NDN Media Group & SeoulCity magazine interviewed H.E. Myanmar Amb. U Thant Sin in his office about Myanmar’s investment environments for foreign investors once again on mid-February as part of Myanmar Country report. –Ed.

Please introduce briefly Myanmar’s investment environments for foreign investors.
- Myanmar is endowed with Asia’s one of the most excellent locations and strategically located between China and India. Myanmar is not only an important regional trade hub but also the only land bridge between Southeast Asian countries and South Asian countries. Myanmar is rich in natural resources and a home to 54 million people.
- Since the beginning of political transition in 2011, annual economic growth rate has surpassed 6 percent in average. Myanmar has retained its status as one of the fastest growing economies in the region, and indeed the world. Myanmar’s overall growth strategy is built on a complementary mix of policies to simultaneously enable modernization in industry, agriculture and infrastructure, a diversification of export base and expansion of value-added production for domestic and international markets.
- As a least developed country, Myanmar also has preferential tariff arrangements in place – to facilitate access of the country to major international markets. The major trading partners of Myanmar are China, Thailand, Singapore, India, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Germany, etc.
- The new Myanmar Investment Law has been introduced with international standards and regulations to protect investors and attract capital. It also opens to new areas of the economy for fair competition. The law also protects investors’ rights. Foreigners now have rights to use the land and are able to carry out international firms. To encourage economic growth, three Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in Thilawa, Kyaukphyu and Dawei, have been set-up by the Myanmar government. These SEZs provide investment incentives and simplified processes for investors, with the hope that these international-standard industrial facilities would become a growth engine of Myanmar.
- In 2018, Myanmar started providing online company registry platform known as MyCo which allows companies to be registered easily via the internet. In addition, we provide “single-window system” for investment facilitation based on standard operating procedure agreed by relevant ministries. These reforms have supported the ranking of ease of doing business in Myanmar, the assessment made by the World Bank for the year 2020.

- In terms of investment, Singapore stands as the largest investor in Myanmar followed by China, Thailand, Hong Kong and UK. South Korea stands as the sixth largest investors in Myanmar with USD 4 billion projects. Myanmar has signed bilateral investment agreements with Philippines, China, Kuwait, Republic of Korea, Vietnam, India, Japan, Israel, Lao PDR, Thailand and USA.
- Moreover, Myanmar is currently under negotiation with Russia, Iran, Qatar, Belarus, Bangladesh, Hong Kong, Canada, Mongolia, EU, Czech Republic and Serbia on bilateral investment agreements. In terms of regional investment agreement, Myanmar has signed with ASEAN (ACIA), China (ASEAN-China), India (ASEAN-India), Australia/ New Zealand (AANZ-FTA) and Korea (ASEAN-ROK).  
- Myanmar has many Promoted Sectors for investment. The agriculture sector is the backbone of country’s economy. Its potential is largely untapped and huge scope for its expansion. Being connected with almost 3000 kilometers of coastline along the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea, Myanmar’s fishery owns important commercial opportunities for many communities and businesses.
- Young dynamic workforce and labor cost becomes one of the strengths of Myanmar.  It is highly competitive for industries’ productivity growth among countries in the region.  This also helps establish Myanmar as a key manufacturing hub. Telecommunication sector and services sector like tourism industry are rapidly developing throughout the country. These days, more and more potential investors are eyeing on this growing industry.

Please introduce Myanmar Government’s special favors to foreign investors. If any.
- As Myanmar continues to open up politically and economically, there are a lot of foreign investors seeking to seize many attractive and profitable opportunities. The government of Myanmar welcomes responsible investors that support sustainable economic growth of the country.
- As I mentioned earlier, the concerned ministries and departments have been liberalizing their procedures to facilitate ease of doing business in Myanmar according to the guidance of our central government.
- We provide online company registry platform known as MyCo to register and setup a company easily via internet. Furthermore, we provide “single-window system” to facilitate office procedures for investors.
- There are three development zones in Myanmar namely least developed zone, moderate developed zone and developed zone. Each zone will provide tax holiday incentives for 7 years, 5 years and 3 years respectively for investors who invest in those attractive areas.
- Decision making power has been decentralized to state and regional governments for foreign investment under 5 million USD, to accelerate and facilitate the approval of business investment process. There are many sectors and industries giving incentives and priority for investment approval.
The promoted sectors that can be benefited preferential treatment for investment approval are livestock and fishery sector, new urban area, road, bridge, railway lines and seaports, and telecommunication sector, etc.
- So, if you are an investor, looking to do business in one of the world’s fastest growing economy with low labor cost, Myanmar is the right place to pursue exciting opportunities.
- We also welcome new investors from Korea who are willing to work in partnership in various business sectors and demonstrate our long-standing bond of friendship between our two countries.  
Thank you.