foreign country one of its reliable andimportant partners.

He also stressed that Vietnam and Singapore, inthe current international situations, should promotemutual support, solidarity, cooperation and consulta-tion under the ASEAN framework for peace, stabilityand prosperity in the region as well as the world.

Vietnam, Singapore agreeto forge economic link

MNA/Xinhua

China-Germany cooperation aim at long-term, win-win results

BEIJING , 7 Dec— The cooperation between governments of China and Germany and betweenbusinesses of the two countries will never seek temporary or short-term benefits, but aim at long- termand win-win results, visiting German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said here Monday.

The Chancellor made the remarks while visit-ing the China- Germany joint venture of AircraftMaintenance and Engineering Co., Beijing (AmecoBeijing), the first stop immediately after he arrived inBeijing afternoon.

Schroeder came here for a three-day workingvisit to China at the invitation of Chinese Premier WenJiabao. He cited Ameco as a successful example ofcooperation between businesses of China and Ger-many. “How should the cooperation be carried outbetween the two countries, Ameco can tell us,”Schroeder told dozens of reporters both from Chinaand overseas in Ameco’s huge hangar with a capacityto accommodate four Boeing 747 aircraft that beganoperation in 1996.

Located at the Beijing Capital InternationalAirport and succeeding the old Beijing Aircraft Main-tenance Base of Air China, Ameco was established onAugust 1, 1989 with Air China holding 60 per cent andLufthansa 40 per cent of the registered capital.

Ameco engages in maintenance, repair and over-haul services for airframe, engines and components ofcommercial aircraft. Line maintenance services covernearly all Boeing and Airbus aircraft models. Thecompany also offers aircraft painting services, engi-neering services and technical training.

Yang Yuanyuan, director of China’s GeneralAdministration of Civil Aviation, spoke positively ofAmeco’s outstanding performance over the past dec-ade and a half.— MNA/Xinhua

640 people infected with TBin southern Iraqi city

BAGHDAD , 7 Dec— A total of 640 people were infected with tuberculosisin the city of Diwaniyah, 180 kilometres south of Baghdad, local newspaperAzzaman reported on Monday.

“Most of the cases are of the agesbetween 15 to 45 years old, and most ofthem are residents of the villages nearthe city,” doctor Hassan Sharif Hussein,director of the consultative clinic forchest and respiratory diseases inDiwaniyah, was quoted as saying.

He pointed out that the hospitals

and the health centres in the city weresuffering acute shortage in medicine andvaccines for this disease. The US-ledinvasion and the following waves ofviolence have left Iraq with great dam-age in its infrastructure and a dire needfor basic necessities such as clean waterand medicine. — MNA/Xinhua

Eight US soldiers sue Pentagonover extended Iraq tours

WASHINGTON , 6 Dec—Eight US soldiers on Mon-day sued the Pentagon, claiming the military ex-tended their tours of duty in Iraq although theircontracts had expired, their attorneys said.

Jordan-EUeconomic forum

opensin Amman

AMMAN, 7 Dec—Jordan-EU economic dia-logue forum started hereMonday with an eye topromote economic devel-opment between thetwo sides, the JordanTimes reported on its website.

Officials of the Jor-danian planning andfinance ministries and aEuropean Commissiondelegation attended thethree-day forum.

They would discussthe implementation of aneconomic and social de-velopment project to belaunched soon.

Jordanian and Eu-ropean Union (EU) offi-cials will also exchangeviews on fiscal policy,social development, pov-erty reduction, monetarypolicy and structural re-forms, the report said.

MNA/Xinhua

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A US soldier takes pictures of a crater caused by a car bomb at al-Jaderiyahbridge in Baghdad. US troops detonated an abandoned car packed with explo-

sives on the bridge.—INTERNET

It is the only knowncourt challenge by active-duty soldiers against theDefence Department’s so-called stop-loss policy,said attorney StaughtonLynd.

Seven of the soldiersin the lawsuit have askedto remain anonymous, butone of them, David Qualls,said at a news conferencein Washington that thecourt challenge is over “aquestion of fairness.”

“I enlisted in July2003. I completed andserved that one year,”

Qualls said. “I feel it istime to let me go back tomy wife.”

Qualls, 35, signed a“Try One” contract on 7July, 2003, which allowsa soldier to serve for oneyear before decidingwhether to extend serv-ice. Qualls says no onetold him about the stop-loss policy. Pentagon pa-perwork said Qualls wason the hook until 2031,when Qualls will be over60 years old, according tocourt papers.

Internet

THE NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR Wednesday, 8 December, 2004 5

Singaporean PM to arrivein Philippines Thursday

MANILA, 7 Dec — Singaporean Prime Minister LeeHsien Loong will arrive in Manila Thursday for a two-day official visit that will be highlighted by discussionson trade and counter-terrorism cooperation.

Coming from Vietnam, Lee, who is on a series ofintroductory visits to the Association of South-EastAsian Nations (ASEAN) capitals, will meet PhilippinePresident Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Senate PresidentFranklin Drilon and House Speaker Jose de Venecia,the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs saidMonday.

The two sides are likely to discuss issues of bilateralcooperation, tourism, investments, and the currentregional situation.

Singapore’s bilateral relationship with the Philip-pines is on a firm footing and officials note thatprogress has been made in its framework for coopera-tion, under the Philippines-Singapore Action Plan.

MNA/Xinhua

Ciampi calls for further Sino-Italian exchangesBEIJING , 7 Dec— Visiting Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi Monday called upon more

exchanges between Italy and China on language and culture. “I wish once again to encourage all of you, particu-

larly the young people of China, to make the Italianlanguage and culture a part of your lives, a bridge tobring us closer,” Ciampi said.

Facing over 100 Chinese scholars who are en-gaged in Italian language teaching and research, Ciampisaid more and more Chinese show interest in learningItalian language, but the total number of the learners isstill small.

“A broader cultural interchange and a wider spread-ing of Italian are beneficial to the development of theItaly-China relations of mutual interest,” he said.

According to Francesco Sisci, culture counsellorof the Italian Embassy in China, China has more than1,000 Italian language learners and researchers, andonly seven universities have offered the specialty ofItalian language. More than 800 Chinese students arestudying in Italy at present.

Ciampi made the proposals to improve the lan-guage and cultural exchanges between the two coun-tries, including building up a China research centrein Turin, setting up a college of China in BocconiUniversity, and establishing friendly relationshipbetween the certain Universities of the two coun-tries.

Ciampi said both China and Italy have inheritedgreat civilization and traditional friendship, and thiswill be the important basis for the exchanges andcooperation between the two countries.

Ciampi arrived in Beijing Saturday for a six-daystate visit. He said before he left for China that the visitwill inject dynamics for the cooperation in all fields.He also hoped to enhance the friendly relations be-tween the two countries and the two peoples throughthe political, economic and cultural exchanges.

MNA/Xinhua

China’s “IT” industry tomaintain rapid growth

The prediction was made by ChenWei, deputy director of the EconomicOperations Department under theMinistry of the Information Industry(MII), at the 2004 Annual EconomicConference of China’s IT Industry overthe weekend in Beijing, China Dailyreported on Monday.

China’s IT industry is expected tosee a sales revenue of 2.68 trillion yuan(322.3 billion US dollars) in 2004, up42.3 per cent year-on-year, becomingthe country’s leading driver for economicgrowth, MII sources indicate.

Chen estimated that the industry’s

added value is expected to hit 578 billionyuan (about 70 billion US dollars) for theentire 2004, up 44.5 per cent. Tax revenueis likely to reach 143.1 billion yuan (some17 billion US dollars), up 37.9 per cent;and exports totalling to 180 billion USdollars, roughly 34 per cent of country’stotal exports.

China’s IT industry witnessed a40.5-per-cent rise in added value to 363.2billion yuan for the year through thethird quarter, which compares to 15.5per cent for all the country’s industriesduring the same period.

MNA/Xinhua

FAO wants Thailand tobecome regional base for

battling bird flu BANGKOK , 7 Dec — The United Nations Food

and Agriculture Organization (FAO ) wants Thai-land to become the base for battling bird flu amongthe 10-member Association of South-East AsianNations, an Agriculture Ministry spokesman said.

The spokesman saidthat the proposal was madeduring a recent meetingbetween Minister WanMuhamad Noor Matha andHe Chang Chui, assistantdirector of FAO’s Asia andthe Pacific regional office,the Thai News Agency re-ported on Monday.

The spokesman saidthe FAO had commendedThailand for its coopera-

tion with the UN body incontrolling the disease.

The FAO also urgedthe Thai Government toprovide agricultural andfood production know-how to neighbouringcountries under the South-South Cooperation pro-gramme to help solve hun-ger and nutritional prob-lems there, the report said.

MNA/Xinhua

Jetstar Asia tostart flights from

Singaporenext week

SINGAPORE, 7 Dec—Jetstar Asia, the Singa-pore-based budget carrier,will launch its operationsin the island state by fly-ing to Hong Kong on 13December. According tolocal media reports onMonday evening, flightson the initial stage alsoinclude destinations ofTaibei and the resort cityof Pattaya in Thailand.

The one-way fare toHong Kong will start from88 Singapore dollars(about 54 US dollars) withan attractive price of 48Singapore dollars (about29 US dollars) in the pro-motional period.

Jetstar Asia, the newestbudget carrier in the citystate, is planning to startflights to Shanghai, Ja-karta, Surabaya and Ma-nila at a later date.

The reports said thatthe Qantas-backed low-cost carrier also hopes tohave more routes to citiesin China and India so as todifferentiate itself from itscompetitors in the localmarket. —MNA/Xinhua

Kuwait urges OPEC to checkoutput quota

“We have to take thisdecline very seriously. Weare worried about the fallin the oil price,” Kuwait’sEnergy Minister SheikhAhmad Fahad Al-AhmadAl-Sabah was quoted assaying at the symposium“The Outlook for theGlobal Oil Industry”hosted by National Bankof Kuwait.

“If this price slide ofthe last 48 hours were to

continue, we would haveto cut all over production,which is currentlybetween 1.5 million to twomillion barrels,” SheikhAhmed added.

Global crude priceshave fallen over 13 percent over the last threedays due to an increase inUS inventories of crudeoil.

“OPEC membersmust try and stick to the

OPEC official productionceiling to avoid a steepprice decline in the secondquarter of the next year,”the minister said.

“OPEC will bemeeting in Cairo nextweek to assess thesituation and will takepositive steps to avoid ashortage, and work for thestability of the market,”he added.

MNA/Xinhua

Three soldiers fromthe 1st Marine Expe-ditionary Force werekilled in two separateattacks while con-ducting security andstability operations inwestern Iraq on Sunday,the military said in a

statement.Earlier on Monday,

the military said inanother statementthat two US Marineswere killed in action inAnbar Province onFriday.

MNA/Xinhua

Three more US Marineskilled in western Iraq

US Army soldiers conduct a raid against guerillas in the northern Iraqi cityof Mosul in this picture released on 5 Dec, 2004.—INTERNET

Macaws play inside their cage in a zoo in Delhi on 30 Nov,2004. The Delhi zoohouses six macaws, which are found in the tropical south and central America,

and feed on fruits, seeds and nuts that they crack open with their strongbeaks.—INTERNET

BEIJING , 7 Dec — China’s information technology (IT) industry willmaintain rapid and healthy growth in 2005, which will render a good start forthe 11th Five-Year Plan that follows the 10th Five-Year Plan ending in 2005.

KUWAIT CITY , 7 Dec — Kuwait on Saturday urged members of theOrganization of Petroleum-Exporting Countries (OPEC) to stop producingabove the output quota as it was seriously concerned about the falling oilprices, the Arab Times reported on Sunday.

BAGHDAD , 7 Dec— Three more US Marineswere killed in two separate attacks in the restiveprovince of Anbar, west of Baghdad, the US mili-tary said Monday.

6 THE NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR Wednesday, 8 December, 2004

Chinese, French presidents conversevia phone on M-E issues

The two sides shouldmake joint efforts to pro-mote the resolution of Iraqissue and peace processin the Middle East region,Hu said. Hu said thatChina backs efforts madeby the three EuropeanUnion member states,France, Germany andBritain, to continue theirtalks with Iran on a long-term resolution to the nu-clear issue. China willcontinue to play a con-structive role on the issue.

The Chinese Presidentalso expressed China’sdeep concern on the cur-rent fluctuating situation

in Iraq. In the recent inter-national conference thathas helped promote con-sensus on the issue ofIraq’s reconstruction re-flects the supports fromthe international commu-nity for peace in Iraq.

On the Middle East is-sues, Hu said China sup-ports the Middle Eastpeace process and the rel-evant issues should be re-solved by complying withthe resolutions of theUnited Nations andthrough political negotia-tion based on the princi-ple of “land for peace”.

Hu expressed his

pleasure at seeing China-France ties maintain a goodmomentum of growth, say-ing that the consensus onthe bilateral cooperationreached by the heads of thetwo states in Beijing sum-mit has been thoroughlyimplemented. China iswilling to join in handswith France to further pro-mote the all-around Sino-French strategic partner-ship.

Chirac spoke positivelyon the remarkable resultsachieved in the friendly co-operation on various fieldsbetween the two nations.

MNA/Xinhua

A Vietnamese shrimp farm. Vietnam has hit out at a decision by the UnitedStates to uphold anti-dumping duties on imports of Vietnamese shrimp.

INTERNET

Chinese Minister sees Sino-Egyptian cooperation potentials CAIRO , 6 Dec— Visiting Chinese Minister of

Commerce Bo Xilai said on Sunday that China andEgypt, as two important developing nations, havegreat potentials in bilateral economic cooperation.

(From L) Miss China Yang Jin, Miss Chinese Taipei Xu Yi-hui and MissMalaysia Gloria Ting model evening wear during the 54th Miss World Final

2004 in Sanya on China's tropical island of Hainan on 4 Dec, 2004.—INTERNET

Addressing the Egypt-China Economic andTrade Cooperation Semi-nar, Bo said that trade ex-changes between the twocountries are expected toreach some 1.5 billion USdollars this year, more than50 per cent up from 2003.

“China has achievedgreat economic successduring the past two dec-ades, which enables it tosecure more and betterbusiness deals with ourEgyptian friends,” he said.

The minister said thatthe Chinese Governmentencourages Chinese com-panies to buy more Egyp-tian goods, includingcrude oil, cotton and other“fine Egyptian products,”which drew applause fromhis Egyptian audience.

Bo said that the Chi-nese Government expects

more Chinese companiesto invest in Egypt, addingthat he hopes the Egyptiangovernment, working withthe Chinese side, wouldhelp those companies findnew opportunities in thecountry.

Egyptian Minister of In-dustry and ForeignTradeRasheed Moham-mad Rasheed Hussein, toldthe seminar that the Egyp-tian Government has taken“specific measures” toattract more direct foreigninvestment, especially from China.

Some 500 Egyptian andChinese businessmen andofficials attended the semi-nar, which provided a plat-form for both sides to dis-cuss ways of promoting bi-lateral economic and tradecooperation.

MNA/Xinhua

Afghanistan seeks world support to fight drug KABUL , 6 Dec— Afghanistan on Sunday called upon the international community to help fight against

the booming poppy cultivation in the post-war country, a ranking Afghan official said Sunday afternoon. “Poppy plantation is il-

legal and defames Af-ghanistan. We are deter-mined to fight against themenace and eliminate it butwe will not achieve the goalunless the world commu-nity assists,” Deputy Inte-rior Minister on NarcoticsMohammad Daud told re-porters at a gathering de-voted to counter-narcoticsstrategy here.

The post-war Afghani-stan with an output of

3,600 tons of opium in2003 became the singlelargest supplier of the rawmaterial used in heroinmanufacturing in theworld and the productwould have hit an all timerecord if the climate co-operated in the outgoingyear as more farmers de-voted more lands to grow-ing poppy.

“We urge the interna-tional community to helpAfghan Government in

providing alternativecrops to our farmers inorder to replace thepoppy,” noted the top Af-ghan official-in-charge ofanti-drug affairs.

Replying to a question,he confirmed that theUnited States had alreadypledged 780 million USdollars to help the Afghanauthority in its war on il-licit drugs.

To eradicate thealarming phenomenon of

Russian President leavesIndia for Turkey

NEW DELHI , 6 Dec— After winding up his three-day visit to India, Russian President Vladimir Putinleft India’s southern city of Bangalore Sunday af-ternoon for Turkey.

Before his departure, Putin visited software com-pany Infosys on the outskirts of the city and defenceundertaking Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).

At HAL, the Russian President watched the displayof the prowess of three home-grown aircraft — ad-vanced light helicopter, the intermediate jet trainer andthe light combat aircraft. Putin will reach Moscow onTuesday after his visit to Turkey. — MNA/Xinhua

poppy in the war-tornCentral Asian state, hesaid that the transitionalgovernment had de-signed short-term andlong-term plans and washopeful to deliver withinfive years.

Under a counter-nar-cotics strategy launchedin May last year, Afghani-stan has planned to reducepoppy cultivation by 75per cent by 2008.

MNA/Xinhua

Sri Lanka optimisticover textile industry

COLOMBO , 6 Dec— Sri Lankan Secretary-General of the Joint Apparel Associations ForumMPT Cooray has expressed his belief that the islandcountry can reap benefits from textile industryfollowing the expiration of a preferential tradeagreement, the Sunday Observer reported onSunday.

Nepali overseas job seekersget 83 more options

KATHMANDU , 5 Dec— The Nepali Governmenthas decided to allow the country’s overseas workaspirants to seek employment in 83 more countriesin addition to the earlier 25, a senior official hassaid.

“A decision to this ef-fect was taken in a Cabinetmeeting held Monday,” TheHimalayan Times newspa-per on Saturday quotedMinister for Labour andTransport ManagementRaghuji Pant as saying.

Those new countriesopened for foreign employ-ment include France, China,Russia, Japan, Egypt, Ger-many, Italy, Switzerland,Brazil and Canada, among

others. Earlier, Nepali citizens

were allowed to work in 25countries, mostly in the Mid-dle East and Southeast Asia.

“These countries canprovide employment op-portunities to skilled work-ers such as security guardsand nurses,” Pant said, add-ing that multi-national com-panies prefer retired Gur-kha soldiers as securityguards.—MNA/Xinhua

Cooray projectedthat Sri Lanka will beable to raise its annualtextile and garment ex-

port earnings from thepresent 2.3 billion USdollars to 4.5 billiondol lars in 2007 byfollowing the five-yearstrategy started in 2002.

The strategy includestransforming the industryfrom a manufacture to pro-vider of a fully integratedservices facility, penetrat-ing the premium marketsegment, becoming inter-nationally recognized inspecific product catego-ries and consolidating andstrengthening the indus-try.

In addition to the strat-egy, he also stressed thatafter being in the industryfor several decades, SriLanka has achieved thestrength to face the worldcompetition.

��� ����������� ����������� ������ ������� BEIJING , 6 Dec— Chinese President Hu Jintao said here on Sunday in a

telephone conversation with French President Jacques Chirac that China andFrance share similar views on international issues.

MNA/Xinhua

THE NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR Wednesday, 8 December, 2004 7

Aung Moe San

It is natural that human society develops

gradually. Everyone makes mistakes accidentally

or ignorantly and so does the human society. So,

human beings have to always struggle for posi-

tive development.

No one is perfect and to err is human.

Therefore, people are to struggle constantly for

progress and it is necessary to welcome and en-

courage all the positive changes.

For example, the Tatmadaw government

offered a warm welcome to the armed groups who

had returned to the legal fold. Forgiving their past

misdeeds, the government provided necessary as-

sistance to fulfil their basic needs to enable them

to take part in the nation-building endeavours for

regional and national development. That indicates

the government’s loving kindness and sympathy to

the people.

Each and every government has to repre-

sent respective human societies. They has strengths

and weaknesses. Up to now, there has never been

a perfect government, and what is different among

them is “committing many or few mistakes and

faults”. They are remedying their mistakes and

errors through various ways and means. Of them,

some failed to remedy their mistakes in time in

Hindrance to positive developments runscounter to national interest

Human beings and social problems always

go together. Here, what is important is to employ

a correct solution to the problem. Only correct

approaches to the problems can contribute towards

the improvement of human beings. Opposition

parties are to show positive attitude in criticizing

respective ruling governments for improvement of

the latter. If the policy is very common — to

make ruling governments get themselves into a fix

by pointing out all their mistakes and faults with

negative views, the constant attempt to overthrow

ruling governments will continue to exist.

The government and the people have to

bear the effects, good or bad, since they coexist in

a single society. Therefore, finding reasonable so-

lutions to one’s own problems will enable the

practice of constructive practices and oppositions

to thrive.

The incidents of upheaval and political in-

stability will have a direct or indirect effect on

public property, thereby exhausting the five

strengths of society: brawn, wealth, fraternity,

morality, and brain. Modernization and democrati-

zation will then be a distant reality.

With stability reigning in border areas, the

government standing in solidarity with the entire

national people has added new momentum to the

drive for the establishment of a discipline-flourish-

ing democratic nation. In Myanmar, which is now

in the process of transition to democracy in a

peaceful way, changes considered necessary were

also made in the government structure. As part of

these measures, 3,937 prisoners were released on

18 November this year.

The State Peace and Development Council

(SPDC) released 5,311 more prisoners for the

second time on 25 November. The government

released 9,248 prisoners in total. The dailies also

reported these stories. According to the papers,

the SPDC abolished the National Intelligence Bu-

reau (NIB) on 22 November this year. The inves-

tigation into the NIB’s activities found that some

of them were done with impunity, the papers

reported.

Peoples within and without the country wel-

comed the approach. So did the United Nations

Organization. The noble measure the ruling

Tatmadaw government had taken received an open-

hearted welcome. So auspicious is the news that it

deserves the welcome of people from all walks of

life.

Yet, some egoists disparaged the Tatmadaw

The government and the peoplehave to bear the effects, good or bad,since they coexist in a single society.Therefore, finding reasonable solu-tions to one’s own problems will en-able the practice of constructive prac-tices and oppositions to thrive.

It is necessary for the people tosee the good as good and the bad asbad. Only then will they have a cor-rect outlook. Anyone trying to dis-turb the government’s efforts will bebranded as destructionists andcrushed in view of public interest.Action will be taken against themaccording to law.

their machinery, while some found their mistakes

having grown to a certain degree beyond remedy,

resulting in their fall as their failure served as an

invitation to external instigation and intervention.

Yet, some governments managed to remedy their

mistakes in time by means of thorough reviews of

their weaknesses and self-criticism.

Anyhow, the most important characteristic

of a government is to honestly serve the interests

of its people. Therefore, social scientists said “Hon-

esty is the best Policy”.

government’s endeavours which was made in genu-

ine goodwill in the interest of the country. The

destructive elements in exile criticized that the

release of prisoners by the government was due to

foreign pressure, that the government was finding

an exit out of the difficulties, and that it was

merely a political stunt. In this context, the motto

“Do good, and never mind to whom” has proved

right.

It is necessary for the people to see the

good as good and the bad as bad. Only then will

they have a correct outlook. Anyone trying to

disturb the government’s efforts will be branded

as destructionists and crushed in view of public

interest. Action will be taken against them accord-

ing to law. Priority will be paid to the welfare of

the country rather than that of a handful of per-

sons. Even some democracy-oriented western coun-

tries have to run a check on entry visas by

promulgating security laws to curb terrorism.

This being the case, it is an act of disrupt-

ing the national interest to deter the release of

9,248 prisoners including political prisoners and to

hamper the current Tatmadaw government’s drive

for national reconsolidation and democratic re-

forms.

***Translation: MS+KTY

Myanma Alin, Kyemon: 6-12-04

EDUCATIVE TALKS ON AIDS: The Myanmar Women’s Affairs Federation organized educativetalks on AIDS to mark World AIDS Day at Sangyoung Township Basic Education High School on

7-12-2004. Deputy Director of AIDS Control Project Dr U Min Thwe gives educative talks.MNA

China, Germany sign 22cooperative documents

BEIJING , 7 Dec — China and Germany signed22 cooperative documents here Monday evening atthe Great Hall of the People, aiming at promotingbilateral cooperation in various fields.

Chinese PremierWen Jiabao and GermanChancellor GerhardSchroeder, who is on athree-day working visit toChina, attended thesigning ceremony aftertheir talks. Thesedocuments cover thecooperative fields ofrailways, finance, banksupervision, aviation, cars,agricultural products anddigital communi-cation.

Major documents deal withthe establish-ment of a hotline between the twogovernments, and the futurecooperation in railways andbank super-vision andbetween small andmedium-sized enter-prises.Both Wen and Schroederspoke highly of the bilateralcooperation when meetingwith home and overseasreporters after theceremony.—MNA/Xinhua

8 THE NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR Wednesday, 8 December, 2004

Minister Maj-Gen Saw Tun inspects the site chosen for construction of Yaw Creek Bridge (Ohndaw). CONSTRUCTION

YANGON, 7 Dec — AMyanmar delegation ledby Deputy Minister forRail TransportationThura U Thaung Lwinleft here by air for Indiayesterday to studylocomotives and servicesthere.

The aim of thedelegation is to study thetechnology of improvingthe power of MTUlocomotives, engine pro-duction, and railsignaling equipment andsystem. The delegationwas seen off at YangonInternational Airport byDeputy Minister for Rail

Myanmar delegation leaves to

study locomotives in IndiaTransportation U PeThan, officials andfamilies.

Members of thedelegation GeneralManager (LocomotiveShed/Ywahtaung) ofMyanma RailwaysU Myint Khaing, DeputyGeneral Manager (Coachand Waggon Shed/Myitnge) U Myo Myint,Deputy General Manager(Mechanical ) U Nyi Htutand Assistant GeneralManager (Commu-nications) U Ba Myintleft here on the sameflight.

MNA

YANGON, 7 Dec—Minister for Construction Maj-Gen Saw Tun, accompanied by Deputy Minister Brig-Gen Myint Thein and officials, inspected road main-tenance tasks along NyaungU-Myingyan Road on 5December.

The senior engineer of Myingyan District reportedon target for construction of NyaungU-Myingyan Roadin 2004-2005 and work progress the Minister and partyinspected Myingyan-Myotha-TadaU Road.

Officials concerned reported on work progress ofconstruction of Myingyan-Myotha section. The Minister

Construction of roads inspected

YANGON, 7 Dec — The opening ceremony ofnew tennis court of No 3 Basic Education High Schoolin Bago city was held in conjunction with respectspaying to the retired teachers at the school this morning.

Present on the occasion were Chairman of BagoDivision Peace and Development Council Commanderof Southern Command Maj-Gen Ko Ko, Chairman ofMyanmar Olympic Committee Minister for SportsBrig-Gen Thura Aye Myint, Minister for Mines Brig-Gen Ohn Myint, Minister for Rail Transportation Maj-

Commander, ministers attend opening of new tennis court, respects paying ceremony in Bago DivGen Aung Min, officials of the Ministry of Sports andthe Ministry of Education and Myanmar TennisFederation, heads of departments at division, districtand township levels, members of social organizations,teachers, students and fans.

During the ceremony, Commander Maj-GenKo Ko, Minister Brig-Gen Thura Aye Myint andChairman of the MTF U Zaw Zaw formally opened itand delivered addresses on the occasion.

Next, Minister Brig-Gen Thura Aye Myint

gave instructions on meeting the standards set.Yesterday, the Minister and party left Bagan through

Pakokku-Pauk-Htilin-Gangaw Road for the site chosenfor construction of Yaw Creek (Yaypya) Bridge. DeputySuperintending Engineer of Bridge Special Group-13 USoe Myint and officials reported on facts about theproject. The Minister called for further details on theproject. Afterwards, the Minister and party inspectedthe chosen site for implementation of Yaw Creek(Ohndaw) Bridge on Seikphyu-Kandaw-Pauk Road,and Pauk -Kandaw-Seikphyu Road. — MNA

presented K 5 million and sports gear donated by theMinistry of Sports; and Chairman of MTF U Zaw Zaw,K 10 million donated by Max Myanmar Co Ltd andrelated documents to the tennis court to the Commanderwho later presented certificates of honour to them.

During the respects paying ceremony held a thesame venue, old student Minister Brig-Gen Thura AyeMyint explained the purpose of the ceremony. Theguests and old students of the school offered cash andkind to 82 retired teachers. Minister Brig-Gen ThuraAye Myint and family presented K 100,000 to theeducation funds of the school; and five wellwishers, K863,000. Minister Brig-Gen Thura Aye Myint andfamily also presented K 100,000 to the health funds ofthe school; and eight wellwishers, K 900,000.Schoolhead Daw Tin Nwe Oo expressed thanks. MNA

Senior General Than Shwe receives

Laotian Prime Minister

Mr Bounnhang Vorachith and party at

the Credentials Hall of the Pyuthu

Hluttaw Building.

(News on page 1) — MNA

Chairman of the State Peace and

Development Council of the Union of

Myanmar Senior General Than Shwe

cordially greets Laotian Prime Minister

Mr Bounnhang Vorachith.

(News on page 1) — MNA

THE NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR Wednesday, 8 December, 2004 9

Minister Maj-Gen Sein Htwa addresses the plenary meeting for formingMyanmar Disabled People’s Organization at International Business centre

on 7-12-2004. — SOCIAL WELFARE

Prime Minister Lt-Gen Soe Win welcomes Laotian Prime MinisterMr Bounnhang Vorachith at the airport. (News on page 1) — MNA

Secretary-1 Lt-Gen Thein Sein greets Laotian Prime Minister Mr BounnhangVorachith at the airport. (News on page 1) — MNA

Prime Minister Lt-Gen Soe Win and Laotian Prime Minister Mr Bounnhang Vorachith take the salute of the Guard of Honour. (News on page 1) — MNA

YANGON, 7 Dec— Chairman of Yangon City De-velopment Committee Yangon Mayor Brig-Gen AungThein Lin and officials inspected tarring of 6,243 feetBagaya Road in Sangyoung Township, on BayintnaungRoad in front of Agricultural Mechanization Depart-ment in Insein Township, paving of road from BogyokeAung San Road to University of Computer Studies inShwepyitha Township and upgrading of the road infront of Thadukan industrial zone and KhayaybinRoad in Insein Township this morning.

Head of Engineering Department (Roads andBridges) U Bo Htay and officials reported on progressof work and tasks to be done.

The mayor gave instructions on quality meetingthe set standard in work, speedy implementation of thework, supervision and road safety. The mayor also inspected construction ofHanthawady golf driving range at the corner ofKyundaw Road and Nanattaw Road in KamayutTownship by Gardens and Sports Ground Depart-ment. — MNA

Mayor inspects tarringof roads

YANGON, 7 Dec— The Development AffairsCommittees under the Ministry for Progress of BorderAreas and National Races and Development Affairsare making concerted efforts in sinking tube-wells inorder to get sufficient clean water in rural areas inStates and Divisions where water is scarce. One 200feet deep two-inch diametre tube-well costs K 250,000;one 400 feet deep two-inch diametre tube-well costs K500,000; and one 200 feet deep four-inch diametretube-well costs K 500,000.

Those wishing to donate cash for the tube-wellsinking projects for rural areas may contact the Direc-tor-General (Tel: 01-245420 & 253088) and the DeputyDirector-General (Tel: 01-240118). — MNA

YANGON, 7 Dec—Hail-ing the 60th AnniversaryArmed Forces Day whichfalls on 27 March 2005,the Poem Contest Organ-izing Sub-committee un-der the Poem and ArtsCompetition OrganizingWork Committee, chairedby Deputy Minister forCulture Brig-Gen Soe WinMaung, has announcedplan to hold the PoemContest to mark the 60thAnniversary ArmedForces Day.

The contestants cancompose objectives of the60th Anniversary ArmedForces Day, matters re-lated to fine traditions of

Rules for Armed Forces Day commemorative poem contest announcedthe Tatmadaw, historicevents occurred in the pe-riods of Konbaung Era(AD 1824), IndependenceEra (1948-1988) and theState Peace and Develop-ment Council, endeavoursof the State Peace and De-velopment Council in re-ligious affairs, construc-tion, peace negotiation anddrug elimination sectors.

The entries will bescrutinized with three sec-tors—theme style, presen-tation and composing. Thepoem contest will be di-vided into two categories.

Those who have wonthe first second or thirdprizes in the Poem Con-

test to mark the ArmedForces Day and the Na-tional Motto Contest,Sarpay Beikman Manu-script Award Contest andthe Poem Contest of thePakokku U Ohn Pe Liter-ary Award Contest andNational Literary Awardwinners may participate inthe level-1 and those whodid not win the prizes maytake part in the level-2.

Those who did not winthe prizes can participatein the level-1. However,one contestant may takepart in one level only, andthe level number must bewritten on the entry.

There will be two

events at the level-1— thelong poem and the shortpoem. The contestant canparticipate in both or oneof them. However, it mustbe one entry for one event.

The short poem mustbe between 100 and 300stanzas and the long onebetween 1,000 and 2,000stanzas. The entries mustbe in line with the rules.The free verse and mod-ern poems will not be ab-solutely accepted.

The poem must bewritten on one side of pa-per and the two copies ofthe entry must be submit-ted. And, the entry mustbe attached with the nameof the contestant, pen-name, names of parents,education, occupation andaddress together with three2" x 2.5" size colour pho-tos. The entry must be owncreation and has not beenfeatured in any publicationyet. The State has author-ity to use the prize-win-ning works.

The entries are to besent to Lt-Col Ohn Maung(Retd) (Myinmu MaungNaing Moe), Chief Editor,Naingngan Gonyi LiteraryHouse, Sarpay Beikman,531, Merchant Street, here,Tel: 374532, not later than31-1-2005.– MNA

Wellwishers invited for sinking tube-wells

10 THE NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR Wednesday, 8 December, 2004

U Kyaw Sein (Mogok)-Daw Nan Kham Hsa and family present K 100,000 andtraditional medicines worth K 100,000 to MWJA Vice-Chairman

U Than Maung. — MNA

Most Ven Dr Vichit Singharaj and party of Laos being welcomed at the airportby Sayadaw Ashin Ñanissara (D Litt) and Minister Brig-Gen

Thura Myint Maung. — MNA

Visitors at the First CLMTV-ECS Trade Fair-2004. — MNA

YANGON, 7 Dec—The FirstCLMTV-ECS Trade Fair continued forthe last day at the Myanmar ConventionCentre on Mindhamma Road inMayangon Township here today.

Eight local ministries, 135 localcompanies and 21 foreign companies

YANGON , 7 Dec—With thedonations of Commandant of theNational Defence College Maj-GenMoe Hein and wife and wellwishers,108 Buddha images from MongnaungMingala Yan Aung Monasterywere conveyed for public obeisancearound Mongnaung Township,Shan State (South), on 2 Decembermorning.

It was attended by members ofthe Sangha, Brig-Gen Thaung Aye of

Buddha images conveyed for publicobeisance in Mongnaung

Mongnaung Station and wife,Tatmadaw members, departmental of-ficials, and local residents.

The congregation offered alms tomembers of the Sangha. Brig-GenThaung Aye and wife conveyed the im-ages for obeisance of service personneland locals in the township.

The Sayadaws delivered a ser-mon, followed by sharing of meritsgained.

MNA

First CLMTV-ECS Trade Fair-2004 concludes

staged 162 booths at the trade fair, draw-ing attention of more than 40,000 visi-tors today.

The trade fair was exhibited from3 to 7 December. From the opening dayto 6 December, the trade fair realized K55,092,432. — MNA

Most Ven Dr Vichit Singharaj of Laos arrivesYANGON, 7 Dec — A delegation

led by Most Ven Dr Vichit Singharaj ofLao People’s Democratic Republic ar-rived here this morning to attend theWorld Buddhist Summit.

Chancellor Sayadaw of SitaguInternational Buddhist Academy AggaMaha Pandita Agga Maha Saddhamma

Jotika Dhaja Maha Dhamma Kathika DrÑanissara and Secretary of Leading Com-mittee for holding the World BuddhistSummit Minister for Religious AffairsBrig-Gen Thura Myint Maung and offi-cials welcomed the delegation at YangonInternational Airport.

MNA

Mass sports activities launched in MandalayYANGON, 7 Dec — Mass sports

activities (2004) were launched inMandalay on 4 December in whichChairman of Mandalay DivisionPeace and Development CouncilCommander of Central CommandMaj-Gen Ye Myint and wife partici-pated.

In the morning, Departmental

personnel, members of social organi-zations and the people totaling over15,000 took a walk starting from thejunction of 26th and 73rd streets.

On 4 December, the people in31 townships in Mandalay Division alsoparticipated in sports activities and tookphysical exercises.

MNA

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China to continue fight against“HIV/AIDS”, TB, Malaria

BEIJING , 7 Dec— China’s Vice-Premier Wu Yi said here Monday that thecountry will step up its efforts to take precautions against HIV/AIDS, tuber-culosis and malaria in order to secure the health of all the people.

Wu made these remarks at a meet-ing with Richard Feachem, executivedirector of the Global Fund to FightAIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

China has an estimated 840,000 HIVcarriers and 4.5 million people sufferingfrom tuberculosis. Malaria was occa-sionally reported in the southern parts ofChina. Feachem said China has madesignificant progress in curbing the threemajor communicable diseases, espe-cially in eliminating malaria. The inter-national community was also greatlyencouraged by the Chinese Govern-

ment’s strong commitments in fightingagainst HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis, hesaid. He expressed the satisfaction withChina’s implementation of the projectssponsored by the Global Fund, sayingthat the Global Fund is willing to im-prove cooperation and exchanges withChina in the prevention and control ofthe diseases. Established in 2002, theGlobal Fund has so far raised 5.4 billionUS dollars for the prevention and con-trol of the three communicable diseaseswith its projects covering 128 countriesaround the world.—MNA/Xinhua

NEW YORK , 7 Dec — Crude oil prices rose from a three-month low Mondayamid increased expectations that the Organization of Petroleum- ExportingCountries (OPEC) would cut production at its meeting this week.

On the New York Mercantile Ex-change, crude oil for January deliveryrose 44 cents to end at 42.98 dollars perbarrel. Meanwhile, on London’s Inter-national Petroleum Exchange the Janu-ary Brent crude-oil futures contractclimbed 29 cents to settle at 39.65 dol-lars a barrel.

OPEC should consider cutting pro-duction to end a slide in prices at itsmeeting in Cairo this week. Kuwait’sOil Minister said OPEC meeting mightdiscuss production for the first quarterof 2005.

OPEC members cut their outputby 570,000 barrels, or 1.9 per cent, to an

average 29.97 million barrels a day fromtheir record highs of 30.54 millionreached in October.

Meanwhile, an attack on the USConsulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia,boosted concern that a revival of terror-ism might threaten oil shipments fromthe world’s largest oil exporter.

A weather forecast released by theUS National Weather Service showedlower-than-normal temperatures in mostof the eastern half of the nation fromDecember 11 to December 15. Colderweather further weighed on traders thatconcerned about tight heating supplies.

MNA/Xinhua

Crude oil prices rise ahead of OPEC Meeting

THE NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR Wednesday, 8 December, 2004 11

Extempore talks held to mark60th Armed Forces Day

HSIPAW, 24 Nov —As a gesture of hailing the60th Anniversary Armed Forces Day, Hsipaw Town-ship Union Solidarity and Development Associationorganized the Extempore talks on 19 November atHsipaw Basic Education High School.

Secretary of Hsipaw Township Peace and De-velopment Council U Sai Tha Hlaing delivered anaddress and township USDA Secretary U Sai SeinLin first briefed on the rules and regulations regard-ing the talks.

Basic education middle and high school stu-dents participated in it. Officials of the townshipUSDA and Assistant Township Education Officer UThein Oo awarded the winners. — MYANMA ALIN

Low-cost rural houses builtMAUBIN, 30 Nov —Maubin Township Devel-

opment Affairs Department has implemented ruralhousing project in the township.

As part of the project, six low-cost rural houseswere built in Malatto Model Village on Maubin-Twantay Road in the township.

Officials of Maubin Township DAD and Chair-man of the village Peace and Development CouncilU Aung Naing supervised the project.

MYANMA ALIN

Irrigation canals dug in WakemaWAKEMA, 21 Nov — Under the arrangement

of Ayeyawady Division Peace and DevelopmentCouncil, Irrigation Department on 19 November dugthe irrigation canals to supply water to the summerpaddy fields along the Wakema-KyonMaNge Road.

Officials of the township Peace and Develop-ment Council closely supervised the tasks.

It is expected that Wakema Township willreach its target of 126,947 acres of summer paddy in2004-2005.— KYEMON

Libraries inaugurated onself-reliant basic

NYAUNGU, 3 Dec — With the assistance ofNyaungU Township Information and Public Rela-tions Department and local people, a self-reliant li-brary was opened on 21 November in MyinkapaVillage in NyaungU Township.

Wellwishers provided furniture and over 2,000books on knowledge for the library.

Officials of the township Peace and Develop-ment Council and Head of the township IPRD for-mally inaugurated the library.

Similarly, on 6 November a library was openedon self-reliant basic in Tattwin Village in LabuttaTownship.

The head of the township IPRD opened thelibrary. So far, IPRD has set up self-reliant librariesin 10410 out of more than 60,000 villages across thenation.

KYEMON

News from theDistricts

This photo, released by the Zhiqing Zhang on 6 Dec, 2004, Institute ofCultural Relics and Archaeology of Henan Province, Zhengzhou, China,shows jars from Jiahu, Henan province, China, ca. 7000-6600 B.C. with

high flaring necks and rims, which were well-suited for serving a fermentedbeverage. — INTERNET

BANGKOK , 7 Dec — The initiation of bilateralFTAs with countries all around the world hasbecome one of the foreign policy cornerstones ofthe Thai Government, The Nation newspaper saidin a commentary on Monday.

IBM to fade from PCMarket, quit China PC

businessBEIJING, 7 Dec — The top computer provider

worldwide, IBM, is likely to quit its PC business inChina, as it gradually withdrawals from the personalcomputer (PC) market.

“IBM will focus on game machines in the fu-ture,” China Business News quoted BernardMeyerson, vice-president and chief technologist withIBM System & Technology Group, was quoted assaying on Thursday at a Press conference.

Meyerson’s statement echoes Gartner’s recent re-port, which predicted the global PC market will stepinto a period of sluggish growth and three of theworld’s top ten PC providers will be squeezed out ofthe market. He said IBM and HP have the highestpossibility of not making the cut. Nigel Beck, whois accountable for product management and market-ing of IBM, acknowledged that PC profits have keptdropping, and IBM holds that game machines willbecome the next-generation advanced platform. Astaff member with IBM System & TechnologyGroup, who declined to be named, noted that IBMhas decided to quit the PC business in China.

“We had planned to transfer our portable PCtechnology to International Information Products(IIPC), as reported by some media, but have can-celled the decision because of IIPC’s limited capac-ity,” he said.

Merrill Lynch Analyst Steve Milunovich said inhis latest report that game machines will be the nextgeneration in computing. IBM will become a benefi-ciary of the trend since it is moving its micro-elec-tronic technology away from the ebbing PC busi-ness. Fang Xingdong, chief analyst of Internet Chinalab, was pessimistic about IBM’s manufacture ofgames machines, saying that games products do notsuit the company’s culture, it would be a wise choicefor IBM to supply high-quality chips for major gamesproducers like Sony.

As a matter of fact, IBM, teaming up with Sonyand Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCEI) in-troduced the first cell-based work station prototypemachine on November 29. The optimized “cell” chipis suited precisely for various broadband media, in-cluding games, films and other digital medium.

MNA/Xinhua

Initiation of bilateral FTAs isThai foreign policy cornerstone

Commerce Ministerreceives Pakistani Ambassador,

Australian guestsYANGON, 7 Dec — Minister for Commerce

Brig-Gen Tin Naing Thein received Ambassador ofIslamic Republic of Pakistan to Myanmar MrMuhammad Nawaz Chaudhry at 10 am and Con-sultant of Capital Marketing Centre Co Ltd, Aus-tralia, Mr Clive Murray and party at 11 am respec-tively.

Also present during the call were Deputy Min-ister for Commerce Brig-Gen Aung Tun and depart-mental officials. — MNA

An opening ceremony of a self-reliant library atTattwin Village in Labutta Township. — KYEMON

Impatient with slowprogress of multilateraltrade talks, the Thai Gov-ernment in recent yearshas turned to pursue re-gional free-trade deals toenhance export opportu-nities.

In early July, Thai-land signed its first FTAwith Australia after one-year negotiation.

Thailand’s FTA withIndia is taking shape,with an “early harvest”scheme cutting duties onmore than 80 items. De-spite early concerns byIndia over the possibleinflux of Thai vehicles,both sides decided to pro-ceed with the talks tosupport India’s Look Eastpolicy and Thailand’ssimilar vision for theSubcontinent.

The kingdom’sFTAs with Peru and NewZealand are expected tobe concluded this month.

After two rounds ofnegotiations, Thailand’sFTA talks with theUnited States look likelyto be drawn out due tosticky issues on labour,

intellectual propertyrights and environmentalprotection among others.

“The government didnot give us a deadline butit is prepared to wait forthe best agreement,”Nitya Pibulsongkram,chief negotiator wasquoted as saying on Mon-day. Singapore and Thai-land boast of the highestnumber of completedfree-trade agreements(FTA) among Asiancountries, according tothe Asia News Network.

Reports by the mem-bers of the Asia NewsNetwork, an alliance of14 newspapers in 12Asian countries, said thatmore than 80 FTAs havebeen completed, undernegotiation and understudy, in Asia so far.

The number of FTAsaround the world hasrisen remarkably from 79in 1995 to 208 in 2004.

Currently, India, Sin-gapore, Thailand and SriLanka are the Asiancountries in the processof negotiating FTAs.

MNA/Xinhua

Philippines in urgent need ofrelief goods after typhoons

MANILA, 7 Dec — The calamity-striken towns inthe northern Philippine province of Quezon is run-ning out of relief goods, a local television reportedMonday.

Distribution of relief goods in the area remainedslow, resulting in insufficient supply of food and

medicine for the residentsof town General Nakar,the ABS-CBN NewsChannel reported.

Authorities said onlyhelicopters can reach thearea as roads leading tothe town were still im-passable due to landslidesand the relief efforts arehampered by rain.

Local officials areappealing for more aid tothe typhoon victimswhile many evacueeswere down with fever,coughs and colds.

Residents also askedfor reconstruction mate-rials for them to begin re-building their homes,most of which are stillburied deep in mud.

MNA/Xinhua

12 THE NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR Wednesday, 8 December, 2004

TRADE MARKCAUTION NOTICEIMARFLEX INDUS-

TRIAL CO., LTD., a com-pany organized under thelaws of THAILAND, andhaving its principal officeat 96/50-51 Moo 9,Thonburi-Paktho Rd.,Bangmod, Chomthong,Bangkok 10150, Thailandis the owner and sole pro-prietor of the followingTrademark:-

Reg. No. 4/4232/2004

Used in respect of:-

Microwave ovens, electricgrilled stoves, electric ricecookers, heating water ap-paratus, electric fans, elec-tric heater, hair dryers,electromagnetic stoves,cooking apparatus, gasstoves, electric pots,electric pans, electric suki-yaki pots. (InternationalClass 11) Any unauthorized use,imitation, infringements orfraudulent intentions of theabove mark will be dealtwith according to law.

TIN OHNMAR TUNB.A (Law) LL.B,LL.M (UK)

P.O. Box 109,Ph: 248108/723043(For. Global Trademarks,

Inc., U.S.A.)Dated. 8 December, 2004

CLAIMS DAY NOTICEMV SEA BRIGHT VOY NO (675)

Consignees of cargo carried on MV SEA BRIGHTVOY NO (675) are hereby notified that the vessel willbe arriving on 8.12.04 and cargo will be dischargedinto the permises of A.W.P.T where it will lie at theconsignee’s risk and expenses and subject to the byelawsand conditions of the Port of Yangon.

Damaged cargo will be surveyed daily from 8 am to11.20 am and 12 noon to 4 pm upto Claims Day nowdeclared as the third day after final discharge of cargofrom the Vessel.

No claims against this vessel will be admitted afterthe Claims Day.

SHIPPING AGENCY DEPARTMENTMYANMA PORT AUTHORITY

AGENT FOR: M/S ADVANCE CONTAINER LINEPhone No: 256908/378316/376797

Turkey-Russia trade volume to reach$10b in 2004

ANKARA , 6 Dec — The bilateral trade volume between Turkey and Russiais expected to reach 10 billion US dollars by the end of this year, semi-officialAnatolia News Agency reported Sunday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin willarrive here later in the day to pay a two-day official visit to cement economicrelations between the two countries af-ter 32 years’ interval.

The two countries are also expectedto sign six documents in fields of secu-rity, information, intellectual propertyrights, research and investment.

Putin’s trip, originally scheduled forSeptember, was postponed .

Turkey exported goods worth 1.6billion dollars in 2003, while this figurewas recorded as 1.5 billion in the firstseven months of 2004.

Turkish imports from Russia was5.4 billion US dollars last year, whileRussia exported goods worth 2.7 billionUS dollars to Turkey in the first sevenmonths of this year.

In the meantime, bilateral trade vol-ume, which was 6.8 billion US dollarslast year, is expected to reach 10 billionby in 2004.

Direct investments of Turkey in Rus-sia exceeds one billion dollars. Turkeyis mainly making investments in areas

such as shopping malls, food and bever-ages, textile, banking, telecommunica-tion, glass and machinery in Russia.

Turkish entrepreneurs are mainly ac-tive in the construction area in Russia.Turkish contracting companies haveundertaken 785 projects, worth 13.2 bil-lion US dollars, in Russia so far.

Economic relations between Turkeyand Russian Federation are based on thetrade agreement signed on 8 October,1937 and the trade and economic coop-eration agreement signed on 25 Febru-ary, 1991.

Under the natural gas agreementsigned on 17 April, 1984, Turkey pur-chases natural gas from the former So-viet Union for 25 years, starting from1987. And, the former Soviet Unionagreed to use 70 per cent of the incomeit obtains from this agreement to buygoods and services from Turkey.

There are other agreements such ason prevention of double taxation, en-couragement of investments and energycooperation protocol between two coun-tries. — MNA/Xinhua

Tremor hits area near Algerian capitalALGIERS, 6 Dec — A tremor measuring 4.5 on the Richter Scale shook a

region near the Algerian capital on Sunday, state radio said, days after anearthquake injured about 100 people and caused slight damage.

The tremor hit at about9:30 am (0830 GMT) inthe coastal town ofZemmouri, the same areaas a devastating quakekilled 2,300 people in Maylast year.

Zemmouri is located inthe seismically activeBoumerdes Province, 30

miles east of the capital.The aftershock was alsofelt in Algiers.

Frightened local resi-dents fled their homes butthere were no reports ofinjuries.

A 5.7-magnitudeearthquake in Boumerdeson Wednesday did not

cause any serious injuriesor damages but temporar-ily cut off the coastal areafrom electricity and com-munications.

Algeria is a member ofthe OPEC oil producingcartel and is a leading natu-ral gas exporter.

MNA/Reuters

Egypt to provide COMESAwith technical assistance

LUSAKA , 6 Dec — The Egyptian Fund for Tech-nical Cooperation with Africa (EFTCA) will pro-vide technical assistance expertise to the CommonMarket for Eastern and Southern Africa(COMESA) to enhance COMESA’s capacity un-der a letter of intent the two sides signed hereSunday.

COMESA said in astatement that bothparties (COMESA and

Egypt) recognized theneed for the promotion ofcooperation especially in-tra-COMESA coopera-tion to enhance economicdevelopment in the region.

The statement statedthat COMESA has recog-nized the need tostrengthen the technicaland human capacities ofthe member states in vari-ous fields using the exist-ing strong institutionswithin the region.

“Both parties do rec-ognize the crucial roleCOMESA and EFTCAcan jointly play in build-ing the capacities ofCOMESA member statesin the areas of agriculture,irrigation, water develop-ment, industry, tourism,transport, communicationand data technology,” saidthe statement.

Egypt has a long expe-rience in agriculture, irri-gation, health, infrastruc-ture, information technol-ogy and many other areas,which would benefit othermember states through thefund. — MNA/Xinhua

Poland’s airline grounded due to financialproblems

WARSAW, 6 Dec — Poland’s first budget airline Air Polonia has beengrounded due to financial problems, stranding 53,000 passengers, its chair-man said on Sunday.

Mideast ranks second in world tourism growthin 2004

But Jan Litwinski, who pioneeredAir Polonia after leaving national Polishcarrier LOT [LOT.UL], said he hadironed out a deal with another low-costairline, Bratislava-based SkyEurope, tohelp most passengers reach their desti-nations.

“SkyEurope will provide flights forthe roughly 53,000 passengers who havepurchased Air Polonia tickets,” he tolda news conference in Warsaw, announc-ing a suspension of all flights.

Privately owned Air Polonia signeda partnership agreement with Italy’s

budget Volare Group in March, and inJune Litwinski insisted the Polish car-rier was in good financial shape.

But Volare was forced to ground itsplanes in November due to cash prob-lems. Litwinski said his aircrafts’ leasesmay lapse if Air Polonia fails to gainnew financing.

SkyEurope, a pioneer no-frills airlinewhich revolutionized air travel in thepost-Communist region that joined theEuropean Union this year, said it had noplans to take over Polonia.

MNA/Reuters

Romania demands US to returnembassy guard to face trial

BUCHAREST, 6 Dec — Romania demanded onSunday the United States return an embassy guardinvolved in a deadly car accident to face trial in thecountry after he returned home.

DONATE

BLOOD

The police said a USMarine working as a guardat the embassy was appar-ently intoxicated when hecrashed into a taxi killinga Romanian musician andinjuring the driver.

“The Foreign Minis-try expresses its conster-nation at finding out thatthe person who is guilty ofcausing the car accident

which killed Teo Peter leftthe country,” the ForeignMinistry said in a state-ment.

It said it had sent anofficial protest to the USEmbassy and asked thatthe US national be broughtback to Romania and hisdiplomatic immunity belifted to face trial.

MNA/Reuters

Elephants, buffaloes killed byanthrax in Botswana

HARARE, 6 Dec — About 33 elephants and 21buffaloes have died in the past two weeks as a resultof an anthrax outbreak in the Chobe area in Bot-swana, Zimbabwe’s official media New Ziana re-ported Sunday.

The outbreak, the sec-ond in two months, hasspread to Pandamatengaand Nogatshaa areas.

Wildlife officerSennye Neo-Mahupelengwas quoted as saying that

in the past two weeks, 31elephants died in the Poha-Nogatshaa area while inthe Pandamatenga area,21 buffaloes and twoelephants died.

MNA/Xinhua

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Despite the ongoing tensions in Iraqand Palestine, the region continues toattract record numbers of tourists, ac-cording to the World Tourism Organi-zation (WTO), with the total number oftourists reaching 43 million.

The statistics showed that Syria ex-perienced a 52-per-cent rise in arrivalsin the first eight months of 2004, com-pared with the same period a year ago.

Egypt’s overall tourist number roseby 49 per cent, Lebanon’s by 30 percent, Bahrain and Jordan by 19 per centand 18 per cent respectively.

Dubai, one of the seven emirates inthe United Arab Emirates, witnessed a9-per-cent hike. It has become the com-mercial, convention and shopping cen-tre of the region.

MNA/Xinhua

ABU DHABI , 6 Dec — Middle East has been the world’s second biggestgrowth region in tourism in 2004, enjoying a 24-per-cent increase in touristarrivals in the first eight months of the year, local Gulf News reported Sunday.

THE NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR Wednesday, 8 December, 2004 13

Well trained cat : Russian State Circus animal trainers perform with a catduring a show in Kolkata.—INTERNET

Wang Manli of China skates on the way to win thewomen's 500-metre of the ISU World Cup speedskatingat M-Wave in Nagano, central Japan on 5 Dec, 2004.Wang clocked 38.13 seconds, the same time as Saying Osuga of Japan, to win the race. —INTERNET

Researchers say new leukaemiadrugs working better

WASHINGTON , 7 Dec — Next-generation leukaemia pills, designed to helppatients not cured by the successful drug Gleevec, work even better thandoctors had hoped, researchers said recently.

One new drug, madeby Bristol-Mvers Squibb,put 80 per cent of patientswho tried it into remission— meaning signs of theircancer disappeared, the re-searchers said.

Although they wereonly Phase I trials, meantto show the drug was safe,the affects were dramatic,the doctors told a meetingin San Diego of the Ameri-can Society of Haematol-ogy.

“Certainly it is wonder-ful. It will save lives”, saidDr Alan Kinniburgh, sen-

ior vice president of re-search for the Leukaemiaand Lymphoma Society.

Oncologists hope theapproach may work inmany other cancers, too.

Kinniburgh said it islikely that the new pillswill be used in combina-tion, like old-fashionedchemotherapy.

“I know of no cancerwhere one single drug hasever cured the cancer”, hesaid.

The new drugs are be-ing tested in patients withchronic myeloid leukae-

mia (CML), which affectsabout 4,400 Americans ayear and 10,000 peoplearound the world.

The Bristol drug isknown by its experimen-tal name BMS-354825.During the trial, also fi-nanced by Bristol-Myers,31 of 36 patients with ad-vanced CML, who had notbeen helped by Gleevec,had a completehematologic response,meaning their bodiesstopped producing leukae-mia cells.

MNA/Reuters

Health r eport says obesitymore prevalent in Ne Zealand

Launching the report“Tracking the ObesityEpidemic: New Zealand1977-2003,” Under-Sec-retary for Health MitaRirinui said “obesity haslong been recognized as amajor health issue, but thisconfirms what we havelong suspected. New Zea-land is in the midst of anobesity epidemic.”

Ririnui said the reportwas one of the mostthorough and comprehen-sive descriptions of a na-tional obesity epidemicproduced for any coun-try. The report containsdata from four nationalnutrition and healthsurveys.

It tracks changes to

the body mass index ofNew Zealanders aged 15-74 from 1977 to 2003.

Ririnui said the reportprovided a solid evidencebase for future policy andplanning and informationthat will be critical in fur-ther implementing andevaluating the ministry’sHealth Eating-HealthyAction strategy.

“Excess body weightis one of the most impor-tant modifiable risk fac-tors in major diseases suchas Type 2 diabetes, heartdisease, stroke and sev-eral cancers,” he said.

“We need to be con-cerned and we need to takeaction,” he added.

MNA/Xinhua

NASA hoping techniques forcrew to repair damages

The shuttle’s launch,which has been delayedseveral times, would bethe first flight since theColumbia broke apart asit re-entered the Earth’satmosphere in February,2003.

That disaster, whichkilled the seven astronautsaboard the shuttle andrained debris down on eastTexas, was caused bycracks in the protectivetiles that were struck by apiece of foam during theshuttle’s launch.

NASA hopes thatcloser in-flight inspectionsand repairs — oncethought impossible —could prevent a repeat ofthat incident. “It still is achallenge in front of us.We still have a long way

to go,” Bill Parsons, spaceshuttle programme man-ager, told a news confer-ence.

NASA will use newsensors that could detectpotential problems and hasbeen developing materi-als and procedures to re-pair the tiles and rein-forced carbon panels dur-ing flight.

However, the launchof Discovery, currentlyplanned for between 12May to 2 June, 2005,would not be delayed ifthose techniques were notperfected.

“I think in a state ofemergency we would havea technique we would beready to put forth,” Par-

NEC to reenterMalaysian cellphone market TOKYO, 7 Dec — NEC

Corp. said Monday it willintroduce two models ofcamera-equipped mobilephones Tuesday in Ma-laysia, reentering thecountry’s mobile phonehandsets market since itsexit there in 2000. NEC,which had been sellinganalog-type mobile phonehandsets in Malaysia un-til 2000, will launch thee238 and e101 modelsequipped with 300,000-pixel digital cameras,amid growing demand fordigital mobile phonesbased on the global sys-tem for mobile communi-cations format.

MNA/Xinhua

JVC develops corn starch DVD

Unlike conventional DVDs madefrom oil, the new DVD, made mainlyfrom polylactide resin, will help re-duce the consumption of oil and thequantity of carbon dioxide emitted inthe process of incinerating used DVDsfor disposal, JVC said.

Polylactide resin has been appliedto the body of personal computers andother electronics devices.

But it has been difficult to apply itto DVDs as the material is vulnerableto high temperatures inside DVDplayers.

JVC said it succeeded in creatingthe corn-based polylactide resin capa-ble of withstanding temperatures of upto 55 Centigrade.

It is possible to apply the new sub-stance not only to a DVD, but to a CDand blue ray disk, which is a next-gen-eration memory storage device, thecompany said.

However, the production cost ofthe new DVDs is three times that ofconventional ones. JVC has yet to de-cide a schedule for commercializing thetechnology. — MNA/Xinhua

Death toll of floodrises to 11 in EastJava, IndonesiaJAKARTA, 6 Dec — The

death toll of the floodwhich took place in anumber of districts in EastJava Province in Indone-sia has increased to 11 upto Sunday, mainly resi-dents of Blitar District.Thousands of disaster-re-lated victims from Blitarare now living in the loca-tion of refugees, accord-ing to the official Antaranews agency.

The local officials inthe province said the dis-tricts of Blitar and Kediriare the two worst areas hitby the flood which wascaused by heavy rain inEast Java as tens of vil-lages in the two districtsare still submerged in a 40to 50 centimetre deepwater. —MNA/Xinhua

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WELLINGTON , 7 Dec — New Zealand is in themidst of an obesity epidemic with the conditionnow twice as common in adults as it was 25 yearsago, said a Health Ministry report releasedMonday.

TOKYO , 7 Dec — Victor Co of Japan said Monday it has succeeded inmanufacturing an environmentally friendly DVD with a special plastic syn-thesized from corn starch.

sons said.Since the Columbia

disaster, NASA has al-tered the launch vehiclethat propels the shuttle offthe launch pad and out ofthe Earth’s atmosphere inorder to reduce the debrisshed by the craft.

New techniques forapplying foam to thelaunch vehicle have re-duced the size of debristhat can break off to nolarger than 0.008 pound(3.6 grams), well belowthe 0.03 pound (13.6grams) threshold that cancause damage to the shut-tle, Wayne Hale, thedeputy programme man-ager, told the Press con-ference.— MNA/Reuters

HOUSTON, 7 Dec — NASA is hoping techniques that would enable a crewto repair damages to a space shuttle in flight will be ready for the shuttle’splanned May 2005 return to space, officials with the agency said on Monday.

14 THE NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR Wednesday, 8 December, 2004

SSSSSPPPPPOOOOORRRRRTTTTTSSSSS

Serie A match reports ROME, 6 Dec— Reports of Serie A matches playedon Sunday:

Fiorentina 1 — Bologna 0 Enzo Maresca floated in a 62nd minute free-kick togive Fiorentina a precious win over struggling Bologna. Fiorentina attacked from the outset but finally brokethe deadlock midway through the second half whenmidfielder Maresca sent a harmless looking free kickin the area that went untouched past Bologna keeperGianluca Pagliuca.

Lecce 3 — Livorno 2 Lecce twice fought back from a goal down to beatLivorno. A fine solo run by Luca Vigiani gave Livornoan unexpected lead on the half hour mark. Nine minuteslater an Erminio Rullo volley from outside the boxlevelled the score but within a minute TomasDanilevicius restored Livorno's lead with a close rangeeffort. After the restart Zdenek Zeman's Lecce side pouredforward and grabbed the equaliser through SamueleDalla Bona's 56th minute penalty after Marco Cassettiwas dragged down. Three minutes later GuillermoGiacomazzi completed the comeback by volleyinghome the winner.

Palermo 1 — Atalanta 0 Franco Brienza's fine solo effort one minute beforehalftime lifted Palermo to their third consecutive winof the season. Brienza flicked a Luca Toni pass over on-comingkeeper Massimo Taibi and slotted into an empty net. Winless Atalanta had a chance to level the score butAntonino Bernardini had his 54th minute penaltysuperbly saved by Matteo Guardalben.

Reggina 1 — Brescia 3 Brescia notched their third away win of the seasonwith a convincing victory over struggling Reggina. Lithuanian Marius Stankevicius gave the visitors an18th minute lead before Costa Rican Gilberto Martinezrocketed home Brescia's second from over 20 metresout. Reggina cut the deficit in the 75th minute thanksto a Marco Zamboni free kick but Brescia strikerAndrea Caracciolo slotted home his sixth goal of theseason 10 minutes from time.

Udinese 1 — Siena 0 A 17th minute Antonio Di Natale close-range headergave in-form Udinese their seventh win of the season. The Italy international striker nodded home after aVincezo Iaquinta volley had been parried out by Sienakeeper Marco Fortin to secure all three points forUdinese who remain third, six behind AC Milan and 10behind leaders Juventus. Udinese's Giampiero Pinzi was sent off two minutesinto injury time for his second bookable offence.

AS Roma 1 — Sampdoria 1 Biagio Pagano put Sampdoria in front in the 81stminute with a but the lead lasted just three minutes. Referee Daniele Tombolini spotted some pushinginside the Sampdoria area and awarded a penaltywhich Francesco Totti rattled home to equal RobertoPruzzo's club record of 106 Serie A goals.

MNA/Reuters

Real held to 0-0 draw at Villarreal

Real vs. Villareal : Real Madrid Brazilian Ronaldocries out after being fouled by a Villareal player in a

Spanish League match in Villarreal.—INTERNET

Juventus' Zlatan Ibrahimovic, left,of Sweden,celebrates after scoring his side 2-1 goal, during theItalian first division soccer match between Juventusand Lazio, at the Turin delle Alpi Stadium, Sunday,

Dec. 5, 2004. Juventus won 2-1 and leads the ItalianLeague.—INTERNET

The home side, who had lost their previous threeleague games, dominated the encounter against Realwho appeared to have their minds on next week'sdecisive Champions League clash against AS Roma.

Real Madrid headed to Villarreal without a string offirst-choice players as they kept one eye on Wednesday'smatch against Roma.

Zinedine Zidane remained in Madrid to receivetreatment on a back injury. Raul and Roberto Carlosspent the game on the bench.

Although it was Villarreal who dominated the early

exchanges it was Real's Michael Owen who createdthe first clear chance of the game midway through thefirst half.

The England striker darted into the area, went pasttwo defenders and then slipped a neat pass through tothe unmarked Ronaldo, but the Brazilian took too longover his shot and was closed down by the defence.

England team mate David Beckham hit the bar witha trademark free kick from two metres outside the areaon the half hour, but Real never looked comfortableagainst their more organized opponents.

New signing Luciano Figueroa combined well withfellow Argentine Juan Roman Riquelme on severaloccasions as the two created problems for the Realdefence and forward Antonio Guayre sliced wide 10minutes before the break.

The home side continued to dominate in the secondhalf and Real had keeper Iker Casillas to thank forkeeping them in the game when he blocked a sharpvolley from young midfielder Santi Cazorla after somefine work from Riquelme.

Beckham and Ronaldo were taken off midwaythrough the half but Real continued to stutter andVillarreal thought they had grabbed the win 11 minutesfrom time when Figueroa had the ball in the net only tofind the goal was disallowed for a borderline offside.

MNA/Reuters

Primera Liga match reports

Bordeaux record 10th draw of seasonat AJ Auxerre

The only real chance of the game went toAuxerre in the 70th minute but Luigi Pieronihit the post from close range.

The Burgundy team, who crushed Poland'sAmica Wronki 5-1 last Thursday in the UEFACup and destroyed Bordeaux 5-0 last season,have now played three league games withouta win.

They are fifth on 26 points sandwichedbetween Sochaux and Monaco on goaldifference. Bordeaux are seventh on 25 points.

Olympique Lyon are top with 37 points afterbeing held to a 1-1 draw at second from bottomAC Ajaccio that prevented them becoming"Autumn champions" with two games to spare.

The French champions are five points aheadof Lille, who snatched a 1-1 draw at Paris StGermain. Olympique Marseille, who recordeda 3-2 victory at Caen on Saturday in their firstmatch under new coach Philippe Troussier, arethird.

MNA/Reuters

Atletico Madrid 3 — Osasuna 2Atletico made their fans suffer right to the end despitegoing 2-0 up in the first half hour after well-taken goalsfrom strike partners Fernando Torres and Salva Ballesta.Osasuna pulled one back on the stroke of halftimewhen forward Valdo ghosted in at the far post, only tosee substitute Gonzalo Colsa restore Atletico's two-goal lead with a fine glancing header 10 minutes afterthe break. The visitors looked to be out of it when midfielderPablo Garcia was dismissed midway through the half,but they set up an exciting finale when striker RichardMorales scored his fourth in four games with a close-range header. Atletico were also reduced to 10 menwhen midfielder Marcelo Sosa received his marchingorders in injury time.

Levante 0 — Getafe 0 Honours even in the battle between two of the sidesnew to the top flight this season although it was BerndSchuster's Levante who did more to try and win thegame against their ultra-defensive opponents. Midfielder Felix Ettien was a constant threat on theright and substitute Gustavo Reggi had a goal disallowedfor a handball in the closing minutes.

Racing Santander 2 — Deportivo Coruna 2 Deportivo Coruna hung on to their eight-yearunbeaten record at Racing Santander by the skin oftheir teeth when a last-gasp free kick from Uruguayancentre-forward Walter Pandiani earned them a point. Israeli international Yossi Benayoun put Racingahead when he side-footed home in the 23rd minute,but Depor got back into the match at the start of the

second half when Albert Luque scored from the penaltyspot after Mario Regueiro was penalized for a handball. The home side looked as if they were on course tograb a rare victory over the Galicians when striker JaviGuerrero scored after some neat control in the area on86 minutes, but Depor scrambled a point when Racing'sIsraeli keeper Dudu Aouate failed to hold Pandiani'sinjury-time free kick.

Real Mallorca 3 — Numancia 2 The islanders produced the fightback of the seasonwhen they scored three goals in the final 10 minutes toclaim an important win over fellow strugglers Numanciathat lifted them off the bottom of the table. Numancia looked to be on course for their first awaypoints of the season after forward Luis Tevenet openedwith a spectacular lob from the right-hand touchlineand Juan Carlos Moreno made it 2-0 with a thundering25-metre drive. But striker Andrija Delibasic sparked the comebackwhen he scored with a diving header at the near post,fellow forward Luis Garcia made it 2-2 almost straightfrom the restart and then snatched the winner with asharp shot on the turn just three minutes from time.

Real Zaragoza 0 — Espanyol 1 Raul Tamudo marked his return from a month-longinjury lay-off by scoring the winner that allowed hisside to draw level with Real Madrid in the standings. The Spanish international plucked a cross fromDani out of the air with his foot and then cracked homepast keeper Luis Garcia on the half volley in the 30thminute to condemn Zaragoza to a third defeat in a row.

MNA/Reuters

PARIS, 7 Dec— Girondins Bordeaux recorded their 10th draw of the season at AJAuxerre on Sunday in a goalless Ligue 1 encounter played in zero-degree temperatures.

MADRID , 6 Dec— A lacklustre Real Madrid lost further ground to Barcelona at the top of the table whenthey were held to a 0-0 draw at Villarreal in the Primera Liga on Sunday.

MADRID , 6 Dec— Brief reports of Primera Liga matches played on Sunday:

THE NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR Wednesday, 8 December, 2004 15

R 489 Published by the News and Periodicals Enterprise, Ministry of Information, Union of Myanmar. Edited and printed at The New Light of Myanmar Press,No 22/30 Strand Road at 43rd Street, Yangon. Cable Newlight, PO Box No. 43, Telephones: Editors 296115, Manager 296864, Circulation 297093, Advertisement 296843,Accounts 296545, Administration 296161, Production 297032 (Office) /297028 (Press).

WEATHERTuesday, 7 December, 2004

Summary of observations recorded at 09:30 hoursMST: During the past 24 hours, light rain has been iso-lated in upper Sagaing Division and weather has beengenerally fair in the remaining areas. Night temperatureswere (3°C) to (4˚C) above normal in Kachin and ChinStates, Sagaing and Mandalay Divisions, (3˚C) below nor-mal in Yangon and Taninthayi Divisions and about nor-mal in the remaining States and Divisions. The significantnight temperatures were Hakha (7°C), Mindat (8˚C) andPyinOoLwin (9˚C).

Maximum temperature on 6-12-2004 was 94°F. Mini-mum temperature on 7-12-2004 was 60°F. Relative hu-midity at 9:30 hrs MST on 7-12-2004 was 67%. Totalsunshine hours on 6-12-2004 was (7.3) hours approx. Rain-fall on 7-12-2004 were nil at Yangon Airport, Kaba-Ayeand central Yangon. Total rainfall since 1-1-2004 were112.28 inches at Yangon Airport, 106.77 inches at Kaba-Aye and 109.68 inches at central Yangon. Maximum windspeed at Yangon (Kaba-Aye) was 7 mph from East at(08:40) hours MST on 7-12-2004.

Bay inference: Weather is partly cloudy to cloudy inthe South Bay and generally fair elsewhere in the Bay ofBengal. Forecast valid until evening of 8-12-2004:Weather will be partly cloudy in Taninthayi Divisionsand generally fair in the remaining States and Divisions.

State of the sea: Seas will be slight to moderate inMyanmar waters. Outlook for subsequent two days:Likelihood of slight decrease of night temperature in theeastern Myanmar areas.

Forecast for Yangon and neighbouring area for8-12-2004: Fair weather. Forecast for Mandalay andneighbouring area for 8-12-2004: Fair weather.

Earthquake report(Issued at 23:30 hours MST on today)

An earthquake of strong intensity (6.7) Richter Scalewith its epicenter outside of Myanmar about (3,000) milesNortheast of Kaba-Aye seismological observatory wasrecorded at (20) hrs (53) min (34) sec MST on 6th De-cember 2004.

Wednesday, December 8

View on today:

7:00 am

1. Recitation of Parittas

by Missionary Saya-

daw U Ottamathara

7:25 am

2. To be healthy

exercise

7:30 am

3. Morning news

7:40 am

4. Nice and sweet song

7:55 am

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9. Let’s go

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2. Songs to uphold

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Wednesday, December 8Tune in today:

8.30 am Brief news8.35 am Music: Feel good8.40 am Perspectives8.45 am Music: I can see

it in your eyes8.50 am National news/

Slogan9.00 am Music: I breathe

again9.05 am International news9.10 am Music:

-All the smallthings

1.30 pm News/Slogan1.40 pm Lunch time music

-Give me love-The tide is high-Rock & rollmuisc

9.00 pm Variations on atune-Always on mymind

9.15 pm Article/Music9.25 pm Music at your

request-Baby once moretime-A place calledhome-I need love

9.45 pm News/Slogan10.00 pmPEL

First SARS vaccine primari-ly proved safe and effective

BEIJING, 7 Dec — The Chinese Government an-nounced here on Sunday that the world’s first vac-cine for severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)emerged from the phase-one clinical test as both safeand effective.

The Ministry of Science and Technology, theMinistry of Health and the State Food and Drug Ad-ministration are organizing the joint research pro-gramme to develop and possibly manufacture theinactivated SARS vaccine.

Wang Xiaofang, a senior official with the Min-istry of Science and Technology, said at a newsbriefing that all 36 volunteers, after being injectedwith the vaccine 56 days ago, did not report anyabnormal physical reactions. Antibodies were foundin 24 volunteers.

Yin Weidong, director of the research pro-gramme, said the clinical test was strictly secured.The phase-one test was aimed at verifying the safetyof the vaccine.

He said his research team has already set tech-nical standards for manufacturing the vaccine.

Lin Jiangtao, a professor at the Sino-JapaneseFriendship Hospital who coordinated the clinical test,said that the test involved healthy people, 18 menand 18 women, who are aged from 21 to 40.

The first four people were given the vaccine onMay 22, 2004. On September 29, medical observa-tion of all 36 tested was completed.

The Chinese Government began the research fora SARS vaccine last year. More than 100 scientistsand researchers from Beijing Sinovac Bio-productsCompany, the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences,the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Preven-tion and the Sino-Japanese Friendship Hospital joinedthe programme.

Phase-one clinical test was carried out after suc-cessful animal tests. Experts estimated that the drugwill not be ready for commercial use until the com-pletion of both phase-two and phase- three clinicaltests. — MNA/Xinhua

Tianjin city sees larger wetlandsTIANJIN, 7 Dec — The total acreage of wetlands

in Tianjin, a north China port city, is 2,488 squarekilometres, approximately 20 times the figure 10 yearsago, thanks to local government efforts to protectwetlands resources, according to the city forestrybureau.

Tianjin has established four wetland projectionzones, covering 150,000 hectares or 60.3 per cent ofthe city’s total wetland, at Beidagang, Qilihai,Tuanbowa and in coastal areas, statistics released bythe bureau show. Tianjin was once dotted with nu-merous rivers, water puddles and pools, shallow anddeep lakes and reservoirs. The area of the city’swetlands has decreased drastically over the past sev-eral decades due to deterioration in local environ-ment and increasing human activities. The city’s morethan 5,000 water ponds and pools have been reducedby 50 per cent. — MNA/Xinhua

Shandong Province tobuild China’s largest

geothermal baseJINAN , 7 Dec — East China’s Shandong Prov-

ince plans to build the country’s largestgeothermal research and development base inQihe County, on the northern bank of the Yel-low River, where ample geothermal resourceshave been spotted.

Shandong ProvincialGeology and MineralResources Bureau willinvest some 180 millionyuan (21.7 million USdollars) of start-up fundto build the 40-hectaregeothermal base, whichwill consist of a sci-techpark, a production zonefor geothermal air-condi-tioners and rust prooftubing, a hot spring bath-ing and therapeutic cen-tre, an aquatic breedingcentre and a plantation ofgreen farm products.

Sources with the bu-reau noted that the planhas got the green lightfrom the Ministry ofLand and Resources,China Geological SurveyBureau and Shandongprovincial government.

A preliminary sur-vey shows the exploit-able geothermal re-sources within 3,000metres undergroundShandong Province areequal to 10 billion tonsof standard coal. Earlier

this year, prospectorsdrilled what they be-lieved to be one of thelargest geothermal wellsin the province, one thathas groundwater measur-ing 57 degrees Celsiusand can supply 120 cu-bic metres of water perhour. Laboratory testsshow the groundwatercontains enough stron-tium and fluorine formedication purposes andis rich in lithium, bro-mine and other trace el-ements helpful for hu-man health.

Experts cite geother-mal energy as an alter-native energy resourcethat has a brighter futurethan hydropower andfossil fuels, and say itcan be used in heating,health care and manufac-turing industries.

MNA/Xinhua

12th Waning of Tazaungmon 1366 ME Wednesday, 8 December, 2004

Prime Minister Lt-Gen Soe Win meets with Laotian counterpart

YANGON, 7 Dec — Prime Minister of theUnion of Myanmar Lt-Gen Soe Win hosted a dinnerin honour of visiting Prime Minister of the LaoPeople’s Democratic Republic Mr BounnhangVorachith and members of the goodwill delegationat the reception hall in the Pyithu Hluttaw Buildingat 7.15 pm today.

The dinner was also attended by Secretary-1of the State Peace and Development Council

Prime Minister hosts dinner in honour ofvisiting Laotian counterpart

Lt-Gen Thein Sein, Chairman of Yangon DivisionPDC Commander of Yangon Command Maj-GenMyint Swe, the ministers, the Yangon mayor, thedeputy minister for energy, the Myanmar Ambas-sador to Lao PDR, the director-general of the SPDCOffice and departmental heads. Together with theLaotian Prime Minister were the Deputy PrimeMinister, the Minister of Foreign Affairs SomsavatLengsavad and delegation members and Ambassa-

dor of Lao PDR to Myanmar Mr ChanthavyBodhisane. Before and during the dinner, artistesentertained the guests with songs to the accompani-ment of the modern music troupe of Myanma Athan.

After the dinner, artistes of the Fine Arts De-partment entertained the audience with Myanmar tra-ditional songs and dances. Later, the visiting PrimeMinister presented bouquets to the artistes, and posedfor a documentary photo together with them. — MNA

Summit opening live on TVYANGON, 7 Dec — The opening ceremony of the World Buddhist Summit will be

telecast live by Myanma Radio and TV beginning 7.45 am on 9 December.The three-day Summit will be held in Maha Pasana Cave in Thiri Mingala Kaba Aye

Hill, Yangon, from 9 to 11 December. — MNA

Prime Minister Lt-Gen Soe Win hosts a dinner in honour of Laotian Prime Minister Mr Bounnhang Vorachith and party. — MNA

Prime Minister Lt-Gen Soe Win meets with his Laotian counterpart. — MNA

YANGON, 7 Dec — Prime Minister Lt-Gen Soe Win of the Union of Myanmar re-ceived Laotian counterpart Mr BounnhangVorachith at Mingalar Hall of Pyithu HluttawBuilding at 7 pm today.

INSIDE

Aung Mo SanPage (7)

Prime Minister Lt-Gen Soe Win cordially greets his Laotiancounterpart Mr Bounnhang Vorachith. — MNA

Present at the call together with bothPrime Ministers were Secretary-1 of the StatePeace and Development Council Lt-GenThein Sein, Chairman of Yangon DivisionPeace and Development Council Commanderof Yangon Command Maj-Gen Myint Swe,Minister for Foreign Affairs U Nyan Win,Deputy Minister for Energy Brig-Gen ThanHtay, Myanmar Ambassador to Laos U TinOo, Director-General of Protocol DepartmentThura U Aung Htet and Deputy Prime Min-ister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of theLao People’s Democratic Republic MrSomsavat Lengsavad and senior officials andLaotian Ambassador to Myanmar MrChanthavy Bodhisane.

MNA

The most important characteris-

tic of a government is to honestly serve

the interests of its people.

Therefore, social scientists said

“Honesty is the best Policy”.