Information Sheet No.A-0554(l)

[OKKAR66129@xxxxxxx]

                                   Information Sheet 

                            No.A-0554(l)                12th August 1998
                                                                         

(1) 		Newly-opened Factory to Produce  900 Tons of High Heat Duty Fire Clay
Bricks Annually for Industrial Use

		A high heat duty fire clay brick factory of Myanma Ceramic Industries was
opened on 11 August in Danyingon  Insein Township.  The factory was built in
may 1997 to produce import substitute goods for industries to reduce foreign
exchange expenditure.  Test run of the factory which will produce 900 tons of
high heat duty fire clay bricks annually was completed on 31 July, 1998.  At
present, factories under MCI of the Ministry of Industry-1 are producing low
heat duty fire clay bricks which can withstand up to 1,250 degrees Centigrade
and are being used at saw mills, rice mills, sugar mills, furnaces of small
scale steel smelters and factory furnaces which transmit less heat.  High heat
duty fire clay bricks with over 1,250 degree-Centigrade capacity are being
imported for industries including cement plant.  Annual requirement for
national industries including cement plants, steel mills, glassware factories,
glass factories, ceramic factories and other factories is over 1200 tons  and
that plans are under way to extend the factory to produce up to 1,800 tons
yearly.	

(2) 		K 16.4 Million Trust Fund Set Up for Poor Patients Warded at Yangon
General Hospital

		A trust fund of K 16.4 million was set up for poor patients warded at Yangon
General Hospital today at the Institute of Nursing (Yangon) addressed by
Chairman of National Health Committee Secretary-1 of the State Peace and
Development Council Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt.  The trust fund will help in treating
patients at YGH, continuous contributions by donors will increase the amount
of funds, enabling YGH to use more potent medicines in treating the poor.  The
government is spending nearly K 3 billion annually for the health sector,
using separate funds for health care services in border areas.  A large amount
of cash is being used for national all-round progress, building major bridges
for the betterment of the transport sector, he stated, urging the public to
join hands with the government for improvement of their social life and
economy. Setting up of this fund will help in saving the lives of the poor.
Cost-sharing Health system has been introduced for those who can afford and
the trust fund has been set up to buy expensive and potent medicines for poor
patients.  As Myanmar physicians are skilled practitioners, they have the
ability to cure various diseases in the country depending on availability of
sufficient advanced equipment and potent medicines.

			OFFICE CALL IN YANGON ON 11 AUGUST
		Minister for Hotels and Tourism received Chairman Mr Frederic Goubet of
Sanda Tour (Asia) Co Ltd. 

Special Feature
		This office is presenting an open letter to Sue wheat written by 
Mr. Nicholas Greenwood.

Dear Sue,

Re: Your Article in today?s Guardian
		Having advised you in the early days of Tourism Concern?s Burma programme, I
am well aware of your ( limited ) experience of Burma, and since I have been
the first Western  traveller for over 30 years to have gained access to all
areas of the country - in April ?98 I returned from my 20th trip in less than
eight years- I feel I am rather better qualified than you to comment on the
views of the ?real? people of Burma towards tourism, and not just those of the
privileged few with access to the Western media.

		In your piece-along with all others penned by those with very limited travel
experience of Burma (e.g. Rory Maclean-two visits-and John Pilger-one, etc.)
you rely on the view of a mere handful of individuals.  I put it to you that,
unless you have travelled extensively throughout Burma,  from Putao in
Northern Kachin State to Mergui in deepest Tenasserim, from Sittwe in Arakan
to Kengtung in eastern Shan State, and discussed the matter of tourism with
people from all walks of life and all ethic groups, you are in absolutely no
position to assert that the average Burmese citizen does not want tourists to
visit the country.  Indeed, far from claiming that I have no right to
encourage tourists to travel to Burma, what right do you have to discourage
them from so doing? I am only complying with the wishes of the people I have
met in my 20 trips all over Burma - you are simply passing on the opinions of
one (unelected) woman, who, as far as my extensive research has shown,
represents the views on tourism of none but a very tiny minority of Burmese.

		Furthermore your statement ? why do we feel we have the right to oppose the
wishes of the legitimate Burmese Government?? Is as absurd as it is baseless.
Whose wishes exactly are these?  Did the NLD?s political manifesto for the
1990 elections contain a policy stating that all foreign tourists are to be
discouraged from visiting Burma?  If so, please send me a copy.  A tourism ban
may be the wishes today of handful of Burma?s so-called elite and academics,
but it is most assuredly not those of  the vast majority of Burmese. 

		If you and your misguided and demagogic colleagues heeded, as I have on
countless occasions, the wishes of the ? real ? people of Burma and not just
those of one woman and her kowtowing cronies, you would have more sense than
to discourage foreign tourists from visiting Burma.

Yours sincerely,
Nicholas Greenwood
Travel Writer & Tour consultant (Burma) 
London
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