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Bkk Post-Burma PM's March 9 visit t



Subject: Bkk Post-Burma PM's March 9 visit to declare war on drugs

Feb 24, 1999
NARCOTICS SUPPRESSION

Burma PM's March 9 visit to declare war on drugs
Achara Ashayagachat


Thailand and Burma will declare war on amphetamines during Burmese Prime
Minister Than Shwe's March 8-9 visit to Thailand, a senior Foreign Ministry
official said yesterday.

In talks focusing on drug suppression, Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai is
expected to urge Gen Than Shwe to agree on a concrete timeframe for beating
the production and trafficking of the deadly stimulant, the official added.

Military and drug enforcement agencies of the two countries will meet later
to discuss a joint action plan for the border, the official said.

Concurrently defence minister and chairman of the ruling State Peace and
Development Council, General Than Shwe is due to have talks with Prime
Minister Chuan on March 9, after touring a royal crop substitution project
in northern Thailand on the first day of his visit.

Travelling to Thailand by special plane, Gen Than Shwe will be granted an
audience with His Majesty the King before he returns to Burma.

Prime Minister Chuan will urge co-operation on the grounds that amphetamines
are endangering Thai schoolchildren as well as adults, the official said.
The prime minister is deeply concerned as some 30 million amphetamine
tablets seized last year were considered only the tip of iceberg, the
official added.

The two leaders will also discuss border development and economic and
agricultural cooperation.

Thailand and Burma announced "good neighbourly intentions" in solving
bilateral disputes along the sea and land borders during the visit to
Thailand last week of Burmese Foreign Minister Win Aung.

The two countries will discuss confidence-building measures at the Regional
Border Committee in Phuket mid-March.