(MENAFN- Qatar News Agency) Japan pledged fresh aid worth about 63 billion yen in loans to Myanmar on Sunday, mainly to help the Southeast Asian country's infrastructure-building projects.
Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe unveiled the aid during talks at his office in Tokyo with Myanmar's President Thein Sein, who came to Japan to attend the regional summit between Japan and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, according to Japan's (Kyodo) News Agency. The yen loans are designed to help build infrastructure for the Thilawa Special Economic Zone in the suburbs of Yangon, Myanmar's largest city, and upgrade a railway network in Myanmar, among other projects
With Abe having promised aid of 91 billion yen in loans during his visit to Myanmar in May, the total aid of Japan under his government launched in December last year is now more than 150 billion yen. Japan and Myanmar also signed a bilateral investment treaty to make it easier to invest in the Southeast Asian economy
With the agreement, Japan has concluded investment pacts with all 10 members of ASEAN which groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Myanmar has begun opening up to the world after years of military rule after making a transition to democratic governance in March 2011
As part of its nation-building efforts, Myanmar will hold parliamentary elections in 2015.
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