BUSINESS
Burma to Hold Investment Summit, as President Vows Further Reforms
President Thein Sein delivers a speech on June 19 promising a “second wave” of reforms aimed at strengthening the economy. (Photo: MRTV)
Representatives from more than 250 foreign companies are expected to attend Burma’s first-ever investment summit on Wednesday, a day after President Thein Sein vowed a “second wave of reforms” aimed at improving the country’s economy.
The two-day New Myanmar Investment Summit 2012, organized by Singapore-based CMT, will focus on forming successful joint ventures under a new foreign investment law that Thein Sein said in a nationally televised speech on Tuesday would soon be enacted by Parliament.
The agenda will also include sessions on investment prospects in a variety of sectors, including agriculture, business, construction, infrastructure and banking and finance. Updates on Burma’s key extractive industries will also be provided by representatives from the mining and energy ministries.
Dr Kan Zaw, the deputy minister of the Ministry of National Planning and Economic Development, will deliver the opening address, while Aung Naing Oo, from the same ministry, will give a keynote address on “The New Investment Law and Its Opportunities for Foreign Investors.”
The event seeks to introduce foreign companies keen to establish joint ventures or partnerships in Burma to local industry players, entrepreneurs, agents and distributors, and will feature a post-conference workshop on structuring joint ventures and agency and distribution agreements under the new investment law, led by Alessio Polastri, founder of the Cambodia-based legal firm P&A Asia.
The event comes as Burma’s government, which last year introduced major currency reforms, signaled plans to step up the pace of its overhaul of the economy on the heels of the suspension of economic and other sanctions by Western countries.
“From this year onwards, we are working on a second wave of reforms which will focus especially on the development of the country and the public,” said Thein Sein in speech that was broadcast live on Tuesday morning.
It also comes amid lingering doubts about whether the government has the political will to carry out more far-reaching reforms that would substantially loosen its control over the economy, which remains dominated by corporations linked to the army and a handful of military cronies.
During a visit to Thailand earlier this month to attend the World Economic Forum on East Asia, opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi warned international investors to be wary of “reckless optimism” about Burma’s economic prospects.
Now in Europe, Suu Kyi has repeated her calls to would-be investors to wait until conditions have improved and there are mechanisms in place to ensure that the influx of foreign funds doesn’t merely add to already rampant corruption.
“Transparency is the key. Without transparency, there can be no accountability. And unless there is transparency, we can never tell whether these investments are going to benefit the people or just help the already privileged few,” she said in an interview with the BBC in London.
“I would be happy to see ethical responsible investment,” she added.
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Good Job, TS! keep it up! No child and no one left behind pls!
Burma, owned by the military, sold by the military, supported by Aung San Suu Kyi, bought by the reckless.
Decades of misery, torture and deaths for one dollar a day jobs at the foreigners command and pleasure!!!
This summit is a good omen of Burma’s hope of prosperity, and must be welcome.
But the investors, as envisaged, must bear in mind the needs of the common man: that their investments, if and when that come, must contribute to the welfare of the common lot just as much as it would to the few in authority. They will have to “bribe” the people too if the game is to be fair: pay enough for a living, take care of safety and health of employees, and be responsible for environmental protection. We have been hurt enough.
Hopefully, these issues would be considered at the summit and later deliberated at the planned workshop.
Bribery , corruption , nepotism and cronysm in Burmese economic development are similitude of to ajinomoto, ginger, garlics and onion of a good delicious chicken curry dish!!!
But for whom???
We have not seen a single piece yet. Do you really understand how to do it, Thein Sein?
President Thein Sein is doing the right thing. He is the best and more understanding the needs of all their people. His hard works and dedications will help for a better life, security, prosperity and opportunity in Burma. Keep up the good work president. Life is short so doing a good thing for your country, people, and your children’s generations. Don’t be blind with your older generations and those with evil minds. Your people needs you as guidance and hope and freedom as well as the world. Life is short, don’t let those evil minds to control and shed over your internal, spiritual mind. With gods and your people’s help, your soul will be protected. Don’t worry about the returns and materials, they will come to you more than you ever wants that you will able to bring with you after death, that is love, memory, and respect with 60 million people in your country and millions all over the world. Also, there is a room reserved for you in heaven with all the things that your will be enjoyed. Do what is right, do it without fair, do it without fail, do it with love, do it with joy, do it with care of others. God buhda
Bless you and people of Burma.
So far I have seen the extremly poor quality of some ministers and President Thein Sein’s advisers,based on what I saw,i am not sure that he can achieve what he promised to the people.