ASEAN
Expect more FDI from Japan, says envoy
Mentioning Bangladesh is a very attractive country for foreign investors, the Ambassador of Japan in Bangladesh Naoki Ito on Saturday said the Japanese big companies are very keen to invest more in the country’s special economic zones.
“The location of Bangladesh is very important strategically and economically. Around 300 Japanese companies are operating in Bangladesh. Many Japanese big companies including Mitsubishi will invest more in Bangladesh’s economic zones including Araihazar, Mirsarai and Matarbari,” Ambassador Ito said while addressing a webinar.
The virtual discussion was jointly organized by Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) and Better Bangladesh Foundation (BBF) while BBF chairman Prof Masud A Khan moderated the function.
Naoki Ito said 50 percent of Japanese companies are going to invest in Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries. Bangladesh is a regional hub for investment. The coronavirus has created vulnerability in supply chain. However, it’s time to invest in Bangladesh.
Also read: Japan confirms largest-ever loan package to Bangladesh
“Bangladesh is a potential country for investment. So infrastructure development is very important. Japan government has been supporting Bangladesh for long in this regard,” he also said.
Naoki added that Bangladesh can catch new markets in Asian countries including Japan and Korea with its diversified RMG products.
Planning Minister MA Mannan said the government has been working hard for better living. “Our economy is a win-win situation. We have made smooth places for investors. BIDA has opened one stop services to make services easy for all,” he also said.
Former Governor of Bangladesh Bank Dr Atiur Rahman positioned Bangladesh as a very good destination for investors. "The country has been able to develop in all sectors. There is no power cut now," the ex-head of the central bank pointed out.
Also read: Economic ties with Bangladesh to make leap: Japanese PM
“The major projects including Padma Bridge, Metro rail and Matarbari are game changers for the country. We need to skill up our youths. The country is an attractive destination for all investors,” he also said.
BIDA Executive chairman Sirazul Islam said they are trying to facilitate investment process for local and international investment.
“We have run one stop services to make hassle free activities. I believe that it will improve our ease of doing business rank. Our rank is 168 now that’s not good. We have recently reformed many things. I hope this position will improve much more in the upcoming ranking,” he added.
Sirazul also said they arrange all things for foreign investors such as receiving in airport, transportation and hotel services.
Also read: BIG-B important for Bangladesh, others with enhanced connectivity: Japanese economist
“With the experience, I am so excited about the services offered by BIDA, and 100% confident about Bangladeshi economy. Now, I am managing foreign investment here in Dhaka. I am willing to contribute what I have learnt from Harvard and China’s economic growth to Bangladesh. Indeed, I am willing to share my experience and stories to attract more young talents and investors to Bangladesh,” said Nicole Mao, one of the Chinese investors in Bangladesh.
Presenting key-note paper titled-“Bangladesh is a land of opportunities for trade and investment,” BIDA director Ariful Hoque said Bangladesh’s trade –GDP ratio has increased to 38 percent in 2018 from 18.9 percent in 1990.
“Bangladesh became the most gender-equal country in South Asia. Per capita income rises to $2079 in 2019 from $928 in 2010. Bangladesh achieved around 7 percent growth during the last decade,” he also said.
He added that 150 services of 34 agencies will be offered through One Stop Services (OSS). 41 services of 11 agencies are included from OSS.
ASEAN leaders meet Myanmar coup leader amid killings
Southeast Asian leaders met Myanmar’s top general and coup leader in an emergency summit in Indonesia Saturday, and are expected to press calls for an end to violence by security forces that has left hundreds of protesters dead as well as the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and other political detainees.
There is little hope for an immediate breakthrough in the two-hour gathering in Jakarta between Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing and the six heads of state and three foreign ministers representing the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. But his decision to face them offers a rare chance for the 10-nation bloc to directly deal with the general who ousted one of its leaders in a Feb. 1 coup.
“The unfolding tragedy has serious consequences for Myanmar, ASEAN and the region,” Singapore’s Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said on the eve of the summit.
One proposal, which has been discussed in preliminary meetings, is for Brunei Prime Minister Hassanal Bolkiah, the current ASEAN chair, to travel to Myanmar to meet the military leadership and Suu Kyi’s camp to encourage dialogue. He would be accompanied by ASEAN Secretary General Lim Jock Hoi — also from Brunei — if the junta agreed, a Southeast Asian diplomat told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media.
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Another diplomat said humanitarian aid could be offered to Myanmar if conditions improved. The diplomat also spoke to AP on condition of anonymity for lack of authority to discuss such plans publicly.
Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi of Indonesia expressed hopes that “we can reach an agreement on the next steps that can help the people of Myanmar get out of this delicate situation.”
Following the coup, ASEAN, through Brunei, issued a statement that did not expectedly condemn the power grab but urged “the pursuance of dialogue, reconciliation and the return to normalcy in accordance with the will and interests of the people of Myanmar.” Amid Western pressure, however, the regional group has struggled to take a more forceful position on issues but has kept to its non-confrontational approach.
All ASEAN states agreed to meet Min Aung Hlaing but would not address him as Myanmar’s head of state in the summit, the Southeast Asian diplomat said. Critics have said ASEAN’s decision to meet him was unacceptable and amounted to legitimizing the overthrow and the deadly crackdown that followed. Daily shootings by police and soldiers have killed more than 700 protesters and bystanders, according to several independent tallies.
Amnesty International urged Indonesia and other ASEAN states to investigate Min Aung Hlaing over “credible allegations of responsibility for crimes against humanity in Myanmar.” As a state party to a U.N. convention against torture, Indonesia has a legal obligation to prosecute or extradite a suspected perpetrator on its territory, it said.
“The Myanmar crisis trigged by the military presents ASEAN with the biggest test in its history,” said Emerlynne Gil of the London-based rights group. “This is not an internal matter for Myanmar but a major human rights and humanitarian crisis which is impacting the entire region and beyond.”
Police dispersed dozens of protesters opposing the coup and the junta leader’s visit.
More than 4,300 police have fanned out across the Indonesian capital to secure the meetings, held under strict safeguards amid the pandemic. Indonesia has reported the highest number of COVID-19 infections and deaths in Southeast Asia.
Also read: ASEAN urged to engage Myanmar's National Unity Govt to end crisis, military rule
The leaders of Thailand and the Philippines skipped the summit to deal with coronavirus outbreaks back home. Laos, which has the least number of infections in the region but this week imposed a lockdown, also canceled at the last minute. The face-to-face summit is the first by ASEAN leaders in more than a year.
ASEAN’s diversity, including the divergent ties of many of its members to either China or the United States, along with a bedrock policy of non-interference in each other’s domestic affairs and deciding by consensus, has hobbled the bloc’s ability to rapidly deal with crises.
Aside from Myanmar, the regional bloc groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Southeast Asian summit to address Myanmar’s post-coup crisis
When the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations holds a special summit Saturday to discuss Myanmar, the regional body will be under as much scrutiny as the general who led the February coup ousting the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.
Opponents of the junta are furious that ASEAN is welcoming its chief, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, to its meeting in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, arguing that because he seized power by force, he is not Myanmar’s legitimate leader. Also weighing heavily against him is the lethal violence perpetrated by the security forces he commands, responsible for killing hundreds of largely peaceful protesters and bystanders.
“Min Aung Hlaing, who faces international sanctions for his role in military atrocities and the brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protesters, should not be welcomed at an intergovernmental gathering to address a crisis he created,” said Brad Adams, Asia director for New York-based Human Rights Watch.
Also read: Myanmar refugee crisis brewing as turmoil hits economy
“ASEAN members should instead take this opportunity to impose targeted, economic sanctions on junta leaders and on businesses that fund the junta, and press the junta to release political detainees, end abuses, and restore the country’s democratically elected government.”
The junta’s foes have promoted the idea that the opposition’s parallel National Unity Government, recently established by the elected lawmakers the army barred from being seated, should represent Myanmar, or at least have some role in the Jakarta meeting. It has not been invited.
“It’s unacceptable that they invite this murderer-in-chief, Min Aung Hlaing, who has just killed more than 730 people in Myanmar, and I think it is very unfortunate that they, again and again, talk to the military generals and not to the civilian government of Myanmar, which is the NUG,” says the parallel government’s Minister of International Cooperation, Dr. Sasa, who uses one name.
Evan Laksmana, a researcher for Indonesia’s Centre for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank with close government ties, told The Associated Press there is a very practical reason for engaging Min Aung Hlaing face to face.
ASEAN recognizes “the reality is that one party is doing the violence, which is the military, and therefore that’s why the military is being called to the meeting. So this is not in any way conferring legitimacy to the military regime,” he said.
By talking to the general, ASEAN hopes to initiate a longer term framework process, starting with ending the violence, that will “hopefully help facilitate dialogue among all the stakeholders in Myanmar, not just (with) the military regime.”
Skeptics feel ASEAN faces more basic problems in seeking to resolve Myanmar’s crisis. They point to the divergent interests of the group’s members, its longstanding conventions of seeking consensus and avoiding interference in each other’s affairs, and the historic obstinacy of Myanmar’s generals.
One faction in the group, comprising Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, believes the instability engendered by the coup threatens the entire region as well as ASEAN’s credibility as a group powerful enough to act independently of big power influence.
They also point out that the ASEAN Charter — adopted in 2007, 40 years after the group’s founding — includes democracy, human rights, good governance and rule of law as guiding principles.
“Now is a grave time for ASEAN’s much-touted centrality, the idea that ASEAN is a central regional platform for regional dialogue, for promoting peace and stability in the region,” said Prof. Thitinan Pongsudhirak, director of the Institute of Security and International Studies at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University. He said that conception of ASEAN is now facing “its most severe, grave challenge” in 53 years of existence.
Member countries with more authoritarian regimes — Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam — see little benefit in paying more than lip service to such principles, and have treated Myanmar’s crisis as its own internal matter.
The Jakarta meeting is a hybrid one, with onsite attendance encouraged but virtual participation by video an option because of the coronavirus pandemic. Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte both announced they will stay home and send their foreign ministers in their stead, but they are dealing with serious COVID-19 outbreaks, obscuring any political message in their decisions.
“It is more difficult to communicate on a personal level between the leaders without the leaders being present fully, particularly with regards to the prime minister of Thailand, whom we believe to have the best relationship with the current senior general from Myanmar,” observed Indonesia’s Laksmana.
He believes ASEAN has a unique opportunity to engage productively with Myanmar’s ruling junta “because right now there is no other option on the table.”
Also read: ASEAN urged to engage Myanmar's National Unity Govt to end crisis, military rule
“We haven’t seen any progress from the U.N. Security Council, for example. There is no collective effort by other countries. This is it. This is the first potential breakthrough for the current crisis,” he told The Associated Press.
U.N. specialized agencies and experts have been active in criticizing the coup and the junta’s crackdown. U.N. Special Envoy on Myanmar Christine Schraner Burgener will not take part in ASEAN’s deliberations, but intends to take part in sideline consultations. The junta has rejected her repeated requests to visit Myanmar.
The Security Council could effectively coordinate actions such as arms embargoes to pressure the junta, but Russia and China, major weapons suppliers to the junta, would veto such moves.
Western nations have already enacted targeted sanctions against members of the junta and businesses giving them financial support, but Myanmar’s past military governments have successfully stood up to such pressures, and would be expected to do so again, especially with support from Beijing.
ASEAN prefers quiet diplomacy to intimidation, seeking incremental gains. Even getting the two Myanmar sides to talk to each other could take some time, acknowledges Laksmana.
“I think the gravity of the situation on the ground is as such now that there is no space or even willingness for dialogue until we end the violence,” he said.
“So I think the first steps would be to what extent can ASEAN facilitate the observance of a humanitarian pause first and then the delivery of the humanitarian aid,” he said. Only after that might a forum be possible where all the stakeholders could talk.
A Southeast Asian diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the press, said another opening move is under consideration. This would involve having ASEAN’s current chairman, Brunei’s Prime Minister Hassanal Bolkiah, travel to Myanmar for meetings with the military leadership and Suu Kyi’s camp to encourage dialogue. He would go there with the ASEAN Secretary General Lim Jock Hoi — also from Brunei — if the junta gives them the nod.
ASEAN-style diplomacy with Myanmar has borne fruit in the past. The military regime in charge in 2008 was incapable of mounting sufficient rescue and recovery efforts in the wake of devastating Cyclone Nargis, but refused to open up the country to an international aid effort. ASEAN took the initiative in offering to open a channel for foreign assistance, and the much-needed aid started flowing.
ASEAN urged to engage Myanmar's National Unity Govt to end crisis, military rule
Fortify Rights has said the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) should work with the newly formed "National Unity Government" in Myanmar and the broader international community to bring an end to the Myanmar military junta’s attacks and ensure a transition to democratic and civilian rule.
Myanmar coup leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing is expected to join a special ASEAN summit on Myanmar on Saturday in Jakarta while ASEAN sidelined the National Unity Government from the discussions.
Also read:End assault on media freedom, Fortify Rights to Myanmar
“By inviting coup leader Min Aung Hlaing and ignoring Myanmar’s elected civilian leaders, ASEAN lends legitimacy to an illegal and brutal military regime,” said Ismail Wolff, Regional Director of Fortify Rights, on Friday.
He said the ASEAN should use this special summit as an opportunity to collectively reject the February-1 coup and the military’s subsequent attack on civilians, recognise the legitimacy of the National Unity Government, and garner collective support for economic sanctions and an arms embargo against the Myanmar military.
If Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing fails to demonstrate an immediate end to the junta’s attempted coup and attack on civilians, then ASEAN member states should consider ousting Myanmar from the regional block, said Fortify Rights.
On February 1, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing orchestrated a military coup d’état, overthrowing the elected government and detaining President Win Myint, State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, and dozens of other government leaders, parliamentarians, and human rights defenders.
The junta took over the executive, judicial, and legislative levers of power and, on February 2, created the military-appointed State Administration Council to rule the country.
On April 16, ousted members of parliament, anti-coup protest leaders, and representatives of Myanmar’s ethnic minorities announced the establishment of the National Unity Government.
The National Unity Government committed to end military rule and build a federal democracy.
Since the February 1 coup, junta-controlled security forces reportedly killed more than 700 people and detained over 3,000 in a brutal, nationwide assault against the population.
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The junta also deployed the air force and launched airstrikes against villages in ethnic army-controlled border areas, killing and injuring civilians, displacing thousands, and sparking concerns of a regional refugee crisis.
It has also cut internet access and mobile data nationally, preventing the population from communicating with each other and beyond.
“ASEAN member states should coordinate with the international community to bring effective pressure to bear on Myanmar’s murderous regime,” said Ismail Wolff.
“ASEAN can no longer hide behind its flawed policy of non-interference. Governments in this region need to show leadership and stand with the people of Myanmar by categorically rejecting the junta and recognising the legitimate civilian leadership.”
Myanmar protesters return to streets as crackdown continues
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