Japan to Expand Grants to Myanmar After Suu Kyi's Release

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, May 08, 2002

Japan to Expand Grants to Myanmar After Suu Kyi's Release

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Japan is planning to expand its grant aid to Myanmar following the release Monday of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from nearly 20 months of virtual house arrest by the junta, government officials said Tuesday.

The plan is part of Tokyo's review of its official development assistance (ODA) to Myanmar with the hope of supporting the country's nation-building processes, which are expected to advance due to Suu Kyi's release, the officials said.

But the government will not immediately resume yen loans, which have been stalled because Myanmar's military government has shown no clear signs of moving toward democratization and because the country has been slow at repaying its debts to Japan, they said.

It will work out the framework of its overall economic cooperation to Myanmar while watching developments in relations between the junta and opposition leaders such as Suu Kyi, the officials added.

Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi said in a statement Monday that Japan's stance is to ''support efforts toward democratization and nation-building in Myanmar, and from this perspective we will implement cooperation for the Baluchaung No. 2 Hydropower Plant Rehabilitation Project.''

Japan has been considering the possibility of providing economic assistance to rehabilitate the worn-out Baluchaung plant, located near the border with Thailand.

The government is planning to provide humanitarian aid of several hundred million yen to Myanmar this fiscal year alone to help improve infrastructure, such as by repairing electric power plants and transformers, the officials said.

Tokyo will seek to expand its grants to Myanmar, which have stood at around 2 billion yen per year, also by boosting its assistance toward minority ethnic groups and the country's overall economy so as to help its democratization, they added.

Japan has long been the biggest donor country to Myanmar. Among its ODA to the country, Japan has provided more than 400 billion yen in cumulative yen loans, but has virtually stopped offering new loans since the military coup in 1988.

A Japanese Foreign Ministry official said earlier the amount of the rehabilitation project would possibly be around 3 billion to 3.5 billion yen in scope.

The Baluchaung hydropower station currently generates a total of 196 megawatts, accounting for 30% of total electricity consumption in Myanmar. The power station, built with Japanese grant aid, began generating electricity in 1960.

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