State Administration Council Chairman Prime Minister Senior General Min Aung Hlaing meets cabinet members of Shan State, officials of self-administered areas, departmental personnel, members of district and township administration councils and towns elder

Nay Pyi Taw October 1

State Administration Council Chairman Prime Minister Senior General Min Aung Hlaing meets cabinet members of Shan State, officials of self-administered areas, departmental personnel, members of district and township administration councils and towns elders

State Administration Council Chairman Prime Minister Senior General Min Aung Hlaing this morning met cabinet members of Shan State, officials of selfadministered areas, departmental personnel, members of district and township administration councils and town elders at the meeting hall of Shan State government office in Taunggyi.

Also present together with the Senior General were SAC members General Maung Maung Kyaw, Lt-Gen Moe Myint Tun, U Sai Lone Hsai, Saw Daniel, U Shwe Kyein, Joint Secretary Lt-Gen Ye Win Oo, union ministers U Tin Htut Oo, U Hla Moe, U Khin Maung Yi, Dr Thet Khaing Win, U Min Thein Zan, U Saw Tun Aung Myint, Shan State Chief Minister Dr Kyaw Tun, Commander-in-Chief (Navy) Admiral Moe Aung, senior military officers of the Office of Commander-in-Chief, Commander of Eastern Command Brig-Gen Ni Lin Aung, cabinet members of Shan State, officials of self-administered areas, departmental personnel, members of district and township administration councils and towns elders.

First, the chief minister and members warmly welcomed the Senior General and party. Then, the chief minister presented a progress report on social, economic, health, regional development, power generation, tourism, production sectors and general issues of the state. Chairman of Pa-O Self-Administered Zone Administration Body U Khun Ye Htwe and Chairman of Danu Self-Administered Zone U Arka Lin reported on salient points of the areas and regional development undertakings and deputy commissioner on efforts to develop the areas.

The Senior General looked into the requirements. He said as Shan State has rice sufficiency, it should strive to improve the quality of its rice products to meet the export standard. Modern techniques should be applied in using natural fertilizers produced from farms to increase the crop yield. Forest plantation and conservation should be conducted as a means to ensure adequate water supply for Taunggyi. Drinking water supply and health and education sectors should be seriously taken into consideration in carrying out urban projects. Catchment area conservation should be conducted to conserve the water resources of Inle Lake, a valuable gift of nature and one of the well-known places of Shan State. Possible means should be sought in generating enough energy for the Danu Self-Administered Zone with biogas.

Union ministers U Tin Htut Oo, U Hla Moe, U Khin Maung Yi, Dr Thet Khaing Win, U Min Thein Zan, U Saw Tun Aung Myint in their discussions said forest conservation is required to protect the agricultural and livestock breeding undertakings and natural environment. They also dealt with matters relating to opening vocational trainings for the people, Mya Sein Yaung rural development programs, support for small-scale industries, COVID-19 prevention, control and treatment undertakings, vaccination programs, area-wise upgrading of sports stadiums for sports promotion, provision of sports gear to wards and villages and promotion of the ethnic literature and culture sectors.

In his address, the Senior General said Shan State with an area of over sixty thousand square miles is the largest province of the country. It has a population of 5.5 million, fair weather and large areas of land resources with good soil. It will become a pleasant place if everyone works with the love for their state. Most of the people of the states are engaged in farming and agriculture. They grow rice, corn, sesame, potato and various kinds of vegetables and fruits. If the state can increase its rice yield, its income will increase.

Food sufficiency is required as it is important for the majority. Increase in rice yield will benefit the area. Rice is the staple food of Myanmar people and on average rice consumption per person per year is about 15 baskets. Rice provides us with protein and calories and dining on nutritious food such as fruits and vegetables and meat and fish ensures a healthy body. Apart from cultivation, farming business is also good in Shan State. Systematic farming undertakings in Ayethaya farming zone are achieving success. Milk cow, chicken and pigs breeding should be further extended through the use of modern techniques. Other townships should also conduct systematic farming.

Shan State grows rice, corn, potato, sunflower, sesame, and soybean. By-products of the oil crops and rice can be used as animal fodder. Hence, crops benefit the farms by providing sufficient food for them. In its nation-building undertakings, the government is paying attention to ensuring prosperity and abundant food supply. Prosperity assures stability and joy for all the people. People should have a good income. Political and security stability is required. Only then will the nation prosper. Moreover, there will be festivals and sports events in the country. In addition to the efforts of urban and rural people, authorities at all levels should provide leadership, support and assistance for the success in implementing the work programs. Research is also important to reach this end. Instead of satisfying the traditional methods, means to develop agriculture and farming activities must be sought. By doing so, peasants will enjoy social progress.

There are Thanlwin river and many sources to generate hydropower in Shan State. If coal, abundant in the State, can be used to systematically generate electricity with modern technology, it will mitigate environmental deterioration. As Shan State is hilly region, wind power can be generated. Hence, utilizing the existing natural resources for generating the electricity will benefit the state. Sufficiency of electricity will contribute much to development of the region.

There are four university zones where education can be pursued in Shan State. These universities can turn out a large number of human resources. Arrangements were made to teach business and law subjects to the student. These subjects can contribute a great deal to development of the nation. Encouragement must be given to learning education at universities. In 2009, there were 112,145 KG students in Shan State. Of them, 101,428 students reached the Grade-1, accounting for 84 percent. At the grade-6, 64,000 students learned education, accounting for 52 percent. Among them, 41,000 students reached the grade-10, accounting for 34 percent and 37,000 at the matriculation, 30 percent. Among them, 9,600 students passed the matriculation exam, accounting for 7.93 percent. As such, it can be seen that as Shan State is weak in education, encouragement should be given to learning education. As education is weak in the state, it can be reviewed that it is difficult to turn out skilled persons in the businesses of agriculture and livestock sectors.

Education can be categorized as basic and higher education. University students need to make self-studies and control themselves for passing the university student life. Depending on the kind of education, their experiences will be different. Hence, it is necessary to encourage enhancement of education in Shan State so as to turn out human resources.

With regard to the peace, the government is making efforts for restoring the peace. Myanmar is a Union based on democracy and federalism inhabited by various ethnic people. All need to understand the democracy. Democracy is governing the state under the law with the wish of the majority. Everybody needs to abide the government under the law but they must not do everything based on the majority’s wish. The federalism is sharing the authority with all. The election is important for the State in the democracy and it cannot accept any mistake. Many voting frauds happened in the general election in 2020. Before the election, the Senior General said he often notified all of ensuring free and fair for the election. NLD committed unfair plans for canvassing for others based on COVID-19. In casting votes in advance, it committed the process beyond the procedures. Although he urged it to solve the voting frauds for several times, the party did not solve it to push the country into this situation.

Myanmar is still on the path of democracy. As the 2008 constitution was approved through referendum, it cannot be revoked. The Tatmadaw accepted to amend things in the constitution in line with the current situation. The Tatmadaw controlled everything in line with the democracy. It is necessary to manage the holding of election in a correct manner.

As ethnic nations possess literatures and cultures, the government encourages them. But, all need to use the Myanmar language and Myanmar literature as the Union literature. Internationally, the global countries use the single office letter and office language. Salaries of students who teach ethnic languages were raised for improvement of literatures and cultures of ethnic nationals. All Myanmar citizens need to preserve their national characteristics. Likewise, all ethnic nationals have to preserve their national characteristics.

With regard to the health sector, there are lesser amount of COVID-19 infected persons in Shan State. They were infected via those who returned from other countries via border gates. The government raises medical examination over the disease while officials need to take measures of the infection rate. As COVID-19 cannot disappear till today, people need to live together with the pandemic. Hence, arrangements are being made to vaccinate the people as quickly as possible. Beautifying the urban area can contribute to the health condition of the people. So, it is necessary to manage systematic littering and proper flow of water in drains. Relevant development departments as well as the people need to follow the ruleswith conscience. They all need to build the good environment and emphasize the minimizing the use of plastics. Unsystematic use of plastic can degrade the environment. In fact, Shan State is beautiful. Emphasizing the environmental conservation will help Shan State enjoy improvement of tourism industry. It is necessary to grow flowery plants and windbreaks for beautifying the region. Creation of good environment will contribute much to development of the region.

The Senior General and party this morning inspected the Shan State sports ground in Taunggyi and gave instructions on upgrade of the sports ground and tasks for development of the sports sector.

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