Tokyo meeting to pledge $1 bln for Myanmar

Lenders will pledge $1 billion for Myanmar when they huddle in Tokyo next month, a report said on Thursday, as the one-time pariah nation is increasingly welcomed back into the world community. The report came as the United States said it was lifting the last major sanctions on the country, which is rapidly opening up following years of isolation. Japanese business daily Nikkei said international bodies were readying the ground for the large-scale resumption of aid loans ahead of a meeting on the sidelines of the IMF in Tokyo early next month. The World Bank, the IMF and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) are considering extending loans worth up to $900 million to support Myanmar's democratisation and economic development, the paper said. The Japan Bank for International Cooperation and other Japanese banks will likely offer bridging loans to Myanmar so that Yangon can repay past debts, it said. The total amount of fresh loans will reach about $1 billion, the paper reported. Financial organisations such as the World Bank and the ADB were not able to offer aid to Myanmar as representatives from the United States opposed such plans in their board meetings, the Nikkei said. Washington in July gave the green light to companies wanting to invest in Myanmar including in oil and gas, a largely undeveloped sector that is being eagerly eyed around the world. On Wednesday Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Myanmar leader Thein Sein the US was easing an imports ban, when the two met. Japan, as the largest single creditor country, will sponsor the loan scheme and call for the World Bank, the ADB and other creditors to waive part of their past loans to Myanmar, the Mainichi Shimbun earlier reported. Tokyo in April agreed with Myanmar that it will forgive 300 billion yen ($3.9 billion) of the 500 billion yen it is owed. Resource-poor Japan, with its export-reliant economy, is looking to foster growth in the resource-rich Mekong region, a part of the world that is also being courted by China. Myanmar was long a global outcast, but has been rapidly rehabilitated since polls that saw the election of a nominally civilian government. Last week, democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was detained by the country's military junta for the best part of two decades, began her historic visit to the United States by calling for an end to sanctions.