Newer members will follow - Vietnam by 2006 and Laos and Myanmar by 2008.
Others, willingly or not, are brought across India's borders, notably from Bangladesh and Myanmar.
The admission of Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar next month underscores the challenge posed by Vietnam's entrance two years earlier.
This sounds odd, since it is not fully convertible and Myanmar expects soon to have a large trade surplus.
Previous recipients of the award include Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Myanmar's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
This is partially due to the appeal, for manufacturers, of less expensive, more youthful countries like Bangladesh , Vietnam and Myanmar.
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Laos has never been in the same league as Afghanistan and Myanmar.
That club, which also includes Egypt and Myanmar, remains small for now.
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Myanmar TV News broadcast a still picture Wednesday of Yeattaw meeting with U.S. and Myanmar officials, including two from the U.S. Embassy.
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However the cost of labor is often inversely proportional to the overall ease of doing business in a country and Myanmar is no exception.
Neither the new annual chair, Cambodia, nor the next two, Brunei and Myanmar, are likely to risk antagonising China by making the sea a multilateral issue.
Next month, the so-called CLM nations -- Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar -- will sign up for the region's most exclusive club, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
In retrospect, ASEAN made a big mistake when it rushed to expand its membership to include all the members of geographic South-East Asia, adding Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.
Cuba, Egypt, Russia, Algeria and Myanmar have been vocal opponents.
Afterwards, they had a joint press conference and the Secretary-General told reporters that they had discussed, among other things, Afghanistan, climate change, the Millennium Development Goals and Myanmar.
On a map of the world using the Brookings index of weak states, the epicentre is self-evidently sub-Saharan Africa, particularly around Congo, with blobs of red in Iraq, Afghanistan and Myanmar.
Chang Mai straddles one of Asia's great crossroads - a southern spur of the Silk Road - fusing commerce and culture between points farther north and west in modern-day China, Laos and Myanmar.
Senior leaders from Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and even Myanmar (Burma) professed amity and the fervent desire for cooperation and mutual development.
Obama landing in Thailand on Sunday and will later visit Myanmar and attend the East Asia summit in Cambodia.
Cutting the cost of getting connected would open the door for mobile payments and make Myanmar a more attractive market for Visa.
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Cyclone Mohasen is expected to land in Bangladesh on Thursday, but strong wind and rain will be felt earlier, there and in Myanmar.
Efforts by India and South-East Asian countries to reduce that dependence seem forlorn, despite India's historic, cultural and religious ties, and despite Myanmar's membership of the Association of South-East Asian Nations.
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The Director-General also referred to the importance of advancing education in post-conflict and transition countries such as Liberia, Myanmar and South-Sudan.
The firm does business as well in Khartoum, Addis Ababa and Cape Town and recently pioneered barter deals in Vietnam, Myanmar and eastern Europe.
We also see the issue of Myanmar and hope that the process of democratization in Myanmar that is currently taking place as promised by the government of Myanmar will take place in a good way.
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For many kids who are threatened by disease, natural disasters and war in places like Somalia, Bangladesh, Myanmar and too many other developing countries, this spare change has meant the difference between thriving and merely surviving, health and illness, even life and death.
Also speaking were the representatives of China, Libya, Viet Nam, Costa Rica, Indonesia, Panama, Russian Federation, Japan (in his capacity and as Chairperson of the Peacebuilding Commission), Liechtenstein, Ghana, Slovenia (on behalf of the European Union), Australia, Spain, New Zealand, Bangladesh, Netherlands, Israel, Iceland (also on behalf of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden), Nigeria, Brazil, Switzerland, Ireland, Canada, Ecuador, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Austria, Argentina, Colombia, United Republic of Tanzania, Germany, Kazakhstan, Iraq, Rwanda, Philippines, Afghanistan, El Salvador, Tonga (on behalf of the Pacific Small Island Developing States), Bosnia and Herzegovina, Myanmar, Tunisia, Benin, Mauritania and San Marino.
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