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Myanmar Calls for INT'L Cooperation



Subject: Myanmar Calls for INT'L Cooperation in Drug Fight


Myanmar Calls for INT'L Cooperation in Drug Fight

Xinhua
18-FEB-99
YANGON (Feb. 18) XINHUA - Myanmar has called on every nation which is serious
about the drug problem to represent at the forthcoming Fourth International
Conference on Heroin in Yangon to find ways and means to promote international
cooperation and to observe first-hand the Myanmar government's efforts to
overcome the problem. 

Myanmar will host the conference which is scheduled for February 23-26 in
cooperation with the Office of Director-General of Interpol, expecting several
dozen countries to attend. 

Quoting a recent press release of the Myanmar Embassy in Washington, an
official Information Sheet said here Thursday evening that the conference will
provide an unequaled opportunity for the international community to strengthen
the principle of shared responsibility, calling on the countries to have
courage to put the long-term interest of its people ahead of short-term
political consideration. 
It stressed that "in the final analysis, it is not the fate of one regime of
one nation that is at stake. It is the future of humanity." 
"Notwithstanding the fact that all assistance to the country has been
curtailed
for political reasons, the Myanmar authorities, relying on their own
resources,
have registered significant successes in their campaigns," it said. 

It added that Myanmar has seized and destroyed more than 3,700 kilograms of
heroin, 22,700 kilograms of opium, 10 million amphetamine tablets and
eliminated more than 70 heroin refining camps. 

In addition to its national efforts, the Myanmar government actively seeks
international cooperation, initiating memorandums of understanding for
suppression of narcotic drugs with all its neighbors and the U.N. Drug Control
Program as well as with the Russian Federation, it pointed out, saying that
the
agreements focus on reducing drug trafficking, eliminating poppy cultivation
through economic and social development programs and reducing the demand for
consumption of drugs. 

The Information Sheet regretted that "it is unfortunate that at a time when
there is an urgent need to promote multilateral initiatives to overcome the

drug menace, there are some who have become so blinded by such emotive issues
as human rights and democracy that they are unable to separate the wheat from
the chaff." 
"They readily believe the allegations of systematic violations of human rights
in Myanmar and the sensational stories that authorities there are hand in
glove
with drug traffickers," it complained. 

Meanwhile, the United States and Britain and some other European countries
have
announced boycott of the conference, over which Myanmar has expressed regret,
urging the two countries to put politics aside for the sake of the millions of
people around the world whose lives are threatened by the drug trade. 






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