BurmaNet News, April 1, 2005

[Editor]

April 1, 2005 Issue # 2688


INSIDE BURMA
AP: Myanmar finance ministry closes two private banks
Xinhua: GMS-involved water festival to be held in Myanmar
AFP: Than Shwe discovers joy of cooking
Mizzima News: Solo cartoon exhibition banned in Aunglan of Burma

ON THE BORDER
Irrawaddy: Refugee camps overcrowded, undersupplied
South China Morning Post: Political dissidents face deportation by
Thailand Thousands lose refugee status after failing to register for
relocation to border

BUSINESS / MONEY
Energy Compass: Gas found in Myanmar as junta takes flak

ASEAN
AP: Southeast Asians, U.S. demanding change in Myanmar, but junta unlikely
to bend
AFP: Myanmar, terrorism, AIDS to top IPU agenda in Philippine meeting
New Straits Times (Malaysia): No objection to Myanmar's chairmanship

REGIONAL
AP: Myanmar's exiled MPs to testify before international parliamentarians'
human rights committee
Japan Economic Newswire: ADB sets up office for regional cooperation

______________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

April 1, Associated Press
Myanmar finance ministry closes two private banks

Yangon: Two private banks in Myanmar accused by the U.S. of money
laundering and links to drug traffickers have been ordered closed by the
government for violating banking laws, the finance ministry said Friday.

In an announcement Friday night on state television, the Ministry of
Finance and Revenue said the licenses of the Asia Wealth Bank and the
Myanmar Mayflower Bank were revoked effective Thursday, March 31.

"It was found that these two banks have not strictly followed the banking
regulations, thus their licenses were revoked effective March 31," said
the announcement. It did not specify what the violations were.

Both banks have been accused by the U.S. State Department of being
involved in money laundering and having links to Southeast Asian drug
trafficking groups.

In December 2003, Myanmar's military government said it had begun
investigating the two banks under the provisions of new anti-money
laundering rules which had just come into effect.

The investigation was supposed to take three months, and under the rules,
the banks could have their assets seized if found guilty of money
laundering.

The announcement did not say if the bank closures were linked to that
investigation, whose results were not made public.

The rest of Myanmar's 18 private banks would continue operating normally,
the announcement said.

It said central bank administrators would take over operations and begin
the process of winding up the two bank's affairs.

Depositors could come to the banks beginning Monday to withdraw their
money, the statement said, also warning people owing money to the banks to
make their payments or face legal action.

Both the Asia Wealth Bank and the Myanmar Mayflower Bank had been ailing
since a national banking crisis in February and March 2003, when there
were panic withdrawals by depositors from most of the country's banks.

The central bank was forced at the time to temporarily ban money transfers
and limit withdrawals. It was also reported to have made huge loans to
several banks, including the Asia Wealth Bank, to help keep them solvent.

______________________________________

April 1, Xinhua General News Service
GMS-involved water festival to be held in Myanmar

Yangon: A special water festival involving participants from six countries
of the Greater Mekong Subregion ( GMS) will be held in Myanmar's second
largest city of Mandalay in the middle of this month when the Myanmar
traditional festival falls, local press reported Friday.

Over 150 representatives from the GMS countries which include China,
Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam will join the event starting
April 14 at a water throwing pandal erected near the famous Inwa Hotel,
the 7-Day News said.

The festive activity, which marks the fall of Myanmar new calendar year
and is sponsored by the Myanmar Ministry of Hotels and Tourism, is aimed
at promoting the foreign-exchange-earning industry.

Over the three-day festive period, traditional dances and songs
representing each GMS member country will be entertained.

Additional tour schedule will also be arranged for the participants to
cover scenic sites of Kengtung, Maruk Oo, Inlay and Bagan, other sources
said.

With the maintenance of its custom and tradition, the Myanmar water
festival, which is the largest and the merriest one among the country's 12
seasonal festivals, will help enhance tourism, tourism officials said.

In last year's occasion, the Xishaungbanna Singing and Dancing Troupe of
China's Yunnan province participated in Myanmar's five- day water festival
under a cultural exchange program, joining water throwing festive
activities and performances at some pandals in Yangon.

______________________________________

April 1, Agence Farce Presse
Than Shwe discovers joy of cooking

Rangoon: In a strange turn of events in authoritarian-ruled Burma, Senior
General Than Shwe announced today on live Myanmar Television his new-found
passion for French cooking.

Addressing a packed crowd at Burma’s premier military academy just outside
of Mandalay in northern Burma, Than Shwe remarked that “we Myanmarese must
learn a great deal from our friends and champions, the French, if we are
to prosper in today’s world.”

“For centuries, the French have led the way in pioneering cuisine which
has in turn led to great national pride and the envy of nations
everywhere. The Myanmar people must emulate the French. We too must raise
Myanmar’s standing in world with gastronomic diplomacy.”

Than Shwe revealed he had been taking cooking classes with the French head
chef at Rangoon’s premier Trader’s Hotel.

“It comes down to oil,” the head of the Burmese army remarked. “The
Myanmar people must endeavor to cook with oil in better, more innovative
ways.”

In front of a backdrop of the Tri-colour and the Burmese flag, Sen. Gen.
Than Shwe introduced a new government partnership with the French to
rehaul Burma’s flailing cooking oil industry and organize French cooking
master classes for generals.

The announcement was met with bitterness and dismay in junta opposition
circles in neighboring Thailand and the West.

One leading opposition leader said “the Burmese people have long suffered
under the junta’s meddling in cooking affairs.”

“We demand that the EU impose stringent sanctions against the junta’s
cooking enterprises and restrict all visas for visiting French cooks to
the country. French cooking will serve only to fill the general’s bellies
with haute cuisine at the expense of the impoverished and hungry Burmese
people.”

______________________________________

April 1 Mizzima News
Solo cartoon exhibition banned in Aunglan of Burma - Su Mya Mya Soe

The voice of artists against the military authorities in Burma has led to
the closure of a cartoon exhibition in the Aunglan Township in under Pegu
Division.

Even though the solo exhibition at a gallery was scheduled to be held from
March 26 to April 3 during a religious festival, the authorities stopped
it on March 27, said artist Ye Ye.

"As I have heard, it is because artists are critical to the country's
situation" ,he said even though no official reason has been given for the
action.

"But my artworks on display in the gallery just reflect the social issues.
No politics.” Ye Ye said.

But 45 out of the total 50 cartoons which were being shown in the
exhibition, were passed by the government's censored Press Scrutiny Board.
The rest five pieces also had nothing about politics.

Presently, the president of Aunglan's News and Periodical is engaged in
persuading the authorities to reopen the exhibition. But the owner, Ye Ye
said even though the permission was passed out he could not be able hold
the because of his financial problems, and the space was already occupied
by the other.

______________________________________
ON THE BORDER

April 1, Irrawaddy
Refugee camps overcrowded, undersupplied - Shah Paung

Burmese refugees sent to camps along the Thai-Burma border and a special
detention center in Bangkok are suffering from overcrowding and a shortage
of food and water, according to reports.

“There are too many of us crammed in here and the place is dirty," said Ko
Myo, a Burmese refugee who is being held in the detention center. He went
on to say that there are currently more than 250 people in the center
awaiting relocation and that although representatives of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees, or UNHCR, and the Bangkok Refugee Committee
visited them today, they did not bring any much-needed provisions.

 In July 2003, the Thai government announced that refugees in urban areas
who hold Persons of Concern, or POC, status were to be relocated to
refugee camps. According to the UNHCR, more than 1,800 Burmese citizens
registered for refugee status in Thailand during the period leading up to
July 2003.

Ko Myo said that 300 refugees had already been sent from the center to Ban
Dong Yang refugee camp in Sangklaburi province while reports indicate
another 700 refugees have been sent to camps at Than Hin and Noh Poe.

According to a Karen Refugee Committee official, Noh Poe camp doesn't have
enough houses, with some refugees already staying at a nearby school, and
they are not even provided with enough water.

The official also claimed that some people with POC status were denied
entry to the camp and then arrested by the Thai authorities before being
sent back to Burma. According to English-language daily the Bangkok Post,
more than 270 people who had not reported to authorities by yesterday’s
deadline were arrested and deported.

The paper also reported that more than 830 Burmese POCs have reported to
authorities for relocation to the refugee camps while waiting to leave for
other countries.

______________________________________

April 1, South China Morning Post
Political dissidents face deportation by Thailand Thousands lose refugee
status after failing to register for relocation to border - Simon Montlake

Bangkok: Thousands of political refugees from Myanmar face the risk of
deportation by Thai authorities from today under a tough new policy that
critics say is aimed at currying favour with Yangon.

Yesterday was the deadline for about 3,000 UN-registered refugees to
report to Thai authorities for processing and transfer to camps along the
border with Myanmar.

Thailand wants the asylum seekers, many of them political dissidents in
the exiled democracy movement, to vacate Bangkok and other urban areas in
the interests of national security.

>From today, those who fail to do so "may be subject to arrest, detention
and deportation", according to a letter sent to the refugees by the UN
High Commissioner for Human Rights.

As of yesterday morning, only a third of those ordered to register with
Thai authorities had done so, and some refugees said they would rather go
underground than turn themselves in.

Thailand has warned that dissidents who fail to comply will lose their
status as "persons of concern", UN jargon for political refugee, thereby
dashing their hopes of permanent asylum.

The three camps designated to receive the asylum seekers are overcrowded
and lack space for the new arrivals. Sanitation is also described as poor,
with no running water in at least one of the camps, which are located in
remote areas.

"There isn't enough space for 3,000 more people ... and the conditions are
crowded," said Kirsten Young, a spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner
for Refugees.

Ethnic fighting and political turmoil in Myanmar has sent tens of
thousands of people fleeing across the border over the past two decades.
About 140,000 live in border camps, where they are forbidden from leaving
or working.

The refugees affected by the new policy are registered as "persons of
concern" with the UNHCR, which is trying to resettle them in countries
more sympathetic to asylum seekers.

In the past year, about 2,000 refugees from Myanmar have been resettled in
the west. Ms Young said moving asylum seekers to rural camps would slow
the processing of their claims and keep them in Thailand longer.

Human rights groups say the driving force behind the move is Prime
Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's quest to improve relations with Myanmar's
military rulers.

Refugees will also be forbidden from taking mobile phones into the camps,
effectively cutting off their political activities.

"Forcing urban refugees into rural border camps is an attempt to drive a
stake through the heart of the Burmese democracy movement in Thailand,"
Brad Adams, of US-based Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.

Activists say the clampdown dates back to June 2003, when angry
demonstrations took place outside Myanmar's embassy in Bangkok over the
detention of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

Mr Thaksin has since spoken out against the exile movement during a period
of warming ties between Bangkok and Yangon.

Some of the few refugees who arrived yesterday at the police detention
centre in Bangkok where they had been told to register appeared resigned
to their fate.

"We are in God's hands," said Christian Karen, who sat calmly waiting to
be processed.

Others pleaded for special treatment and exemptions to the forced relocation.

One couple sat nursing their sick baby, begging for dispensation to stay
longer in Bangkok.

"This time is very bad, they say if we don't go they will make big trouble
for us ... we will be sent back to Burma. I'm really afraid," said a
former student activist from Yangon.

______________________________________
BUSINESS / MONEY

April 1, Energy Compass
Gas found in Myanmar as junta takes flak

South Korea's Daewoo has reported finding another gas field in Block A-1
off Myanmar's (Burma) west coast, after completing test production. The
company had already discovered a field in the block that it said might
hold up to 6 Tcf of natural gas. Daewoo is the operator and holds a 60%
stake in the field along with Korea Gas Corp. and India's Gail.

Malaysian officials have meanwhile called on Myanmar's military junta to
relax its grip on power. The country, which has been ruled by the junta
since 1988, has also come under pressure from the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations to implement democratic reforms ahead of Myanmar's turn
heading the group's general meeting in 2006.

In March, Myanmar closed onshore exploration to foreign companies, saying
it would proceed on its own (EC Mar.18,p12). The government plans to hold
another offshore licensing round in the next couple of months.

______________________________________
ASEAN

April 1, Associated Press
Southeast Asians, U.S. demanding change in Myanmar, but junta unlikely to
bend - Denis D. Gray

Yangon: The pending handover of the leadership of Southeast Asia's top
trade and diplomatic bloc to military-ruled Myanmar has brought
unprecedented pressure on the regime to speed up promised democratic
reforms - even from once-supportive neighbors.

But the generals are unlikely to either give in to outside demands to free
pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and veer from their authoritarian
path or relinquish an upcoming lead role in the 10-nation Association of
Southeast Asian Nations, experts and diplomats told The Associated Press.

Diplomats in the capital, Yangon, and foreign experts say the military
will at best make minimal concessions to its critics while perpetuating a
43-year grip on power under cover of a road map to democracy.

The junta allowed a rare visit by foreign journalists recently to see its
Armed Forces Day. The junta's top Gen. Than Shwe inspected 7,000 parading
troops and lauded the military as indispensable. He also signaled the
junta's antipathy to outside pressure.

"We have to be prepared to rely on ourselves and the first priority in
every sector has to be self-reliance and self-sufficiency," he said.

David Steinberg, a Myanmar scholar at Washington's Georgetown University,
said the military in the past had retreated into international isolation
and economic hardship rather than give in to what it perceived to be
browbeating from abroad.

This time would likely be no different, he said.

"I think Burma will march to its own tune," he said. Myanmar is also known
as Burma.

Myanmar is due to assume the chairmanship of ASEAN, a revolving role among
the organization's members, in 2006 and stands to host a number of
high-profile meetings.

Some of the meetings include the United States, European Union and other
"dialogue partners." The U.S. secretary of state traditionally attends the
ASEAN Regional Forum, an annual security meeting.

Although no decision has been announced, Washington may boycott ASEAN
meetings if Myanmar gets the chair. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice has called Myanmar an "outpost of tyranny," along with North Korea,
Iran and Cuba.

The most influential lawmaker on Myanmar policy, Sen. Mitch McConnell,
told The Associated Press that Myanmar's chairmanship "would be a
tremendous loss of face to that association and the region." He urged
Washington and the EU to boycott Myanmar-chaired ASEAN meetings.

Similar comments are being made within ASEAN, some using language
unusually strong for a region where causing others to lose face is highly
offensive.

In Malaysia, which ushered Myanmar into the grouping in 1997, lawmakers -
including some government members - plan a parliamentary motion this month
urging ASEAN to deny Myanmar the chairmanship unless Suu Kyi is released
from house arrest and a timetable is set for political reforms.

A similar resolution is before the Philippine Senate, where the
legislature's president said Myanmar was tarnishing ASEAN's reputation.

"We have not seen any progress in the effort to craft a constitution in
Myanmar, we have not seen any effort to address the human rights issues,"
Sen. Franklin Drilon said.

In Singapore, Foreign Minister George Yeo said some "hard messages" need
to be conveyed because what happens in Myanmar affects all of ASEAN and
its relations with dialogue partners.

The issue will be discussed by ASEAN foreign ministers at an April 10-12
meeting in the Philippines. ASEAN also includes Brunei, Vietnam, Laos,
Cambodia, Thailand and Indonesia.

The brewing controversy is still in its early stages, but analysts say
it's unlikely ASEAN will ultimately stray from its policy of "constructive
engagement" with Myanmar.

Noninterference in each other's internal affairs is a founding principle
of ASEAN, whose members range from democracies such as Thailand and
Singapore to communist Laos and Vietnam and Brunei's absolute monarchy.
Many members have a patchy record on democracy.

Myanmar has its defenders in the spat.

Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen, whose own regime has been accused of
rights violations, said barring Myanmar from the chair would violate the
noninterference principle. Thailand has been a persistent backer, and
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's family enjoys lucrative business deals
in Myanmar.

Steinberg said the likely outcome would be a compromise that would allow
both Myanmar and ASEAN to save face, such as Myanmar holding a ceremonial
meeting in Yangon and then moving substantial conferences to Malaysia,
which precedes Myanmar as the chair.

"They will say, 'We don't want to cut off relations with the U.S. and at
the same time expel or embarrass Burma,"' Steinberg said.

He and other observers expected Myanmar to do the minimum necessary to
appease ASEAN. One possibility is completing work on a Constitution -
year-old convention was temporarily adjourned Thursday - and presenting it
for a referendum, but keeping Suu Kyi detained as she has been since May
2003.

The U.S. State Department said Thursday that a constitution emerging from
the convention and any subsequent referendum would "lack legitimacy, and
would not constitute meaningful steps toward the establishment of
democracy in Burma."

In tightly-controlled Yangon, citizens say privately hope for reform has
rarely been dimmer and open revolt is impossible. People are still haunted
by memories of the military gunning down hundreds of protesters in a 1988
pro-democracy uprising.

_____________________________________

April 1, Agence France Presse
Myanmar, terrorism, AIDS to top IPU agenda in Philippine meeting

Manila: Myanmar's continued detention of Aung San Suu Kyi, terrorism and
AIDS are to top the agenda in an upcoming meeting of world
parliamentarians in the Philippines, officials said Friday.

Some 1,500 legislators from Asia, Europe and the Americas were expected to
attend the six-day Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) assembly to begin in
Manila Sunday, officials said.

Among the key issues expected to be prominently discussed is Myanmar's
continued refusal to heed international calls to free Nobel Peace Prize
laureate and democracy leader Aung San Suu Kuyi, said Philippine Senate
president Franklin Drilon, host of the meeting.

Drilon said parliamentarians from the 10-member Association of Southeast
Asian Nations would to hold their own discussions about Myanmar on the
sidelines of the meeting.

Drilon told reporters any ASEAN-wide consensus on Myanmar would be
communicated to the IPU delegates as an "emergency issue."

"We will be discussing this in the ASEAN parliamentary meeting on Sunday,"
said Drilon, who earlier indicated the Philippines would lead pressure to
strip Myanmar of the rotating ASEAN chairmanship in 2006.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

IPU secretary general Anders Johnsson said a delegation from Myanmar,
including parliamentarians in exile, would testify about the state of
human rights in the country.

An IPU committee on human rights would hear the Myanmar delegates'
testimonies and make an official report to the plenary later in the week,
Johnsson said.

Other issues to be raised in the meeting were terrorism, the AIDS pandemic
and cross-border terrorism, said IPU president Sergio Paez Verdugo, a
senator from Chile.

"Justice without borders is also one of our priorities," he said.

Verdugo also praised the Philippine government for hosting the IPU
conference, which he said would be the most well-attended in recent years.

About 4,000 police officers will be on duty for the conference.

_____________________________________

April 1, New Straits Times (Malaysia)
No objection to Myanmar's chairmanship

ASEAN nations have not raised formal objection to Myanmar's chairmanship
of Asean next year, keeping on track the rotation system of hosting the
annual summit.

Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said Malaysia was committed to Asean's
policy of constructive engagement with Myanmar.

"Any stand we take will be on the basis of Asean consensus," the Prime
Minister said in a joint Press conference with his New Zealand
counterpart, Helen Clark, yesterday.

He was asked to comment on a suggestion that Myanmar be barred from
assuming the Asean chair due to its questionable human rights record.

To a question about some Malaysian Members of Parliament calling for the
move, he said Malaysian backbenchers had the freedom to debate such
matters.

"The subject of Myanmar has attracted some attention and that is how they
feel about the country," he added.

Clark said she had raised the matter with Abdullah at their meeting.

"We have flagged our concern," she said. "Obviously, New Zealand cannot
dictate to Asean who is going to be the chair from year to year but it
does raise some issues, particularly because Myanmar will be the chair
next year and be designated to be New Zealand's dialogue co-ordinating
partner."

On Malaysia's stand that New Zealand not be a full participant but merely
sectoral dialogue partner at the first East Asia Summit in December, she
said the issue might be raised later.

"We see a fast pace of regionalisation in the Asia-Pacific region and are
looking for ways of being included in the process. In the end it is up to
Asean to determine the exact nature of the East Asia Summit."

_____________________________________
REGIONAL

April 1, Associated Press
Myanmar's exiled MPs to testify before international parliamentarians'
human rights committee - Teresa Cerojano

Manila: Exiled pro-democracy politicians from Myanmar will testify to
international parliamentarians in Manila this weekend on conditions in
their homeland, officials said Friday.

Four members of the military-run country's abolished parliament, now
living in exile, will appear Sunday before an Inter-Parliamentary Union
committee that looks into alleged human rights abuses against lawmakers.

The committee, made up of five lawmakers representing different regions of
the world, also will hear from a Malaysian parliamentarian representing
the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

"Our committee on human rights of parliamentarians will make a public
report on this," Inter-Parliamentary Union Secretary General Anders
Johnsson told reporters.

The hearing comes as some ASEAN lawmakers - who will meet on the sidelines
of the IPU conference - are expected to call for Myanmar to be stripped of
next year's chairmanship of the unless it sets a roadmap for democratic
reforms.

Philippine Sen. President Franklin Drilon said ASEAN lawmakers will meet
Saturday, then will hold another meeting on Sunday with lawmakers from
Japan, China and South Korea to discuss Myanmar's chairmanship of ASEAN.

ASEAN, which groups Myanmar, the Philippines and eight other countries,
should ask Yangon to set a definite timetable for democratic reforms that
should prioritize the release of political detainees such as Aung San Suu
Kyi and the drafting of a constitution with input from pro-democracy
groups, Drilon said.

He said he also will propose that the ASEAN parliamentarians bring up the
Myanmar issue as an emergency item for discussion by the larger IPU body,
which does not currently have the issue on its agenda.

IPU counts 144 national parliaments as members. Philippine organizers said
over 1,300 lawmakers were expected to attend the gathering.

The conference plans to discuss the AIDS pandemic, human rights, pursuit
of justice without frontiers, the millennium development goals set by the
United Nations and terrorism.

The Philippine Senate is debating a proposed resolution, approved by its
foreign relations committee, which proposes to block Myanmar's assumption
of ASEAN's chairmanship next year unless it sets a roadmap for reforms.

Malaysian lawmakers said they plan to file a similar motion in parliament
later this month.
______________________________________

April 1, Japan Economic Newswire
ADB sets up office for regional cooperation

Manila: Asian Development Bank President Haruhiko Kuroda announced the
establishment Friday of an office that will oversee cooperation and
integration of economies in the Asian region.

'This new office will play an active role as catalyst, coordinator and
knowledge leader in the area of regional economic integration,' Kuroda
said.

Kuroda said he has appointed Masahiro Kawai, a University of Tokyo
economics professor, as the head of the new office, which will be called
the Office of Regional Economic Integration. He also said Kawai will also
serve as economic adviser to Kuroda starting April 1 and will take over
the new office Oct. 1.

Kawai served as chief economist for East Asia and the Pacific in the World
Bank from 1998 to 2001, and as deputy vice minister of finance for
international affairs of Japan from 2001 to 2003.

'Mr. Kawai brings the right blend of experience to this important new
office at the ADB. He is highly respected in his diverse fields of
expertise and he will be a valuable addition to the bank,' Kuroda said.

Moreover, Kuroda said he has appointed Rajat M. Nag, the director general
of the ADB's Mekong Department, to concurrently hold the position of
special adviser to the president in charge of regional economic
cooperation and integration.

'The creation of the office, and the appointment of a new special adviser
on the issue, underscores ADB President Kuroda's commitment to making
regional economic integration a priority for the ADB,' the Manila-based
bank said in a statement.

'The office will act as the ADB's focal point for regional bodies, forums
and initiatives on the issue, including the ASEAN-plus-three finance
ministers process, the Chiang Mai Initiative, and the Asian Bond Markets
Initiative, the ASEAN surveillance process, the APEC finance ministers
process, and the Asia-Europe finance ministers process,' the statement
said.

The new office will replace the ADB's regional economic monitoring unit
and will also handle publication of the Asia Economic Monitor and Asia
Bond Monitor, as well as the management of the Asia Regional Information
Center and AsiaBondOnline web sites, the bank said.

'The ADB promotes regional economic integration efforts by supporting and
facilitating the above regional initiatives and several regional and
subregional cooperation activities in Asia-Pacific such as the Greater
Mekong Subregion program,' it said.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations groups Brunei, Cambodia,
Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand
and Vietnam.

The bank set up the regional economic monitoring unit in the wake of the
1997 financial meltdown that derailed many economies in Asia. The unit,
known as REMU, was set up to help the developing member countries of the
ADB to harness the full benefit of the global financial integration and
international capital flows to minimize the impact future financial shocks
in the region.