Factory in Malaysia with working Myanmars destroyed in blaze

YANGON, Oct. 28 - A furniture factory at Muar in Johor island, Malaysia, employing many Myanmar workers was destroyed by fire early Friday morning, the star online newspaper said Friday.

The "Watar" furniture factory, employing about 100 foreign workers from Myanmar, Vietnam, Nepal and Bangladesh, was burnt down at 1am Friday (Oct. 28, 2005) totally destroying the factory as well as the nearby workers' hostel, Muar Fire and Rescue Department chief Shukor Abdullah told the paper.

He told the paper, the department rushed three fire engines with 16 personnel to the scene after receiving an emergency call.

“When the firemen arrived, the factory was already engulfed in flames. Although it was a huge fire and there were explosions, the firemen managed to bring it under control within 10 minutes,” Abdullah was quoted by the star online.

It paper did not report the exact number of Myanmar workers working at the factory.

Shukor said the department is investigating the cause of the fire, the paper added.

Between 40,000 to 50,000 Myanmar workers are believed to be working in Malaysia, according to Myanmar community sources in Malaysia.

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India for hastening FTA with neighbors including Myanmar

YANGON, Oct 27 - India has decided to take a major initiative to hasten Free Trade Agreement with its neighbors including Myanmar as part of the efforts to promote South Asian regional block, PTI news reported Oct. 26.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told a meeting of his Trade and Economic Relations Committee (TERC) that "our neighbors should acquire a greater stake in India's economic growth by benefiting from it", the report said.

In this connection, Singh wanted FTA with neighboring countries to be expedited along with other such agreement with the ASEAN and Gulf countries, PTI reported quoting the Prime Minister's Media Adviser Sanjaya Baru.

During the meeting, Singh emphasized on the need to address its neighbors concerns and favored a more open economy.

TERC has already decided to relax duties on textiles items from Pakistan and Bangladesh besides allowing pulses and wood products from Myanmar, the report said.

Bilateral trade volume between Myanmar and India has grown 13 percent to 466.35 million U.S dollar in 2004 compare to 412.36 million in 2003, according to latest available figures from Myanmar's Central Statistical Organization.

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CNOOC, PTTEP to jointly explore natural gas in Myanmar

YANGON, Oct. 6 - China's state own China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) has expressed interest to create a partnership with Thailand's PTT Exploration and Production (PTTEP) to explore for natural gas in Myanmar, Cambodia, Oman and Iran, UPI news agency reported on Sept. 23, 2005, quoting Thai Deputy Prime Minister Pinij Charusombat.
Pinij disclose the information after the CNOOC and PTTEP signed a memorandum of understanding on Sept. 23, following government-level meetings at the Thailand-China Joint Committee on Trade, Investment and Economic Cooperation.
Under the agreement, the two sides will increase bilateral investment to $6.5 billion from the current $3.7 billion.
"China is in desperate need of energy and petrochemical products," PTT President Prasert Bunsumpun told reporters after the signing.
PTTEP is the upstream arm of Thailand's state-controlled PTT.
PTT is already operating in Myamar with its majority stakes on the country's two largest producing natural gas fields, Yadana and Yetagun.
Myanmar is exporting about one billion cubic feet of natural gas from those two fields to Thailand everyday, through undersea and overland pipelines.
CNOOC also footed on Myanmar's oil and gas sector in Dec. 2004 when it jointly secured an oil exploration contract together with China Huanqiu Contracting and Engineering Corp., and Golden Aaron Pte. Ltd. of Singapore.

Indonesia's state run oil firm to invest in Myanmar

YANGON, Oct. 6 - Indonesia's state oil and gas firm Pertamina would invest in oil and gas sectors of other ASEAN countries including Myanmar to boost company's oil and gas production, the Chinese news agency Xinhua reported.
In a bid to achieve new production targets, Pertamina plans to expand exploration to other ASEAN countries such as Vietnam, Myanmar, Malaysia, and Brunei Darussalam, Pertamina's head of exploration division Bambang Tjiptadi told Xinhua News on Sept. 15.
Pertamina is aiming to boost its crude oil production by 2008 to 170,318 barrels per day from 141,839 barrels last year by accelerating the activation of new oil wells, Bambang said.
The company also targeted to increase gas production in the same period to 1.5 million cubic feet per day from last year's 1.09 million cubic feet, he said.
Myanmar's oil and gas sector attracted foreign direct investment of US$112.25 million in 2004 by signing seven exploration contracts with South Korea, China and Thailand, according to official statistics.