Weekly Business Roundup (October 9, 2010)

By WILLIAM BOOT
Saturday, October 9, 2010

Trade Union Group Urges Continued Boycotts against Burma Junta

Trade and investment with Burma should remain cut until the military regime ends all forms of forced labor and restores human rights, said the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC).

The ITUC said it is “concerned that some in the international community are viewing national elections in Burma next month as a reason to relax pressure on the regime.”

“The international community needs to significantly step up pressure on the regime until there is tangible progress towards an inclusive and democratic constitution and full respect for human rights,” the ITUC said in a statement ahead of the promised November elections.

The Brussels-based ITUC claims a membership of 176 million workers in 151 countries.

It directed it renewed criticism of the Burma junta to leaders of ASEM, the loose association of Asian and European Union countries which met in Belgium to discuss improved trade.

“ASEM governments and social partners can play their part by cutting the trade and investment ties that are keeping the regime in power,” it said.

It called on ASEM to support efforts by the International Labour Organisation to investigate forced labor abuses in Burma.

Beijing Expects Burma Election to Strengthen China’s Trade Aims

China is banking on Burma’s November elections to guarantee stability and legitimacy to “serve its strategic and economic aims,” says an international assessment report.

“Beijing is seeking to boost its political and economic presence in the country by stepping up visits from top leaders and increasing economic investment and trade,” said the Brussels-based International Crisis Group.

“Despite widespread international opinion that the elections will be neither free nor fair, China is likely to accept any poll result that does not involve major instability,” says Stephanie Kleine-Ahlbrandt, Crisis Group's China adviser.

“Beijing hopes the elections will serve its strategic and economic aims by producing government seen both domestically and internationally as more legitimate,” said the group.

Indian Bureaucracy Blocks Imports of Rice from Burma

Plans by the Indian state of Manipur to buy a large stock of rice from Burma are being blocked by the central government in New Delhi, local media allege.

Authorities in the state capital of Imphal, which borders Burma, want to buy 30,000 tonnes of Burmese rice but the federal government will not issue an import license, said The Sangai Express.

The issue illustrates how bureaucracy in India interferes in cross-border trade and hampers New Delhi’s so-called “Look East” policy.

Manipur faces a rice shortage due to a combination of a bad harvest and long-running road blockades in a local political protest which has hampered deliveries from other Indian states.

Other roads into Manipur are in a “deplorable condition,” said the newspaper.

“The government of India is apprehensive of criticism that may come on alleged dependence on a neighboring foreign country for food grain in the event of issuing the import license,” said the paper, quoting local government officers.

Burma May Qualify for Cash Aid to Protect Unique Environment

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is urging countries of the Mekong region, including Burma, to take action to protect unique flora and fauna from commercial plunder.

A new report by the WWF says news species are being discovered in the six countries of the Mekong basin—China, Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam—but wildlife is under threat from logging and other commercial threats.

“Each year, the new species [in the Mekong region] count keeps going up, and with it, so too does the responsibility to ensure this region’s unique biodiversity is conserved,” said Stuart Chapman, conservation director of WWF Greater Mekong.

The WWF will tell the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity that the greater Mekong region is “one of the most significant biological hotspots” on Earth and needs special help.

The WFF plans to seek special funding for the Mekong countries to deter environmental damage that could threaten species.