INFORMATION SHEET N0.A-0738 (I)

[OKKAR66129@xxxxxxx]

MYANMAR INFORMATION COMMITTEE
YANGON
INFORMATION    SHEET
N0.A-0738 (I)           22nd December 1998 	

(1)		Workers Training and Testing Centre Opens

		Ceremony to open the Workers Training and Testing Centre was held in front
of the building of the centre at No 43, Minye Kyaw Swa Street in Dagon Myothit
(Norrth) on 21 December. Secretary-1 of the State Peace and Development
Council Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt formally unveiled the plaque of the centre. Minister
for Labour, President of Singapore Contractors Association Mr. Tan Kian Hoon
and Managing Director of Sinmar Tech Co Ltd formally opened the centre. Joint
endeavour started in 1997 upon the agreement reached between the Department of
Labour and Sinmar Tech Co Ltd. With the approval of the Ministry of Labour,
previous skill training courses for carpentry and bar-bending have been
conducted. Myanmar trainees were highly successful in the skill tests
conducted by CIDB of Singapore. Among those CIDB certified skilled Myanmar
workers, more than 400 have already been dispatched to Singapore to take up
their jobs as legal workers. This initial success and achievement have made
way for the expansion of the existing service- both to expand the types of
courses and to increase the number of trainees. In view of this, further
negotiations have been made between the Department of Labour and Sinmar Tech
Co Ltd with respect to the establishment of a Skill Training and Testing
Centre which will meet the standards set by CIDB. The new training complex has
now emerged to facilitate Myanmar Overseas Employment Programme. The
Department of Labour will allow Sinmar Tech Co Ltd to use this complex for
five years free of charge as a gesture of reciprocity. However, the entire
training complex will come under the complete control of the Department of
Labour after completion of the contract term. Myanmar is participating in the
Project for Human Resources Development to be implemented in the Greater
Mekong Sub-region initiated by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). One component
of the above HRD Project is for the Employment Promotion and Skill
Development. Myanmar has made her contributions to this activity by proposing
the skill standards on 6 trades viz: carpentry, plumbing and pipe-fitting,
welding, electrical, electronics, refrigeration and air-conditioning. These
trades are only meant for the initial phase and there will be more in the
future.  

(2)		MAPT Personnel Honoured for Exceeding Export Target

		Myanma Agricultural Produce Trading could convey 53,768.95 tons of rice on
board the ship for export, surpassing the target of 45,000 tons by 19.48 per
cent. Minister for Commerce extolled service personnel, workers and drivers at
MAPT for their efforts to exceed the target of October and November 1998 in
conveying rice on board the ship for export. The Minister then presented bonus
to employees.

(3)		Number  of  Crimes Markedly Declines Two Years after Formation of Crime 
Reduction, Education  and Information Committee

		Minister for Home Affairs met with members of the Crime Reduction, Education
and Information Committee, departmental heads and official of the literary,
art, music, thabin and traditional arts and crafts associations at the
Ministry of Home Affairs on 21 December. In his address Minister compared with
the number of the crimes and the cases occurring due to lack of social code of
ethics in various parts of the world, Myanmar has very few such crimes and
cases. Occurrence of crimes declined markedly two years  after formation of
the committee due to the committee's effective implementation of tasks as well
as participation of media. A lot of countries, who had been free from the yoke
of colonialism, have to remove the ill legacy of the colonialism and build
appropriate modern policing systems in their efforts to promote the role of
the police.

(4)		Over 27 Kilos of Raw Opium Seized 

		A combined team comprising members of Defence Services Intelligence, Myanmar
Police Force and service personnel on information searched the house of Mwe
Hawla of Htatemu Village-tract in Phakant Township, Kachin State and seized 17
packets of raw opium weighing 27.5 kilos and a white motorcycle used in
trafficking the drugs. Legal action is being taken against him according to
law.
					     
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