Senior General Than Shwe felicitates Austrian President

YANGON, 26 Oct— Senior General Than Shwe, Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council of the Union of Myanmar, has sent a message of felicitations to His Excellency Dr Heinz Fischer, Federal President of the Republic of Austria, on the occasion of the National Day of the Republic of Austria, which falls on 26 October 2005

Lao delegation arrives

YANGON, 25 Oct— At the invitation of Minister for Foreign Affairs U Nyan Win, the Lao delegation led by Mr Somsavat Lengsavad, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic and wife arrived here by air this morning to attend the Seventh Meeting of the Myanmar-Lao Joint Commission for Bilateral Cooperation, to be held in Mandalay from 26 to 27 October.

The Lao delegation was welcomed at the Yangon International Airport by Minister for Foreign Affairs U Nyan Win and wife, Myanmar Ambassador to Laos U Tin Oo, responsible officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Lao Ambassador in Myanmar HE Chanthavy Bodhisane and wife and staff members of the Lao Embassy in Yangon.  

Commander, Minister attend opening of Okpo Dam in Budalin township USDA members give helping hand to construct the dam together with farmers and service personnel

YANGON, 25 Oct — The government is striving to build a peaceful, modern and developed nation, and as a result, progress has been made with momentum. Among the developing regions were Ngapayin and Maunghtaung model villages in Budalin Township Sagaing Division.

To study the development and inspect rural development tasks, Patron of Sagaing Division Union Solidarity and Development Asso-ciation Chairman of Sagaing Division Peace and Development Council Commander of North West Command Maj-Gen Tha Aye, CEC member of the USDA Minister for Sports Brig-Gen Thura Aye Myint and members arrived at the villages on 23 October. First, they attended a ceremony to unveil the Maha Bandoola Bronze Statue at the junction of Monywa-YeU road and Budalin-Kadon road in Budalin. Monywa District PDC Chairman Lt-Col Kyi Sein and officials formally unveiled the statute. Commander Maj-Gen Tha Aye pressed the button to unveil the stone plague.

After inspecting the statue, the commander, the minister and party cordially greeted local people.

After visiting Thiri Yadana Store of the Cooperative Society, the commander and party attended the opening of Okpo Dam in Budalin Township. First, a local of Okpo spoke words of thanks to the USDA which supervised the construction of the dam and Sagaing Division Irrigation Department that built the dam.

Next, the commander delivered an opening speech. He said Okpo Dam with 3,550 feet in length and 45 feet in height was constructed to dam the Okpo Creek.

It will benefit 360 acres of farmland. The dam could store water while it was being constructed, he said.

Since the day of construction, the USDA members gave a helping hand to coordination work in cooperation with farmers and service personnel of the irrigation department. That’s why, he said, he very much thanked the association very much for its active participation. Next, he urged USDA members and local people to maintain the dam for its durability.

Next, CEC Member Minister for Sports Brig-Gen Thura Aye Myint delivered an address on the occasion.

Afterwards, Secretary of Sagaing Division Union Solidarity and Development Association U Htay Aung, Chairman of Budalin Township Peace and Development Council U Aung Mon Latt and Engineer In-charge of Irrigation Department U Kyaw Tin formally opened Okpo dam by cutting a ribbon.

Afterwards Commander Maj-Gen Tha Aye, Minister Brig-Gen Thura Aye Myint and party viewed the dam they cordially met with the locals. Next, Commander Maj-Gen Tha Aye, Minister Brig-Gen Thura Aye Myint and party cheered the students who were learning subjects with electronic aids at multimedia classrooms. Next, they encouraged the local patients who were receiving free medical treatment given by Physician Dr U Saw Nu and party at Monywa People’s Hospital. Afterwards, the commander and party donated spectacles to eye patients and distributed health educative handouts to the locals. In Ngapayin Village, medical specialists gave free medical treatment to a total of 269 patients— 70 eye patients, 30 musculoskeletal ones, 23 oral ones and 99 general ones. The commander, the minister and party inspected the building of rural health centre built by wellwishers and viewed health care services performed by three health staff.

After that, they attended the opening ceremony of hydro electric power station and rural auto-exchange. During the ceremony, executive of Sagaing Division Union Solidarity and Development Association U Zaw, townselder U Man Soe and wellwisher U Taik Aung formally opened the hydro electric power station and rural auto-exchange.

The commander, the minister and party inspected the newly-opened hydro electric power station and rural auto-exchange.

Next, they went to Maha Bandoola Statue donated by the Ministry of Culture in Ngapayin Village and attended the opening ceremony of Maha Bandoola Library.

During the ceremony, chairman of Ngapayin PDC U Kyi Myint, chairman of Library Committee U Myint and townselder U Than Hlaing formally opened Maha Bandoola Statue. Next, the minister and party viewed round the library. Afterwards, CEC Member Minister Brig-Gen Thura Aye Myint donated journals, magazines and books for the library through U Myint. The commander, the minister and party went on a pilgrimage to Maha Bandoola Pagoda in Ngapayin Village.

At the same time, they attended to an educative talks organized by Sagaing Division Women’s Affairs Organization and Maternal and Child Welfare Association. During the round table discussion, the patron of Saging Division Women’s Affairs Organization, the chairperson of Division Supervisory Committee for MCWA and the secretary of Division WAO and members of WAO and MCWA held discussions with local women on salient points of WAO and MCWA, human trafficking, prevention of violence against women, health knowledge on women and child, reproductive health, organizing of membership and participation of women in rural development tasks and replied to the queries raised by local women.

Next, the commander, the minister and party went to Ngapayin Monastery and donated alms to Sayadaw of Village/Tract Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee.

Afterwards, they cordially met with locals at the monastery. Located in Budalin Township, Monywa District, Ngapayin Model Village has 1,012 households and a population of 5567. Since 1988, the Tatmadaw Government has implemented the rural development tasks and the Ngapayin Model Village has developed.

With a view to narrowing the development gap between urban and rural areas, the Government has been implementing the five rural development tasks joining hands with the people and social organizations. Okpo-Ngapayin Road has been repaired at a cost of K 600,000 contributed by the Government and the local people. The river crossing bridge on Ngapayin-Sipa Road was upgraded to concrete one and it was opened on 15 February. There was only a motor road in the past. Now, Budalin-YeU-KhinU railroad has been constructed in the region and residents can travel by train.

Thanks to the better transportation, the economy of the region is booming. Now, one auto ex-change office has been established.

These are the fruits of the collaboration between the government and the people on rural area development.

Afterwards, Commander Maj-Gen Tha Aye presented 100 dozens of exercise books, 100 dozens of pencils, sports gear to Chairman of the village PDC U Kyi Myint.

Minister Brig-Gen Thura Aye Myint presented a set of TV and Video, USDA uniforms, sports gear, exercise books and pencils to the village through officials.

A wellwisher donated K 500,000 for wind-power generator to be used in the village.

There is sufficient rice and oil for everybody in the village. Regarding the livestock breeding, there are 2006 cows, 2671 fowls and 829 goats and pigs. The number of students in the village is 1170 and one basic education high school (branch) has been constructed. The number of graduates students from the village reaches 57 and school enrollment rate of the village up to 96 percent.

One rural health unit has been set up in the village. The average life expectancy of the village is ranging from 70 to 75 for men and from 75 to 80 for women.

Foreign Minister sends felicitations to Austria

YANGON, 26 Oct— U Nyan Win, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Union of Myanmar, has sent a message of felicitations to HE Dr Ursula Plassnik, Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Austria, on the occasion of the National Day of the Republic of Austria, which falls on 26 October 2005.