Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda is expected to announce plans to lend US $615 million to Burma when he meets Burmese President Thein Sein on the sidelines of the Asean Summit in Cambodia on Monday, according to a report by Japan’s Nikkei business daily. The loans, for three projects including infrastructure related to a Japan-led special economic zone outside of Rangoon, will be Japan’s first to Burma since the late 1980s. The huge Thilawa project is led by a consortium of Japanese companies including the Mitsubishi, Sumitomo and Marubeni corporations.