On October 25, Mr. Mikio Numata, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, and Dr. Khin San Yee, Deputy Minister for National Planning and Economic Development of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, exchanged notes concerning grant aid for the following three projects in Nay Pyi Taw.

1. The Project for Development of ICT System for Central Banking (maximum 5.1billion yen) (approximately US$51million)

• (1) Modernization of financial sector, particularly strengthening of the operational capacity of Central Bank of Myanmar(CBM), is an urgent issue in Myanmar, to deal with rapid expansion of economic activities followed by democratization and economic reform as well as to prepare for joining the ASEAN economic community in 2015.
• (2) Fund settlement and government bond settlement require huge manual work at CBM even with the current transaction volume, and thus there are concerns that it will exceed the maximum capacity as the transaction increases with the expansion of economic activities. It is also concerned that the current manual work cannot increase the transaction of CBM rapidly and thus could become the serious bottleneck for the economic development.
• (3) This project aims at modernization of financial sector through introduction of ICT System for Central Banking by streamlining the work of Central Bank. Through implementation of the project, settlement of current account and government bond will be automated, and it is expected that the volume of transaction at CBM will increase and reliability of CBM operation will increase.

2. The Project for Establishment of Disastrous Weather Monitoring System (PhaseⅡ) (maximum 231million yen) (approximately US$2.3million)

• (1) Cyclones hit Myanmar almost every year and floods and landslide disasters caused by heavy rainfalls occur very frequently.
• (2) However, the data necessary for effective weather forecast and warning, such as precipitation, is not available in Myanmar in a timely manner because manual observation methods at observation stations requires long time for data collection and the only weather radar in Myanmar has deteriorated and stopped operating. It is an urgent issue for this country to develop a nationwide weather monitoring system in order to implement appropriate measures against natural disaster, as there are concerns over devastating disasters due to climate change.
• (3) In 2012, the Government of Japan agreed to provide 3.8billion yen (approximately US$40.4million) for “the Project for Establishment of Disastrous Weather Monitoring System,” and has been developing the system in Yangon, Kyawuk Phyu, and Mandalay as well as the 30 stations of Automatic Weather observation System (AWS) over the country. However, due to currency fluctuation, it is difficult to implement some part of the constructions within the agreed amount.
• (4) This project aims at providing the necessary funding for completing the development of the systems such as AWS. Through implementation of this project, it is expected that the weather monitoring capacity will be strengthened and the capacity for responding meteorological disaster will improve, and thus the damage from disaster will be mitigated.
• (5) This project is implemented as a part of Japan’s Fast-Start Finance for Developing Countries on Climate Change after 2013. Japan will continue to cooperate with Myanmar on the area of climate change toward establishment of a fare and effective international framework in which all major economies participate for reduction of greenhouse gas emission.

3. The Project for the Improvement of TV Programs and Broadcast Editing Equipment of Myanma Radio and Television (MRTV) (maximum 81.9million yen) (approximately US$819 thousand)

• (1) MRTV is the only one TV station which covers all over Myanmar and has a role of promoting policies, such as democratization and elimination of information differential in Myanmar. MRTV still uses the broadcast editing equipment donated by the Japanese Grant Aid over 30 years ago as the main equipment resulting in the insufficiency of TV programs produced and edited by MRTV in both quality and quantity.
• (2) This project aims at providing the necessary fund for MRTV to purchase the Japanese educational and documentary programs and broadcast editing equipment of high quality. It is expected that this project will contribute to the improvement of the level of knowledge and education in Myanmar, and that Japanese experience of achieving economic growth and preserving traditional culture at the same time will be broadly shared among the people in Myanmar.