myanmar business today - vol 2, issue 22.pdf

June 5-11, 2014Myanmar Business Today

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mmbiztoday.com June 5-11, 2014| Vol 2, Issue 22MYANMAR’S FIRST BILINGUAL BUSINESS JOURNAL

Myanmar Summary

Contd. P 11...

Inside MBT

Gov’t Reforms Myanmar Investment Commission

Wai Linn Kyaw

The Myanmar In-vestment Com-mission (MIC) has

appointed the country’s energy minister as its new chairman and added a vice chairman position in addition to boosting the total number of members

rising number of MIC permit applications for foreign investment in Myanmar, a source with close knowledge of the matter told MyanmarBusiness Today.

The Commission was re-established with Minister for Energy U Zayar Aung as chairman, replacing U Win Shein, minister for Finance.

Minister for Hotels and Tourism U Htay Aung was appointed as the vice Chairman of MIC, while other members include Deputy Minister for Fi-nance Dr Maung Maung Thein and Deputy Minis-ter for National Planning and Economic Develop-ment Daw Lei Lei Thein.

The secretary position

tor General of the Direc-torate of Investment and Company Administration U Aung Naing Oo.

So far during this year, MIC has permitted near-

entrepreneurs, while 60 from foreigner investors were given the go-ahead.

E-Visa to Be Introduced by

Htun Htun Minn

The Department of Immigration and Population (DIP)

under the Immigration Ministry by this year will

Visa system which was initiated in 2011, a top of-

The system will enable a visa applicant to receive Myanmar visa within three days of submitting application, thus saving time and costs, U Maung Maung Than, Director of DIP said.

“This will not only bene-

but also tourists,” he said. The director said the

technical aspect of the

while the service aspect is yet to be taken care of fully.

“We can start our ser-vice before the end of this year,” U Maung Maung Than said.

E-Visa will be available for the countries that do not have a Myanmar Em-bassy and for applicants who live far from a My-anmar consulate. Appli-

cants will get online noti-

visa, according to the DIP.The Ministry of Hotel

and Tourism, Myanmar Posts and Telecommu-nications (MPT) and the DIP are collaborating to implement the E-Visa system.

Currently, foreign ap-plicants from countries where there are no My-anmar consulates have to wait for about a week to get their applications approved, while visa fees

risdictions.“Many countries have

boosted their tourism sector by introducing this kind of system. It is tak-ing us a long time to im-plement the system, but once launched it will help us double tourist arriv-als very soon,” U Naung Naung Han, secretary of Myanmar Tourism Fed-eration, told MyanmarBusiness Today.

Myanmar has set a tar-

tourists in 2015, a near-

Minister for Tourism U Htay Aung said earlier.

Tourist arrivals in My-anmar hit 1 million for

increase of 200,000 com-pared with 2011, amid drastic reforms under-taken by the semi-civilian government that came to power three year ago.

Myanmar Says to Grant For-eign Banks Licences by End-

Getting A “Reasonable” Lunch: Yangon’s Western Restaurant Scene P-9

Yoma Boosts Myanmar Telco Tower Stake to 25pc P-27

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MYANMAR’S FIRST BILINGUAL BUSINESS JOURNAL

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Business News in BriefChina washes its hands of illegal Chinese in Myanmar

The Chinese government will not be responsible for and will not provide any assistance to Chinese citizens who have illegally entered Myanmar to work at gold and other metal mines in Mandalay Division, local me-dia reported Mandalay-based Chinese Consul General Wang Yu as saying. Myanmar can take action against illegal Chinese migrant workers in accordance with its laws since China is taking strong action against illegal foreigners in China, Wang Yu said.

Thanlwin hydropower project gets green sig-nal

The Myanmar Minister of Electric Power has grant-ed approval to local company Asia World and China’s Hanergy Group Holding Ltd to develop a 1,400MW hy-dropower plant along the Thanlwin River, local media reported. The Upper Thanlwin (also seen as "Kunlong") hydroelectric project would be a joint venture allowing the companies to operate the plant for up to 40 years under a build-operate-transfer plan, with all but about 10 percent of its output being sold to China. The Han-ergy Group reportedly signed a memorandum of agree-ment for the Upper Thanlwin project’s development with the Myanmar government in 2010.

New town plans to be drawn for 56 Following instructions from President Thein Sein,

new town plans will be drawn for 56 cities across the country with assistance from international organisa-tions, local media reported Director Aye Aye Myint of Construction Ministry as saying. Priority would be given to cities with more than 100,000 population, Aye Aye Myint said.

FDI from turmoil-hit regional countries may move to Myanmar

Foreign Direct Investment projects from some re-gional countries, which are experiencing political tur-moil, are likely to move into Myanmar, leading local businesspeople told local media. Lured by EU’s restora-tion of GSP (Generalised System of Preferences) trad-ing privileges on Myanmar, a number of garment facto-ries have already moved to Myanmar, Chairman Myat Thin Aung of Hlaingtharyar Special Industrial Estate, western outskirts of Yangon, was quoted as saying.

Gov’t sells K2.1 trillion in treasury notesThe government has sold more than K2.1 trillion

($2.17 billion) worth of treasury notes as of February, according to the Ministry of National Planning and Economic Development. The Central Bank of Myanmar (CBM) sold K559 billion worth of three-year treasury

three-year term is 9 percent and the interest rate for

Bank of Myanmar.

Companies from 11 countries to invest in Thil-awa SEZ

A total of 45 foreign companies from 11 countries in-

tion letters to invest at the Thilawa Special Economic Zone on the outskirts of commercial city Yangon, local media reported citing Chairman Set Aung of the Thila-wa SEZ Management Committee. Most of the interest-ed companies are from Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia while the only company from

the entire project.

EU promotes police-public relationsThe Myanmar Police Force (MPF) in cooperation with

European Union will promote the relations between po-lice force and public in Myanmar, the EU said in a state-ment. The MPF recently held an Open Day, which was organised at the initiative of the Community Policing project funded by the EU. The project has also provided

in order to roll out community policing to more areas across the country. The police reform project includes community policing, crowd management, improving accountability and enhancing the role of civil society and the media. The project will be completed in March 2015, the EU said.

Myanmar Summary

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Myanmar Summary

Contd. P 11...

Myanmar Says to Grant Foreign Banks Licences by End-Sept

Myanmar will grant for-eign banks limited op-erating licences by the

third quarter of this year, in a bid by the country’s semi-civil-ian government to attract for-eign investment into an econo-my just emerging from decades of military rule.

mar, and seen by Reuters, shows that as many as 10 foreign banks will be allowed to set up one branch each to provide restricted services, including granting loans to foreign corporates.

Jared Ferrie Lending to local companies will require the foreign banks to cooperate with local institu-tions, the document shows.

Foreign banks with repre-

include Standard Chartered, Thailand’s Siam Commercial Bank , Singapore’s Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp., the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, the Korea Ex-change Bank, and Japan’s Su-mitomo Mitsui Banking Group.

“Licensees are expected to contribute to the development of the domestic banking sector, notably but not exclusively by participating in the interbank market, by lending to domestic

ing activities of domestic corpo-rates,” the document added.

A licensing panel will review applications by July 6 and award

September, the document says.

will oversee the process.Based on a recommendation

from the World Bank, a mini-mum paid-in capital of $75 mil-lion will be required by selected foreign banks, the document showed.

Domestic concernsMyanmar’s banking sector

was crippled by decades of mis-management under military

of the global economy due to Western sanctions.

The European Union, Aus-tralia and other countries have lifted sanctions in response to widespread political and eco-nomic reforms initiated by the reformist, semi-civilian govern-ment that took over from a mili-tary junta in March 2011.

who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the subject, said foreign banks would help spur economic development as well as modernise the domestic banking system.

foreign banks to give capacity building to local banks,” the of-

The tender has triggered con-cerns among domestic banks and lawmakers, who say the

immature to deal with foreign competition.

a “strong parliamentary com-mittee” had already said it was opposed to allowing foreign banks to operate in Myanmar, but added that the process was unlikely to be derailed.

“Local banks are not to be marginalised,” he said.

Last year, a group of parlia-mentarians tried unsuccessfully to intervene at the last moment to prevent telecommunication licences from being awarded to Norway’s Telenor and Qatar’s Ooredoo.

be allowed to operate in Myanmar later this year although initially they will only be allowed to have branches in certain areas and offer a limited range of products, government and banking sources told Reuters.

Wai

Lin

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yaw

Rice Exports Up 26 Percent in April

Myanmar earned $10.74 million from export-ing 27,692 tonnes of

year, up 26 percent compared to the same period a year ear-lier, Ministry of Commerce data shows.

During the period, 5,070 tonnes of rice were exported through overseas routes, fetch-ing $1.86 million, while over-land (border) trade of 22,622 tonnes garnered $8.88 million.

tonnes of rice were exported through overseas routes earn-

trade bagged $5.40 million

May Soe San from 12,182 tonnes. Myanmar’s rice exports most-

ly take place overland with Chi-na and Thailand, however the government has been empha-sising on increasing overseas exports, which essentially com-prise exporting high-grade and value-added rice.

Muse border trade station with China sees about 45,000 to 50,000 bags traded every day, with local varities like Nwe The Htet and Nga Seing being the most popular, traders say.

Recently, there has been strong demand for rice from China’s Yunan province as ex-ports from Vietnam dwindled,

Reuters

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Myanmar Summary

Myanmar Summary

Heliocentris Grabs Additional Multimillion Dollar Myanmar Order

New order worth $2.7-4 million; covers turnkey power solutions for 75 new base stations

German power solutions provider Heliocentris Energy Solutions AG

said it has received an addition-al order in Myanmar following its multimillion-dollar April deal, which was the largest sin-gle purchase order in the com-pany’s history.

million ($2.72-4.08 million) in revenues depending on exact

said, adding that the order will

months.-

distributed power systems, announced that it grabbed an order to deliver and install 75 turnkey power solutions for the rollout of the new mobile net-work in Myanmar.

With this order, the 2014 or-der book of Heliocentris has reached €9.2 million ($12.51 million), almost double the amount it recorded as full year

The power solutions comprise Heliocentris’ proprietary “En-ergy Manager System” and also include diesel generators, bat-teries, power electronics, cabi-nets and peripheral material from other power components suppliers.

Ayad Abul-Ella, CEO of Helio-centris, said: “Orders received from Myanmar now total over €5 million, which is particularly encouraging as the rollout of the mobile telecom infrastruc-ture in this country has only just begun.”

Telenor and Ooredoo, the two principal operators in My-

Phyu Thit Lwin

Hel

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ntris

anmar, plan to erect around 18,000 mobile base stations in the next three years, of which about one fourth in 2014.

“The opportunity is therefore huge for Heliocentris to achieve substantial double-digit million revenues in Myanmar over the

“With our recent order wins the company is now also well on track to achieve full year revenues of over €20 million in 2014 as planned.”

Ayad said the follow-on order

standing with existing custom-ers and was already evidenced by repeat-purchases by du in UAE and mcell in Mozambique.

Myanmar is one of the few remaining telecommunications frontiers, with only 10 percent of its 60 million people holding a mobile-phone subscription,

according to industry estimates. That compares to penetration rates of 70 percent in Cambo-dia, 90 percent in Laos and over 100 percent in Thailand.

-ments, the Myanmar govern-ment plans to increase the per-centage of

phone owners to 80 percent by 2016.

In order to achieve this ambi-tious goal, new mobile licences were awarded to Telenor from Norway and Qatar Telecom in June of last year. Both opera-tors will have to meet popula-tion and geographical coverage targets to ensure that the coun-try’s large rural population is covered.

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Myanmar’s April

$634m

Myanmar’s total exports in April amounted to

total imports during the month came up to $1.18 billion, show-

Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) shows.

During the period, foreign trade totalled $1.72 billion, ac-cording to CSO data.

Of the total export, overseas

million dollars while border trade made up $108.14 million.

Of the total import, overseas trade accounted for $1.04 bil-lion and border trade made up

foreign trade totalled $24.96 billion, with export amounting to $11.20 billion and import

Kyaw Min

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Myanmar Summary

Myanmar Summary

UPP Gets MIC Nod on $46-m Power Plant

Incorporates Myanmar power subsidiary for its new gas power plant project in Yangon (Ywama)

Singapore-listed conglomerate UPP Holdings Ltd

to its power generation subsidiary to carry on a power plant project in the energy-starved Southeast Asian country.

an investment of $46.511 million, approved by the My-anmar Investment Commission (MIC), UPP said in a

The company and UPP Greentech Pte Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of UPP, have invested the total sum, comprising: initial capital injection of $75,000; addi-tional capital injection of $46,000; and aggregate con-

UPP holds 1 percent stake in the company while UPP Greentech holds the rest.

In August last year, UPP signed a turnkey agreement with Myanmar-based MSP Tractors Pte Ltd and Myan Shwe Pyi Tractors Ltd to build the power plant.

UPP started looking into potential businesses in My-anmar since 2012 in a bid to diversify its portfolio into

Myanmar.

Aung Phyo

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Myanmar Seeks to Establish Direct Air Links with Europe

The government is discuss-ing with some European countries to sign aviation

agreements which will pave the way to establish direct air con-nections between Europe and the

Htun Htun Minn recently-opened Southeast Asian nation, a Directorate of Civil Avi-

“Now we are discussing with Netherlands and France. Then we will continue to discuss with other countries,” U Nay Win, Director of the DCA told Myan-

mar Business Today. DCA will strive to improve

aviation safety, airport security and other related services to push those agreements.

Currently, there are no local direct air links between Myan-mar and any European country.

However, Myanmar has direct air links with China, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Bangla-desh and India, among others. The Philippines also struck a direct air link agreement with Myanmar last month.

“Myanmar’s aviation industry will develop once the depart-ment signs the agreements. Local airlines will be able to expand their market and the number of airlines will also increase,” Daw Aye Mra Tha, spokesperson of the state-run carrier Myanmar Airways In-ternational (MAI) said.

Currently, there are 24 foreign airlines operating in Myanmar and most of them are operating from Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia.

Foreign tourist arrival has jumped recently amid reforms and the three international air-

gon, Mandalay and Nay Pyi Taw

capacity.The government recently se-

lected a foreign consortium to build a $12-billion new inter-national airport in Bago region, about 70 kilometres from Yan-gon.

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Myanmar Summary

Trio Sign $3-m Public Private Partnership Agreement

The United States Agency for International Devel-opment (USAID), Chev-

ron/UNOCAL Myanmar and Pact Myanmar have signed a

-nership (PPP) agreement to im-plement a development project in Myanmar.

The three-year project is the second phase of a program known as SHINE (Sustainable Health and Empowerment), and is the latest in a 10-year partnership between Washing-ton-based NGO Pact and Chev-ron/UNOCAL.

Pact’s Country Director Rich-ard Harrison said the agree-ment marks a major step forward in a new model of de-velopment, where the common goal is integrated community resilience.

He said aid organisations now have the opportunity and responsibility in Myanmar to

to better address the govern-ment’s highest priorities and

reform process. “We see this as a potential

paradigm shift based on lessons

as part of a deliberate and stra-tegic shift in Myanmar where private sector and civil society

May Soe San links no longer lag behind the links between donors and civil society,” Harrison said.

The new project aims to im-prove the lives of 160,000

townships in central Myanmar between 2014 and 2017, Pact said.

Mariano Vela, president of Chevron/UNOCAL Myanmar, said: “As a long-term private sector investor in Myanmar, we see ourselves as part of the solution for Myanmar’s future development, and it is our hope that projects such as this help people to make their own eco-nomic choices.

Over 10 years of support-ing Pact in Myanmar, we have directly improved the lives of 902,405 individual Myanmar citizens in 181,000 households

townships, he added. The program will focus on

women’s economic empower-ment through the establishment of Village Health and Develop-ment Funds (VHDFs), which will focus on maternal, new-born and child health, tuber-culosis, water and sanitation,

women in target communities. One of the key outputs of the

SHINE program will be to dou-ble, to 80 percent, the propor-tion of pregnant women in tar-get villages that give birth with

skilled birth attendants.United States Ambassador

Derek Mitchell said Public Pri-vate Partnerships are an inte-gral part of the United States Government strategy for im-proving development outcomes worldwide, and supporting the reform process in Myanmar.

Pact also implements a -

ernment-funded development program called Shae Thot in Myanmar. Besides USAID and Chevron, Pact also gets funding from Coca-cola for its Myanmar programs.

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DFDL Discusses Tax Issues

R -ducted a knowledge-sharing session with high level of-

“Central to the discussions were the tax issues faced by inter-national clients in the current business environment in Myan-mar,” said DFDL Partner Jack Sheehan.

The session, held in collaboration with DFDL’s alliance trans--

During the session, Sheehan, Tax Director Bernard Cobarru-bias and Quantera Senior Partner Steven Carey shared experi-

-ternational tax trends, double tax treaties and transfer pricing.

“As international investors increasingly enter Myanmar, the IRD there was particularly keen to hear those issues as well as cases and practical examples from other tax jurisdictions,” Sheehan added.

-gon and the capital Nay Pyi Taw.

Aung Phyo

Myanmar Summary

should not assume it is impossi-ble to eat out for under K5,000, instead if you look carefully it is possible to eat out all over Yan-gon. And I’m sure many readers can name many restaurants I have yet to encounter.

Although there is a surpris-ingly wide range of good quality restaurants in Yangon it is safe to say the vast majority are rela-tively expensive. Costs of opera-tions are high in Yangon, land rental is very expensive and sourcing authenticate ingredi-ents is problematic and pricy

prices. Additionally, many for-eigners in Yangon are well paid expatriate workers, with high levels of disposable income. This is dissimilar to neighbour-ing Bangkok, which receives a high number of lower income tourists and subsequently has a restaurant scene to facilitate.

Resultantly, as many restau-rants cater to the higher end of the economic spectrum there is little necessity to charge cheap prices, as demand will be high regardless.

city undergoing a time of tran-sition and is likely to change

in recent years as more tour-ists, expats and returning locals trickle into the country. As one of my interviewees working in a high-end European restaurant, who wanted to remain anony-mous, told me, “With the di-chotomy in pricing and quality between reasonable local and Western food so vast, it seems likely new restaurants will open with Western menus and Bur-mese prices.”

With these restaurants lo-cated in a society that places such esteem on Western cul-ture, it seems likely these es-

anyone who’s been to the Pizza Company or Manhattan Fish

-pirational Burmese making up the majority of the customers. For now however, there is still much progress to be made.

Jonathan Harvey is currently interning at Consult Myanmar in Yangon. The views expressed here are the author’s own and

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mmbiztoday.com

7LOCAL BIZ

Myanmar Summary

Myanmar Summary

Myanmar Signs Environmental Pact with South Korea

The Ministry of Environmental Conservation has signed an environmental protection agreement with the government of South Korea.

As Myanmar begins a phase of rapid economic devel-opment, the impact on the environment and local ecosys-tems grows due to pollution, deforestation and increasing resource extraction.

“By signing the environmental conservation contract, we can exchange environmental information and techni-cal experiences,” said Nay Aye, director general of the De-partment of Environmental Conservation and Forestry.

The two sides signed an agreement to carry out environ-mental policies, prevent the degradation of bio-diversity and climate change. The agreements also helps share in-formation on how to control and supervise air pollution, manage water quality control and underground water supplies and conduct environmental research.

“As Myanmar faces rapid economic development, they face increasing environmental pollution. To reduce pollu-tion, we need conservation programmes and sound envi-ronmental policies. We want to share the good ways to re-duce the environmental impact,” said the chairman of the Korea Environmental Industry & Technology Institute.

Aye Myat

Ooredoo to Launch Myanmar Services by September

Omobile SIM cards in My-anmar sometime between

July and September this year, a

services in major urban areas around Yangon, Mandalay and Nay Pyi Taw in the third quarter

the population, Ross Cormack, -

doo, told a press conference to update on progress of the com-pany ahead of its launch of its services.

By the end of the year, services will reach 60 percent of the pop-

percent of the country’s popula--

work coverage. However, Cormack declined re-

veal the exact price of Ooredoo’s

still conducting a customer sur-vey.

“The price of SIM cards, call and internet service rates will be announced later. There will be no limits as to how many SIM cards will be issued. Our main goal is to provide better telecommuni-

Kyaw Min

cations and internet services to Myanmar people,” he said.

licence to operate in Myanmar’s

industry, said it has established data centres in Yangon and Man-dalay and another one in Nay Pyi Taw is near completion.

400 infrastructure towers and deploy 1,200 kilometres of its

-ers.

“So far we have built more than 100 towers, and we are going to have more by the end of the

year,” Cormack said.Ooredoo Mynmar formally got

its licence to operate of February 5 following its successful bidding in a tightly-contested battle for

After formally receiving its li-cence Ooredoo said in a state-ment: “… the company remains on track to meet its commitment to deliver … mobile communica-tion services for Myanmar’s peo-ple in six months’ time.”

--

mack said: “From now on we must work ... to launch after six

date. … We must keep our prom-ises in delivering our services and products to the people of Myan-mar. Keeping the promises by word of mouth isn’t enough.”

Ooredoo’s Norwegian rival Telenor, which has about 150 million subscribers in Asia, the Nordics and central Europe, said it would launch voice and data service within eight months in Myanmar and expects to cover 90 percent of the country’s popu-

Cormack said Ooredoo is work-ing on connecting to the existing mobile network of state-run My-anmar Post and Telecommunica-

network can already connect to Telenor’s network.

Regarding user data protec-tion, Cormak said Ooredoo owns its data centres and networks and user information will be safeguarded according to inter-national law. “Even if the govern-ment asks for user data, we will not give them.”

Cormack placed a strong em-phasis on the work that continues in the recruitment, development and training of its local Myanmar

-

working across all functions of the business, Cormack said they are the key ingredient to deliver-ing ongoing success:

Whilst acknowledging that some challenges had been faced in terms of network rollout, Cor-mack said plans to introduce its service during the third quarter remained intact.

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Myanmar Summary

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Manulife Makes Myanmar Return After 72-Year Break

Manulife Financial Corp (MFC) re-established its presence in Myan-

-dian insurer to tap the Southeast Asian country’s burgeoning mid-dle class.

The company, which operates in 11 Asian markets including Thailand and China, opened a

-mar’s largest city Yangon recent-ly, and plans to sell life insurance products to the country of about 60 million people.

Manulife, Canada’s largest life insurer entered Myanmar

known as Burma, and left in 1942

Wai Linn Kyaw as the World War II broke out.“We’re convinced Myanmar is

on the threshold of a great op-portunity,” Indren Naidoo, Man-ulife’s regional executive, said in a statement.

“Myanmar has a real oppor-tunity here in terms of catching up with the kind of growth and development we’ve seen in other parts of this region.”

Myanmar’s middle-income earners are set to double by 2020, according to the Boston Consulting Group, leaving more disposable income for residents to buy insurance products. It is forecast to reach one of the high-est growth rates in Asia, with a GDP gain of 7.8 percent this year and next, according to the Asian

Development Bank. Myanmar’s government has

been shaping a more invest-ment-friendly country by unify-ing the exchange rate, creating autonomy for the central bank, reforming tax policy, pumping funds into social and physical in-frastructure, and developing the

of isolation and military rule.Last year, Myanmar took the

-ance sector by issuing 12 licences to private domestic insurers. Be-fore that, state-owned insurer Myanma Insurance enjoyed a monopoly for about 50 years.

The government has signalled that foreign insurers and banks would be allowed to start operat-

ing in Myanmar as early as 2015. Major insurers such as Pruden-tial, MetLife Inc, AIA Group Ltd, ACE Group and Sumitomo Mit-sui have also opened up repre-

“Myanmar was actually one of Manulife’s earliest markets

light of its large, dynamic popu-lation and the positive changes in its economy, it can be a major part of our future too,” Robert Cook, president and chief ex-ecutive of Manulife Asia, told the Wall Street Journal.

Some estimates suggest that a measly 0.5 percent of Myanmar’s population have insurance cov-

likely a key hurdle for some con-sumers, insurers are betting that is likely to change over the com-ing years given the country’s rel-atively robust pace of economic growth, its abundance natural re-sources and a government pledge to reduce poverty.

“Its economy is small now, but it’s growing at 8 percent a year

its population is twice the size of Canada,” Naidoo said.

Myanmar is also attractive to in-surers because it has a young pop-ulation with the median age being 28 versus 42 in Canada, he added.

“And there’s also a tremendous energy among ordinary Burmese families to get on in life, and catch up with the growth in neighbor-ing countries,” said Naidoo.

Toronto-based Manulife, which manages $584 billion, had 2012 revenue of $27.6 billion and has 28,000 employees worldwide.

Mitsui to Start Auto Service Workshop Business

Mitsui & Co will start an automobile service workshop business in

Myanmar in collaboration with SCG Trading Co a subsidiary of Siam Cement Group, one of the leading industrial groups in Thailand.

Mitsui and SCGT established the investment company SCGT Automobile Co (SCA) in Bangkok and SCA established a joint ven-ture company Mingalar Motor Co in Yangon with Oriental Apex Car Sales & Services.

The new service shop will start operations in September, accord-ing to Mitsui.

There are about 400,000 regis-tered vehicles in Myanmar. As its vehicle market consists mainly of used vehicles, the demand for high quality after service has

Kyaw Min been increasing. Also, with the population nearing 60 million, liberalisation and rapid growth in the new car sales market is ex-pected in the near future.

Mitsui began conducting busi-ness ahead of other companies in Myanmar. It had the most in-vestment projects in the country among Japanese companies in the 1990s.

The company, which resumed exportation of rice from Myan-mar two years ago, said it will keep contributing to the coun-try’s development through valu-able business, including this new automotive project.

Myanmar SummaryMitsui & Co taejzifh xdkif;EdkifiHH\

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service workshop in Myanmar.

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Myanmar Summary

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Getting A “Reasonable” Lunch: Yangon’s Western Restaurant Scene

Located at the meeting point between the deli-

China and Thailand and the

the diversity of the nation it-self. Yangon is a cosmopolitan metropolis, home to some six million inhabitants and an ev-er-expanding expatriate com-munity. Theoretically it should have a culinary scene to rival that of her neighbours, yet lags far behind cities like Bangkok and Singapore in gastronomic reputation.

Though Yangon’s local Bur-mese cuisine can be excep-tionally good, it is undeniably more of an acquired taste than that of neighbouring countries. Street food is often not of the same standard or cleanliness of neighbouring Thailand. In fact, local media reported this year that one third of food samples tested contained traces of dan-gerous bacteria that can cause food poisoning at the very least, or even death if symptoms were left untreated.

Having spoken with a number of the cities expatriate commu-nity, it was made clear that many found local cuisine too oily, salty or simply unpleasantly tasting. Or as how one of my interviewees colourfully put it, “Burmese food doesn’t exactly taste bad, it just looks like something that belongs in the toilet, and can smell even worse.”

This can be a problematic sce-nario, especially for those resid-ing in Yangon for an extended period of time. Though one can readily get a local meal for less than K5,000, and in many cases much less, it remains to be seen what Western cuisine is attain-able at these prices.

It is fair to say what is on of-fer has a reputation for being on the expensive side and often of questionable quality and au-thenticity. Much alike the cities hospitality industry, there are some very good high-end res-taurants, though it remains to

those on a more modest budget.This article aims to identify

the available options for those

Jonathan Harvey

wanting a change from the ubiquitous local fare by identi-fying if one can eat a Western-style lunch (main course and drink) for K5,000 in downtown Yangon. “Western” is of course a very broad term, generally food from Europe and the US and certainly not from the tri-umvirate of bordering nations that hold such dominance on Yangon’s restaurant scene.

In compiling this report I -

rants in Yangon in addition to speaking with numerous expats to provide a balanced picture of the available Western culinary scene available to Yangon’s ex-pat population.

Many of the people I spoke with complained of the dif-

-formation. Aisha, a twenty two year old teacher from London revealed: “With the exception of websites like Myanmore and Yangonite that do a pretty good job reviewing a number of res-taurants, I have to rely on my outdated Lonely Planet, or the

tripadvisor where results are all too easy to manipulate.

access good English language information on the vibrant culi-

FindingsAfter compiling my research

I was surprised to identify a

a lunch option accessible for K5,000 or less.

misleading, as they suggest that it is relatively easy to get a

Western lunch for this price. It is not. Six of the eleven eater-ies where this is possible were

sandwich or Panini and drink but not a full meal, which were generally more expensive.

Some townships are undoubt-edly more expensive than oth-ers; the south-central area of Dagon is one of Yangon’s largest and most expensive townships. Seven of the eight eateries sampled in this neigh-bourhood were too expensive

to obtain a reasonable lunch, although Fatman Steakhouse was particularly good and sur-

rental costs and a wealthy expat

more expensive areas of Yan-gon where cheap eating options are sparse regardless of cuisine.

-ern lunch in Yangon for K5,000 American-style fast food estab-lishments might be your best bet. Korean-owned Lotteria for instance was cheaper than BBQ

Chicken (where meals start up-wards of K5,000) yet was still relatively expensive. If one or-

rice as opposed to French Fries

chicken burger meal from Lot-teria costs more than K5,000. Malaysian-owned Harley’s pro-vides another option at similar prices, and is set to open more outlets this year.

The remaining options were: -

taurant newly opened by a

British expat near Inya Lake. Here one could eat relatively

good price; Sai’s Tacos, a Mexi-

but uninspiring Mexican fare in small portions; and Ice Berry, which has a few outlets dotted around the city. Although not strictly Western, Ice Berry pro-vides very reasonably priced

quality. Some are pretty good replication of authentic Italian dishes (seafood creamy pasta for instance) whilst other items

though cheap are sadly lacking

particular.Pizza was a uniformly lavish

item often retailing for in ex-cess of K10,000, though this is not entirely surprising as cheese can be so expensive. If one sought something other than “fast food” they would be sorely disappointed, good qual-ity Western food is a rarity in

restaurants in the city or the hotels, would command simi-lar prices to Europe with some restaurants charging in excess of K100,000 per head. Even at more modest establishments you would be lucky to eat a good lunch for under K15,000.

As my knowledge of much of downtown is restricted, one

“ As many restaurants cater to the higher end of the

economic spectrum there is little necessity to charge

cheap prices, as demand will be high regardless.”



Myanmar Summary

OoredooMyanmar Launches Start-Up Incubation Programme

IdeaBox to provide entrepreneurs with facilities, mentoring and start-up capital

Ooredoo Myanmar has

incubation programme in a bid to enable the country’s start-ups to kick start their ven-

The IdeaBox programme seeks to identify start-up com-panies with a business concept

-

month of incubation and accel-

mentoring and guidance, as well as start-up capital of up to $100,000.

Ross Cormack, CEO of Oore-doo Myanmar, said: “Across our markets, local entrepre-neurs are developing innovative ICT programmes and mobile apps, but often do not have the resources to bring these to mar-ket or scale their solutions.”

He said the program will pro-vide expertise, funding and exposure to develop entrepre-

Phyu Thit Lwin

Toyo-Thai Plans $2.7-b Coal Power Plant in Myanmar

Thailand-based Toyo-Thai Corp is in talks to invest $2.7 billion in

power plant in Myanmar’s southeastern Mon state.

The engineering procurement and construction contractor ex-

third quarter, said vice presi-

Surattana Trinratana, accord-ing to Thai media reports.

The work on the plant will start as soon as possible after the Myanmar government ap-proves the project, he said.

The company recently signed a deal for a project loan worth $100 million from the Export-Import Bank of Thailand to de-velop a 120MW combined-cycle gas-turbine project in Ahlone township, Yangon. This project

from the Myanmar govern-ment.

The Ahlone project’s con-struction began in 2012 on a total investment of $170 mil-lion. Partially completed with a capacity of 80MW, this project is already providing electricity to the township and is expect-

Aye Myat ed to contribute $10 million in revenue to Toyo-Thai Power this year. The remaining 40MW capacity will come online next year.

Toyo-Thai Corp is a joint ven-

Toyo Engineering Corp and Thailand’s largest construction company, Italian-Thai Devel-opment.

neurialism at the grassroots level.

“We aim to support local

developments, and to provide inspiring role models of success to encourage human growth through innovation, with the potential to impact millions of

lives across our markets.”-

gramme recognises that time and focus is often a barrier to start-up success and will enable young Myanmar entrepreneurs to focus 100 percent of their time and energy on their new ventures.

IdeaBox aims to incubate am-bitious companies with plans to use technology and increased mobile penetration to build scale quickly and achieve $100 million valuations, it added.

All interested start-ups can apply via www.ideabox.com.

-

cessful start-ups to be an-nounced on June 27. Ooredoo said.

Myanmar Summary

Myanmar Summary

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Parliament Okays $520-m Agri Loan Plan

Myanmar’s parliament has approved a plan to borrow an agricultural

loan of K500 billion ($520 mil-lion) from the central bank and $20 million from the World Bank for the Ministry of Educa-tion.

However, the Parliament did not approve a proposal from the Ministry of Agriculture and Ir-

Aung Phyofrom the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) due to a controversy over the proposed project sites, Speaker Thura U Shwe Mann told the Parliament.

While lawmakers agreed with the proposal in principle, the Speaker decided to shelve it due to a lack of clarity over project locations.

The parliament also passed

the 2014 writ petition bill and decided to continue discussion about the anti-terrorism bill on

10th session last Wednesday.At the session of the Lower

House, discussions were made on the Standardisation Bill which will be put forward to the parliament, while at the Upper House session, Deputy Minister of Electric Power U Aung Than Oo answered questions on dis-tribution of electric power.

More than 50 bills will be open for discussion during the ongoing session.

Ooredoo’s upcoming telecoms network.

Jeff

Rob

erso

n/A

P.

U A

ung/Xinhua



Myanmar SummaryMyanmar Summary

Myanmar Summary

Myanmar Summary

Sunlabob, Relitec Tie Up for Myanmar Solar Projects

Laos-based rural renew-

has forged a partnership with local energy company Re-litec for solar PV projects in My-anmar, the company said.

“This partnership is an impor-tant step for both Sunlabob and Relitec to provide high-quality renewable energy solutions to Myanmar, a country greatly in

-ergy,” said Sunlabob chief ex-ecutive Andy Schroeter.

“Sunlabob’s experience im--

newable energy throughout the developing world will comple-ment Relitec’s on-the-ground knowledge of the local Myan-mar market.”

-anmar’s population have access to grid-connected electricity in

Aye Myat Myanmar while estimates sug-gest only 4 percent of the rural population has electricity.

“Myanmar is just seeing the tip of the iceberg for solar en-ergy’s potential,” said Than Aye, Relitec’s managing direc-tor. “We are excited to be well-positioned to meet the upsurge of solar activity.”

Relitec, which is based in Yan-gon and specialises in engineer-ing, installation and the opera-tions and maintenance of solar technology, has already tackled

Myanmar and will bring valua-ble local knowledge to the table, Sunlabob said.

Western Union Expands Business in Myanmar

American payment ser-vices provider Western Union has expanded its

remittance business in Myan-mar through nine local banks, the company said.

The announcement, which co-incided with the company’s one-year anniversary celebrations in Myanmar early this month, marked a sharp increase in the number of agents from 100 in key commercial towns to 460 across the country.

Western Union is one of the

companies to provide service in Myanmar, paving the way for formalised international money transfers after sanctions were eased in 2012.

Phyu Thit Lwin

just over 100 Agent locations in the key commercial towns, the Western Union money transfer service is now available at over 460 Agent locations across My-anmar, making it the largest international money transfer network in the country.

Chin State, a mountainous -

cult-to-access states in Myan-

latest state to be covered with Western Union’s international service in collaboration with Cooperative Bank.

The recent signing of Yoma Bank as Western Union’s ninth agent in Myanmar will add over 50 locations, linking consumers with over 500,000 locations in

over 200 countries and territo-ries, the money transfer com-pany said.

Thida Myo Aung, deputy di-rector general, Financial Insti-tution Supervision Department, Central Bank of Myanmar, said: “Myanmar has made great strides over the past two years. Our own journey to prosperity has been made possible thanks to companies like Western Un-ion.”

Last year, the Western Union Company completed 242 mil-lion consumer-to-consumer transactions worldwide, mov-ing $82 billion of principal be-tween consumers, and 459 mil-lion business payments.t

U Chan Thar Oo from Rice Enterpreneurs’ Association of Muse told Myanmar Business Today.

“Rice exports via border trade have always been our strong point. But we have to expand our international market and for that we need to improve the quality of our rice,” a high rank-

Commerce said.Currently, Myanmar has only

a few rice mills that produce high quality rice. Most rice mills

rice, which is a lower grade of rice and not favoured for ex-ports in the EU or Japan.

exported 684,698 tonnes of rice, earning $274.86 million where overseas trade account-

$106.79 million.

Myanmar received $2.21 bil-lion in foreign investment in

with transport and communica-tions sectors leading the pack

manufacturing, real estate, ho-tel and tourism, and mining.

The total foreign investment in Myanmar reached up to $46.48 billion as of April. My-

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anmar enacted a new Foreign Investment Law in November 2012 and the MIC was formed in 1994.



Myanmar Summary

Reforms in Myanmar: Making The Next Asian MiracleMyanmar’s reforms are lifting the economic outlook for one of Asia’s economic laggards as indicators show prospects for an economic boom

For decades, Myanmar was the regional basket case as irrational policies, iso-

wrought havoc on the economy and society. At independence in 1948, the outlook seemed bright. The country had one of the best education systems in the region, it was integrated with world markets through the port of Rangoon, and possessed ample natural resources and a

-ministrative system. All of these advantages were spoiled during decades of authoritarian rule. Resources degenerated over

-ularly through declining quality of education and infrastructure

-ity.

Economic reforms in Myan-mar were actually initiated be-fore the country’s political re-forms. And while many of the early economic initiatives pri-marily served to enrich cronies

-sets, there were also important policy shifts. Even before the 2010 elections, macroeconomic policies had improved. A key indicator of improved manage-ment is the stabilisation of in-

achievement in a country where spells of rapid price increases used to be the norm.

Infrastructure developments during military rule largely served strategic purposes, and wasteful investments expand-ing railways to remote upland areas have given no sustained economic return. But there were improvements in physical infrastructure developments in the decade before 2010 as focus was shifted to improving the

links to markets in neighbour-ing countries.

Administrative barriers to both domestic and internation-al trade remain, but abolition of the restrictive trade regime and

in 2012 have produced impres-sive export growth. Resource-based commodities, primar-ily natural gas and minerals, are leading Myanmar’s trade growth. The country’s loca-tion between the expanding economies of China, India and mainland Southeast Asia not only provide opportunities for transit trade but are also ad-vantageous for supplying these resource-hungry markets with commodities.

Anders Engvall

The rural economy is going through a rapid transforma-tion as exports of rice, beans and other agricultural com-modities expand. Rice exports

-marily fuelled by cross-border trade with China, and are set for more rapid growth this year. Rural development is not only

-nities in agricultural exporting, which had been prohibited for decades, but also from impor-tant policy shifts giving farmers freedom to decide which crops to grow. Rural credit remains scarce but expansion of state credit to farmers at favourable rates has increased. Land law reforms may provide additional relief as farmland will be eligi-ble as collateral, opening up for increased private credit to the agricultural sector.

It will be essential that policy-makers focus on spreading the

population. Inclusive growth, alleviating widespread pov-erty and improved welfare, will build support for economic reforms and may also lay the foundations for solving the country’s long-running domes-

Essential investments in healthcare and education will only be possible if the govern-ment is willing to commit a substantial share of its rev-enues from exports of gas, oil and minerals to the social sec-tor. This would be a dramatic change from the past, when in-come from extractive industries was used to fund the bloated armed forces, the construction

of the new capital, Nay Pyi Taw, and other projects of limited so-

Remaining weaknesses in macroeconomic management are also a threat to long-term developments. Sustained in-

export revenue and foreign aid risk making the overvaluation of the kyat permanent, and should be managed carefully. A short decline in the currency

provided important relief to exporters. But there is no in-dication that the authorities will continue to bring down the strong currency, due to fears of

that was common in the past. The currency rate continues to constrain the development of manufacturing, and, while this obstacle remains in place, ef-forts to set up industrial zones will be futile given Myanmar’s cost disadvantages compared to the main East Asian production bases.

Still, the reforms in Myanmar to date have led to a conver-

gence of growth rates in Myan-mar to the East Asian average. If remaining weaknesses are addressed, there is scope for further acceleration and that would turn Myanmar into the latest Asian economic miracle.

Anders Engvall is a research

appeared in the East Asia Fo-

in Asia”. East Asia Forum is a platform for analysis and re-search on politics, economics, business, law, security, inter-national relations and society relevant to public policy, cen-

Based out of the Crawford

-sity, the Forum is a joint initia-tive of two academic research

-reau of Economic Research

Bureau of Economic Research

“ Inclusive growth, alleviating widespread poverty and im-

proved welfare, will build sup-port for economic reforms and

may also lay the foundations for solv-ing the country’s long-running domes-

tic conflicts.”

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Infrastructure developments during military rule largely served strategic purposes, and wasteful investments expanding railways to remote upland areas have given no sustained economic return. But now Myanmar is seeing improvements in physical infrastructure developments.

Oliver S

low/F

iles


mmbiztoday.comREGIONAL BIZ 13

If Thailand’s political trouble persists, it risks losing market share to countries such as Malaysia, the

Myanmar Summary

Myanmar Summary

Myanmar Summary

Semen Indonesia Eyes Acquisition in Bangladesh

Indonesia’s largest cement maker, PT Semen Indone-sia, plans to acquire a ce-

ment company in Bangladesh, said CEO Dwi Soetjipto.

The acquisition target owns factories with 600,000 tonnes and 1 million tonnes annual production capacities, he said.

The two companies are in

deal by the end of this year or by early 2015, Filipino media reported.

it had agreed to buy a minor-ity stake in a cement maker this year in Bangladesh’s neigh-bouring Myanmar.

“At the moment we can only enter with minority control, so

ownership,” Soetjipto told re-porters in Jakarta.

Wai Linn Kyaw Soetjipto said the stake is

declined to name the Myan-mar company involved in the deal, but said it has an annual production capacity of up to 1.5 million metric tonnes.

Corruption Crackdown

The deputy director of China’s National Energy Association (NEA), who

was under investigation for tak-ing bribes, has been sacked as a crackdown on the power body widens, state media reported.

Xu Yongsheng was placed under investigation two weeks ago, one of a series of probes into the energy sector.

agency reported on its micro-blog account that Xu had been

Wang Jun, head of the NEA’s renewable energy department, Hao Weiping, director of the nuclear power department, and Wei Pengyuan, deputy director of the coal department, are un-der investigation, Xinhua has said.

Aung Phyo President Xi Jinping has tar-geted the energy sector as part of a wider campaign to weed out pervasive graft that began when

However, the anti-corruption drive has also enabled Xi to weed out powerful opponents

-cials.

The ruling Communist Party’s anti-graft watchdog said earlier this month it was conducting inspections at Power Construc-tion Corp and state-controlled power equipment maker China XD Group.

In March, the chairman and the president of Three Gorges Corp., the company that built the $59-billion project for the world’s biggest hydro-power scheme, stepped down. They have not been accused of any wrongdoing.

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Coup Crisis Could Cost Thailand Its Medical Tourism CrownW

ooha

e C

ho/B

loom

berg

Thailand is in danger of losing its crown as the world’s top destination

for medical tourism if foreign-ers looking for low-cost, qual-

political unrest, especially at a time of growing competition from Asian rivals.

The army seized power in a coup on May 22 after failing to prod bitter political rivals into a compromise to end six months of turmoil, prompting several governments to warn their citi-zens to think again before trav-elling to Thailand.

Tourism accounts for 10 per-cent of the Thai economy and, of the 26.5 million people who visited last year, about 2.5 mil-lion came for medical reasons, including spa and healthcare

from the Department of Export Promotion.

About a third of those medi-cal tourists come from the Mid-dle East, another quarter from Southeast Asia and nearly 15 percent from Europe.

Top-end Bangkok hospital Bumrungrad attracts a lot of patients from the Middle East

Medical Group and Healthway Medical Corp in Singapore. It saw a 12 percent drop in foreign

and an 18 percent fall in outpa-tients.

“News of violence that leads to

Khettiya Jittapong

adverse travel advisories or per-ceptions of personal safety risks can cause some medical tour-ists to postpone their trips for treatment, hoping that condi-tions will soon improve,” Ken-neth Mays, senior director at Bumrungrad, said in an email to Reuters before the coup.

-lion in revenue from medical

growth of 15 percent a year over the past decade.

That is clearly in danger, with arrivals at Bangkok’s interna-tional airport down 15 percent

“Hospitals in Bangkok are particularly hard hit, as that’s the epicentre of the unrest,

while those in Phuket and oth-er destinations are reporting downturns of 20-40 percent,” said Josef Woodman, CEO of Patients Beyond Borders, a

consumers information about medical travel.

It estimates Thailand, with health costs 50-75 percent low-er than the United States, for

-

making it the world’s top desti-nation.

Bangkok Dusit, the country’s largest hospital group, has seen

-cent in patients from the Mid-dle East this year and 7 percent fewer patients from the United

States, although it has wel-comed 10 per-cent more from

percent more from neighbour-ing Myanmar, where health-care is underde-veloped.

If trouble per-sists, Thailand risks losing market share to countries such as Malaysia, the Philippines and India.

The Philip-pines and South Korea are al-ready seeing

more medical tourists from China, Russia and the Middle East in particular.

Kim Kyung-joo of South Ko-rea Tourism Organisation’s Medical Tourism Department

-land’s instability, noting that many Chinese tourists came for plastic surgery such as facelifts and nose jobs.

Manila also thinks it is win-ning custom from Bangkok.

“There is a spike in surgery for orthopaedics because of what’s happening in Thailand,” Phlip-pine Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez told Reuters, adding the travellers included Filipino-Americans coming home.

Manila wants to promote

niche markets in orthopaedics, eye surgery, dentistry and can-cer care, Jimenez said.

The Kuala Lumpur Sports Medicine Center has seen an increase in foreign patients in the past four months but Eric

-er, played down the impact of Thailand’s unrest, attributing it rather to promotions and good treatment.

Singapore, with some of the best diagnostics and care in the world, is also a threat to Thai-land, said Woodman at Patients Beyond Borders, even if costs have risen for some years.

Reuters

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Myanmar Summary

After SAARC, Modi Must Look East

Anew government in In-dia, led by Prime Minis-ter Narendra Modi, bol-

stered by a majority in the Lok Sabha, will be in a position to take bold initiatives in the do-main of foreign policy. An early signal of this is the invitation to South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) leaders to attend the swearing in ceremony.

It is an adroit move with a strong potential to pay future dividends in India’s neighbour-hood policy. It is also, perhaps,

Prime Minister Modi from a charismatic provincial leader to a global statesman.

Prime Minister Modi will look

ited several Asian countries as chief minister of Gujarat. This will give greater heft to India’s Look East Policy (LEP) which was India’s response to a uni-polar world, marked by the end of the Cold War and the demise of the USSR.

The impetus for reworking India’s foreign policy emerged from the economic reforms and globalization of the Indian econ-omy. The expanding potential for India’s trade and investment with the dynamic Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASE-AN) region, as well as the pes-simistic outlook for regional in-tegration of South Asia through SAARC, were added incentives for the LEP. In a sense it was harking back to India’s histori-cal links with Southeast Asia via maritime routes. A major share of global maritime trade goes

Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty

through the Strait of Malacca. Rampant piracy has been con-trolled and the India Navy has played an important role in this arena. India’s strategic interest in the Indian Ocean is to keep trade and commerce open, safe and inclusive.

South China Sea is worrying for all countries, with China laying claim to disputed islands and virtually the whole of South China Sea as its territorial wa-ters will pose a challenge to the LEP. India is encouraging all claimants to the disputed islands to maintain peace and

Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and ASEAN’s Code of Conduct. The need to balance China’s rapid rise, by inviting and facilitating a stronger engagement of India and others with the region, was a strong motivation for ASE-AN’s reciprocating positively to

India’s LEP.The core of India-Southeast/

East Asia relationship is the India-ASEAN equation. Beyond ASEAN, the East Asia Summit (EAS) has emerged as the larger institution, with ASEAN as its driver and hub. It includes not only ASEAN member states but also China, Japan, South Ko-rea, India, Australia and New Zealand, Russia and the USA. Besides, India is a member of Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) and is also interested in joining

eration (APEC).Trade and investment, two

important pillars of the LEP, have registered steady growth. India’s trade with ASEAN has gone up from $2.9 billion in

Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in goods in 2010. The aim is to

Free Trade Area (FTA) is to be established. It will be one of the world’s largest markets of 1.8 billion consumers with a com-bined GDP of $2.8 trillion.

Physical connectivity remains a very important aspect of the LEP. The India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway is

would establish seamless ter-ritorial connectivity. India is a party to the ambitious Trans-Asian Railway project. Myan-mar is not yet linked by railway to India or Thailand. A 180km segment from Assam to Moreh via Imphal is under construc-tion. The security dimension

infrastructure projects in the northeast. While the Moreh-Tamu-Kalemyo Road has been completed, other projects like the India-Myanmar-Thailand trilateral highway, Kaladan multi modal project, Tamanthi hydroelectric project etc are facing delays due to political,

The other major infrastructure project is the industrial corri-dor linking the Myanmar port of Dawei with Thailand. India must take a deeper interest in this project that has attracted Japanese and South Korean companies.

The LEP has domestic impli-cations on the development of India’s northeast region and the Indian economy in general. Though the immediate focus was on Southeast Asia, spe-

the scope of LEP has come to encompass a much wider and inter-linked region. Some of the platforms India has chosen to

tries because of India’s huge economic interest in the region.

Getty Im

ages

Japan Consumer Spending, Factory Output Skid After Sales Tax Hike

use in pursuance of its Look East Policy, such as BIMSTEC (that brings together select Southeast and South Asian countries) and the Mekong-Ganga Coopera-tion (MGC), linking India with a number of ASEAN countries, would point to that intended broader geographical space.

tacted at [email protected]. This is an abridged version of the original article in

Tomohiro O

hsumi/B

loomberg

Japan’s household spend-ing in April fell at the fast-est rate in three years in

a sign that consumption could be slow to recover from an in-crease in the nationwide sales tax, raising questions over the pace of economic recovery.

Industrial production fell more than expected in April as companies cut output to avoid a pile up in inventories in the lull after the sales tax hike took ef-fect.

ing will quickly recover as the labour market remains tight, but the bigger-than-expected spending drop in April and a

Tetsushi Kajimoto and Stanley White

slowdown in factory activity could raise the stakes for mon-etary policy.

“Spending will recover from May, but sales of durable goods look weak and this could be a drag on overall spending,” said Hidenobu Tokuda, senior economist at Mizuho Research Institute.

to let the spending in its stimu-lus package run its course. The BOJ doesn’t need to move now, but it needs to keep an eye on the situation.”

Japanese household spending fell 4.6 percent in April from a year ago, more than the median

annual decline. That marked the fastest annual decline since March 2011, when an excep-

tionally powerful earthquake triggered a nuclear disaster.

Compared to the previous month, spending tumbled by

cline expected by economists.Government data published

household spending fell further after the April 1 sales tax hike

sales tax in was imposed in 1989, and when it raised the tax to 5 percent in 1997.

In both 1989 and 1997 spend-

tax was imposed and then in-creased.

Nationwide consumer prices

in April, excluding the April 1

in the Bank of Japan’s battle to

ReutersMyanmar Summary

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Myanmar Summary

Thai Military Rulers Appoint Advisers; Economy in DoldrumsAppointed advisers include former generals close to palace; factory output slumped for 13th month in April

Thailand’s junta has ap-pointed as advisers two retired generals with pal-

ace connections, putting power-

towards former Prime Minister

the ascendant in the country’s long-running power struggle.

Hoping to show things are getting back to normal, the mil-itary has also relaxed a night-time curfew brought in after it seized power in a May 22 coup, and is expected to speed up ef-forts to get the economy moving again after months of debilitat-ing political protests.

Data showed factory output

drop in a row.Figures later in the day are

forecast to show imports tum-bled 18.2 percent that month. Exports may have risen margin-ally, but that will not be enough

domestic economy.The team of advisers an-

nounced in a brief statement included a former defence min-ister, General Prawit Wong-suwan, and former army chief General Anupong Paochinda.

in Thailand’s military establish-ment and have close ties to coup leader General Prayuth Chan-ocha. All three are staunch monarchists and helped oust Thaksin, who remains at the heart of the political crisis, in a 2006 coup.

A Reuters report in December revealed that Prawit and An-upong had secretly backed the anti-government protests that undermined the government of Thaksin’s sister, Yingluck Shinawatra. She was removed by a court on May 7 for abuse

Pracha Hariraksapitak

of power and the coup ousted remaining ministers two weeks later.

Also among the advisers is Pridiyathorn Devakula, over-seeing the economy. A former

minister in an interim govern-ment after the 2006 coup when strict capital controls were in-troduced to hold down the baht, causing the stock market to plunge 15 percent in one day.

Thailand’s gross domestic product shrank 2.1 percent in

anti-government protests fre-quently shut down ministries,

The military has moved quick-ly to tackle economic problems, notably preparing payments for hundreds of thousands of rice farmers that the ousted govern-ment was unable to make.

But General Prayuth has not set any timetable for elections, saying broad reforms are need-

That may further complicate

relations with foreign govern-ments that have called for a speedy return to democracy, an end to censorship and the release of politicians, protest leaders, journalists and others detained.

“We’re going to have to con-tinue to calibrate how we’ll work with the government and military when they don’t show any pathway back to civilian

Reuters in Washington. “We’re very concerned and there will be an impact on our relation-ship.”

ClampdownScores of politicians and ac-

tivists have been detained as -

sistance to its takeover.There have been daily, peace-

ful protests against the coup in Bangkok with crowds calling for elections and confronting troops, although the number of protesters had dwindled to about 200 on May 27 from about 1,000 on May 25.

A seven-hour curfew the army imposed after the coup from 10pm each night from May 28 was shortened to four hours starting from midnight.

Thaksin has not commented on the coup except to say he was saddened and hoped the mili-tary would treat everyone fair-ly. Yingluck has been released from detention but remains un-

and aides say.Soldiers detained a former

education minister, Chaturon Chaisang, after he had emerged from hiding to denounce the coup, saying it would only

-ple in detention were not being treated badly.

Years of political turmoil have polarised Thailand.

The Shinawatras’ strength is in the north and northeast, populous, mostly rural regions that have won them every elec-tion since 2001. Some Thaksin loyalists had vowed to resist a coup and the army and police are hunting for weapons.

Many Bangkok voters support the establishment and approve of the coup if it means ending

he is corrupt and disrespect-ful to the monarchy. He denies that.

Most Thais express stead-fast loyalty to 86-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

“This is a good coup,” said Chanchai Thonprasertvej, 54, a doctor at a small pro-coup gathering at Bangkok’s Democ-racy Monument. “The army can protect the land and the king. It will protect my country from Thaksin.” Reuters

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mmbiztoday.comINTERNATIONAL BIZ 16

Myanmar Summary

Myanmar Summary

Are Human Rights Activists Today’s Warmongers?

Almost everyone likes the idea of human rights. The

phrase itself is freighted with goodness. Support-ing human rights is like supporting world peace.

The modern human rights movement began as a band of outsiders,

on behalf of the faceless and voiceless. President Jimmy Carter brought it into the American foreign policy establishment by naming an outspoken as-sistant secretary of state for human rights. This meant that concern for the poor, the brutalised, and the imprisoned would be heard in the highest councils of government.

Now, several decades after the human rights movement traded its out-

Washington, it is clear that this has produced negative as well as positive results. The movement has be-come a global behemoth. Sometimes it functions as a handmaiden to the power it was once dedicated to combating.

The most appalling re-sult of this process in the United States is that some human rights activists now regularly call for us-ing force to resolve the world’s problems. At one time, “human rights” im-plied opposition to war. Now some of the most outspoken warmongers

Stephen Kinzer

in Washington are self-proclaimed human rights advocates.

They were among the loudest promoters of war to depose the Libyan dic-tator Moammar Khadafy. That war cast Libya into

of events that has brought radical jihadist rule to large parts of Mali.

In recent months, Presi-dent Obama’s “human rights” team has pushed for escalated intervention in Syria and the dispatch of more troops to Afghan-istan. Human rights ac-

-ported by well-meaning but pitifully ignorant ce-

American military power be used to capture a war-lord in Uganda, impose order in the Ivory Coast, crush rebels in South Su-dan, and locate kidnap victims in Nigeria.

This is a radical devel-

opment in the history of the human rights move-ment. Once it was gener-als, defence contractors, and chest-thumping poli-ticians who saw war as the best solution to global problems. Now human rights activists play that role. Some seem to have given up on diplomacy and statecraft. Instead they promote the steady militarisation of Ameri-can foreign policy.

These trigger-happy hu-man rights activists rotate in and out of government jobs. Last month more than 100 scholars, ac-tivists, and Nobel Peace Prize winners protested against this revolving door in an open letter to Human Rights Watch, which, thanks to an aston-ishing $100 million gift

Soros, has become king of the human rights hill.

Their letter says that,

although Human Rights Watch claims to defend and protect human rights, its ties to the American military and security es-tablishments “call into question its independ-ence.” It names prominent

-ures who have served in the State Department and CIA; condemns the group for supporting “the illegal practice of kidnapping and transferring terror-ism suspects around the planet”; and asserts that it produces biased reports exaggerating human rights abuses in countries the United States dislikes, like Venezuela, while be-ing gentler to American allies like Honduras.

“HRW’s close relation-ships with the US gov-

instances with the ap-

interest,” the letter says.Also in May, news came

that a French publisher will issue a book version of a devastating essay by a former American dip-lomat, Richard Johnson, called “The Travesty of Human Rights Watch on Rwanda,” that has been circulating on the Inter-net for the last year. It is a detailed indictment of the policies Human Rights Watch wants Rwanda to adopt. They include de-mands that the Rwandan government end restric-tions on hate speech and invite the former geno-cide army back from its bases in the Congo so it can compete for power.

In his paper, Johnson accuses Human Rights Watch of waging a “vis-cerally hostile” campaign against Rwanda from behind an “aura of sanc-tity.” He asserts that this campaign “is a threat to that country’s peace and stability.”

“The mendacity and bias of HRW’s politi-cal campaign against the post-genocide Rwandan government undermines the overall credibility of Western human rights advocacy,” he concludes.

The world needs fear-less truth-tellers. Some human rights advocates are. Others have suc-cumbed to the tempta-tions of power. Their movement is in danger of losing its way.

-iting fellow at the Watson Institute for Internation-

-versity. The op-ed was

-ton Globe.

Internet users at a cyber cafe in Iran.

Iranian Hackers Use Fake Facebook Accounts to Spy on US, Others

Raheb H

omavandi/R

euters

In an unprecedented, three-year cyber es-pionage campaign,

Iranian hackers created false social networking accounts and a fake news website to spy on military and political leaders in the United States, Israel and other countries, a cy-

last week.ISight Partners, which

uncovered the operation, said the hackers’ targets include a four-star US Navy admiral, US law-makers and ambassadors, members of the US-Israe-

Jim Finkle li lobby, and personnel from Britain, Saudi Ara-bia, Syria, Iraq and Af-ghanistan.

“If it’s been going on for so long, clearly they have had success,” iSight Exec-utive Vice President Tif-fany Jones told Reuters. The privately held com-pany is based in Dallas, Texas and provides intel-ligence on cyber threats.

ISight dubbed the op-eration “Newscaster” be-cause it said the Iranian hackers created six “per-sonas” who appeared to work for a fake news site, NewsOnAir.org, which used content from the As-

sociated Press, BBC, Reu-ters and other media out-lets. The hackers created another eight personas who purported to work for defence contractors and other organisations, iSight said.

The hackers set up false accounts on Face-book and other online social networks for these 14 personas, populated

-tious personal content, and then tried to befriend target victims, according to iSight.

The operation has been active since at least 2011, iSight said, noting that it

was the most elaborate cy-ber espionage campaign using “social engineering” that has been uncovered to date from any nation.

ISight said it had alerted some victims and social networking sites as well as the US Federal Bureau

war to depose the Libyan dictator Moammar Khadafy.

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of Investigation and over-seas authorities. Reuters

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mmbiztoday.comINTERNATIONAL BIZ 17

Myanmar Summary

Myanmar Summary

Orders for long-lasting US-man-ufactured goods

unexpectedly rose in April

perked up in May, sup-porting views of a rebound in economic growth.

Other data showed home prices moving high-er in March and services industries, which domi-nate the economy, grow-ing at a fast clip in May.

“It appears that the econ-omy continues to bounce back from the harsh win-ter,” said John Ryding, chief economist at RDQ Economics in New York.

Orders for durable goods, items ranging from toast-ers to aircraft that are meant to last three years or more, climbed 0.8 percent last month after an up-

gain in March, the Com-merce Department said.

Demand for defence capital goods surged and

Lucia Mutikani

orders for fabricated met-al products, transporta-tion gear and electrical equipment, appliances and components all rose.

While non-defence capi-tal goods orders excluding aircraft, a closely watched proxy for business spend-ing plans, fell 1.2 per-cent, the March reading on these so-called core

capital goods was revised sharply higher to show

largest since November.“The large upward revi-

sion hints at a stronger

quarter,” said Gennadiy Goldberg, an economist at TD Securities in New York. “The data is indica-tive of a pickup in capital

investment activity dur-ing the spring.”

Separately, the Confer-ence Board said its index of consumer attitudes

81.7 in April as house-holds’ labour market views improved. Ris-ing household optimism should boost consumer spending, which accounts

for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity.

House prices rise Another report showed

house prices continued to appreciate in March. The pace, however, is mod-erating. That could help the market, where rising prices and mortgage rates have undercut sales. The Standard & Poor’s/Case Shiller gauge of prices in 20 metropolitan ar-eas rose 12.4 percent in March from a year ago.

The reports helped to lift US stocks and push the Standard & Poor’s 500 index to a record high. Prices for US Treas-ury debt fell. The dollar

of currencies.Core capital goods ship-

ments, which are used to calculate equipment spending in the govern-ment’s GDP measure-ment, fell 0.4 percent last month after rising 2.1 per-cent in March. Reuters

Jeff

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Apple to Get Beats, Music Mogul Iovine for $3 Billion

Apple Inc will buy

billion and bring recording mogul Jimmy Iovine into its ranks, hop-ing to win points with the music industry and help it catch up in fast-growing music streaming.

As expected, Beats co-founders Iovine and rap-per Dr Dre will join Apple as part of the acquisition of the music streaming and audio equipment company.

They should prove key in forging relationships with an industry that historically viewed Ap-ple with suspicion but in recent years has pressed the iPhone maker to do more on subscription ser-vices, a market expected to eclipse song downloads in the long run.

Iovine’s music industry relationships could ease

-censing negotiations for a future streaming service, recording industry execu-tives say.

“The ugly truth is that there is such a Berlin Wall between Silicon Valley and LA,” Apple Chief Ex-

Christina Farr ecutive Tim Cook told the Wall Street Journal in an interview. “The two don’t respect each other, don’t understand each other.”

While the price tag rep-resents an iota of Apple’s roughly $150 billion cash

-cant departure for a com-pany that for two decades has stuck mainly to acqui-sitions worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

The deal is seen as Ap-

an uneven attempt to make headway in music streaming, the fastest-growing segment of the market, as iTunes sales decline. Pandora Me-dia Inc and Spotify have raced ahead while Apple’s eight-month-old iTunes Radio has not made much of a dent.

With music downloads in decline, record labels have also put pressure on Apple to get its act to-gether on streaming. The record labels hope Apple can turn Beats Music into a strong competitor to Spotify and other stream-ing services, sources fa-miliar with the matter have said.

“Apple created the digi-

tal download business and has had an amazing run, but the in-dustry is going in the streaming service direc-tion,” said Dan-iel Weisman, a manager for Roc Nation who rep-resents bands.

Gaining coolApple is also

gaining a line of high-end head-phones popular with a young ur-ban demograph-ic, bumping up its “cool” factor, analysts have said. But indus-try executives say the company was most impressed

month-old music service.The market as a whole

is burgeoning. Stream-ing subscriptions jumped

billion, out of $15 billion spent on music, accord-ing to the International Federation of the Phono-graphic Industry. Mean-while, downloads slipped 2.1 percent.

Michael N

agle/Bloom

berg

The other prize is Beats’ co-founder himself. Io-vine, 61, is best known as the co-founder of Inter-scope Records, a rap mu-sic pioneer that branched out to include acts like Lady Gaga and U2.

Reuters

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mmbiztoday.comINVESTMENT & FINANCE 18

Myanmar Summary

Myanmar Summary

David Mayes

Iremember arguing with one

professors about the ef-

multiple occasions, and in the -

cession amounted to something along of the lines “it doesn’t matter what the reality is, aca-

and that’s what you need to answer on the exam.” Anyone who has ever sat on a trading desk knows that markets are far

are not the least bit rational, so

investment strategy?

reality for what it is. The basic law of supply and demand is the one and only real reason why the price of anything goes up and down. This is true for or-anges and i-phones, as well as stocks, bonds, and real estate. At any given moment on an ex-change, there are those wishing to purchase and those wishing to sell, and most often they have a price that will entice them to do so. Often they have formal

the “ask”) while simultaneously

(known as bids). When these converge a trade happens, and a market “price” is established.

It is important to keep in mind that this price is only for a certain number of shares or

Are Markets Rational?bonds, etc. It is also important to realise bid and asks can be cancelled relatively quickly. This is why markets can move very fast in times of a panic. All the buyers suddenly disappear at all prices close to the most re-cent trade. Similarly in a rapidly rising market people looking to sell will keep moving their of-fers up hoping to get a better price.

What is more important than the live orders in the market, is all of the market participants holding the security or potential participants looking to either buy or short (bet that the price will go down by borrowing the

the hopes to buy back later at a lower price). At any moment in time you cannot see this poten-tial supply and demand, but it is there and when the conditions are right it can send prices rap-idly in any direction.

The reasons behind why this supply or demand suddenly en-ters the market are irrelevant, and this is the concept that is so hard to grasp for most peo-ple who naturally have brains wired for logic and rationality. If a company beats its earnings forecast, logic dictates that this is a positive event and therefore the price should rise. However, if most participants had al-ready bought because they had inklings that the company just might beat its forecast, than there is nobody left to buy when the company actually does so. The demand that would be ex-pected by the news does not materialise because instead of participants looking to enter on the good news, they are already holding the shares and want to

dump them to cash in on their correct prediction. Sadly all of this supply pushes down the price and the participants are punished for the fact that too many people made the correct prediction.

This is why it is often said that markets will do whatever they can to prove the most people wrong, and is also why con-trarian investing works so well. Once the majority of market participants have all agreed on an expected future outcome and put their money where their mouths are by taking positions in the markets, they unwittingly become a resistant force to the price actually moving in their direction. Next time you see markets doing something to-tally crazy (such as rising for six years to new highs in the midst of a weak global economy), un-derstand that the underlying mechanics of the market are based on supply and demand rather than logic. The reason cycles happen is that after a cer-

tain amount of time overhead supply builds up to a tipping point, and when the general public bails out it usually hap-pens fast and furiously. The old adage that the trend is your friend works well for short term trading, but when it comes to investing, make sure you never follow the herd.

David Mayes MBA provides wealth management servic-es to expatriates throughout

be reached at david.m@fara-

regulated by the FCA and pro-vides advice on pensions and taxation.

Swedish Business Delegation Explores Business Opportunities in Myanmar

ASwedish Business Dele-gation comprising high-level representatives

from twelve companies, largely based in Singapore, visited My-anmar last month.

The purpose of the visit was to identify business opportunities and to get a better understand-ing of the economic and politi-cal developments in Myanmar.

The programme included meetings with Minister of In-dustry Maung Mying, Vice Minister of Finance Dr Maung Maung Thein and Vice Minister of Commerce Dr Pwint San in Nay Pyi Taw.

The event was organised by

Kristian Lauritzen

the Embassies of Sweden in Bangkok and Singapore in close cooperation with the Swedish Business Association of Singa-pore.

The Business Delegation was led by the Ambassador of Swe-den to Myanmar, Klas Molin, together with Mr Håkan Jevrell Ambassador of Sweden to Sin-gapore.

The delegation also met with representatives from Asian De-velopment Bank, World Bank and International Finance Co-operation.

The program also included meetings with the Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce & Industry (UMF-CCI) as well as a discussion on CSR issues lead by Ms Vicky Bowman from Myanmar Re-sponsible Business.

The delegation also had the

hand knowledge about the busi-ness climate in Myanmar from interactions with representa-tives from the Swedish business community and representatives from the local business commu-nity in Yangon, through meet-ings as well as networking ses-sions.

rational.

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Myanmar Summary

Frail Financial Services Stunting Myanmar’s Growth: UN StudyInadequacies of the existing system have contributed to high usage of informal credit services

Anancial products and services have bogged Myan-mar’s growth and contributed to a high usage of informal credit services in the impover-ished Southeast Asian country, a UN study revealed.

Serious capital constraints

also daunted banks’ ability to extend credit, the UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) and the UN Development Pro-gramme (UNDP) said in their recently released report.

are at a very low level in My-anmar and this is impacting the country’s ability to harness the capital available for nation-al development,” said Henri Dommel, director of Inclusive Finance at UNCDF.

to move the country towards

The research has provided indi-

to develop the sector, he added. Conducted last year, the study

included a survey of 5,100 na-tionally representative house-holds and collected qualitative data from focus groups sessions, home visits and key informant interviews, UNCDF said.

The report, Making Access Possible (MAP) Myanmar Diag-nostic, said only four percent of people in Myanmar have bank savings accounts in their own names.

ents in the survey had no access to whether regulated or unregu-

However, high levels of us-age amongst those who had ac-

respondents used unregulated and informal services such as money lenders and friends and families to borrow money.

UNCDF said the prominent

vices points to “strong potential demand for regulated services,”

Htun Htun Minn

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although research also suggests

products currently available do not meet the needs of potential users.”

Despite a relatively high level of

respondents said they have sav-ings in gold, livestock or “cash

thirds of respondents (62 per-cent) said they don’t save at all.

Even with a fully functioning

ability of the country to mobi-lise national savings for growth and development, the UN agen-cy said.

The report revealed that business costs are high due to the largely cash-based nature of the economy and the market is further weighed down by regula-tions and numerous curbs on credit operations and use of largely paper-based banking systems.

cial system and the lack of access to service providers have contributed to high usage of informal credit services in Myanmar, the study said.

The research also showed that 95 percent of the adult

population earns less than $10 per day, suggesting the majority

services at the grassroots level. The study analysed the poten-

sion as the country’s economic reforms take hold.

enable government, investors and international donors to

ensure that the largest numbers

UNCDF said in a statement.The UN agency said this re-

port will assist the government in developing policy and setting out its priorities for promoting

medium and long-term, and in attracting development part-

UN

CD

F



Myanmar Summary

Myanmar Summary

Major Oil Traders Eye Growth in Myanmar Fuel Demand

Two of the world’s largest oil traders are investing in Myanmar’s fuel-dis-

tribution sector, aiming to cash in its small but rapidly growing market for transport fuel.

While many major interna-tional energy companies have signed deals to explore for oil and gas in Myanmar since 2010, when its military leaders started introducing political re-forms after decades of hard-line rule, its downstream fuel-dis-tribution sector is undeveloped and so far has attracted little foreign investment.

Myanmar’s economy and transport infrastructure are among the most underdevel-oped in Asia, but vehicle owner-ship is growing rapidly, as are

capital, Yangon, and the need for fuel.

Vitol Group SA, the world’s largest independent oil trader,

world’s third-largest independ-ent oil trader, are among those that have made recent invest-ments or are considering doing so.

40,000 barrels of oil products a day, despite having a popula-tion of some 55 million. By com-parison, neighboring Thailand uses around one million barrels a day, despite having only 10 million more inhabitants.

The investments in Myan-mar’s fuel-distribution sector come at a time when growing competition in fuel markets,

Middle East and a stream of ex-ports from the US, is increasing

Eric Yep

port fuel is small but growing rapidly.

the attraction of frontier mar-kets.

-ergy, working with local part-ner Asia Sun, is building an 80,000-cubic-meter import-and-storage facility for gasoline, diesel and a petroleum product called bitumen at Thilawa on

spokesperson said. The storage facility should be ready next year, and the company may fur-ther invest in Myanmar’s fuel supply chain as opportunities arise, the spokesperson said.

Puma Energy, 49 percent

extensive fuel-supply opera-tions across Europe, the Ameri-cas, Africa and elsewhere. Last year Puma became Australia’s largest independent fuel retailer through a series of acquisitions.

Its other stakeholders include Angolan state oil company So-nangol.

much the Thilawa terminal will cost, but industry experts esti-mate such a facility would likely cost up to $65 million, exclud-ing auxiliary construction work in the rest of the port.

Vitol is planning a similar project.

“We are in the midst of con-cluding a joint venture with a local partner for the construc-tion of a fuel-import terminal for gasoline and diesel in the Yangon area,” said Jasper Sch-meetz, commercial manager for VTTI Asia. VTTI Asia is a unit of Vitol Tank Terminals Inter-national BV, itself owned by Vitol and MISC Bhd., a Malay-sia-based shipping group. He

declined to give further details.Myanmar’s demand for oil

products is expected to reach the equivalent of 60,000 bar-rels a day by 2020, assuming economic growth of 6 to 7 per-cent a year, said Sushant Gupta, an analyst at energy consultan-cy Wood Mackenzie.

Only half of present demand can be met by Myanmar’s three

are around 60 years old. Im-ports of 10,000 to 15,000 bar-rels a day of diesel and gasoline, and an equal volume of jet fuel every month, come from Sin-gapore where suppliers include

and from Thailand’s PTT.Plans by Chinese companies

haven’t advanced, and neither has construction of a large re-

Paula B

ronstein/Getty Im

ages

Sri Lanka Targets $2b in FDI Again for 2014

Sri Lanka has set a $2 bil-lion foreign direct invest-ment (FDI) goal this year,

its investment minister said, though it failed to meet that tar-get for two years in a row.

The $67-billion economy failed to achieve its ambitious FDI targets partly due to in-consistent investment policies amid allegations by investors over corruption, lack of good governance and the govern-ment’s failure to address hu-man rights violations in line with UN resolutions.

However, the country still attracted some select FDI to mainly its tourism industry due

Ranga Sirilal to optimism after the end of a 26-year war in May 2009.

year more than doubled to $442 million compared with the same period a year earlier, data released on Thursday showed.

Lakshman Yapa Abeywarde-na, the investment promotion minister, said that despite neg-ative publicity the country was able to draw 100 percent more

“This year, we will be able to get at least $2 billion,” Abey-wardena told reporters in Co-lombo.

FDI edged up 4 percent to

The Indian Ocean island nation

had aimed to secure $2 billion each in both years.

Sri Lanka has seen economic growth average more than 7.4 percent in the last four years

attracted foreign investors to it as an investment destination because growth was mainly fuelled by state-led massive in-

by foreign commercial loans.Abeywardena said the country

needs at least $4 billion in for-eign investments to sustain 8 percent economic growth.

Sri Lanka’s investment poli-cies have been under criticism after the government re-nation-alised some privatised ventures,

-

ing they had underperformed, and reversed a key investment after the deal was signed.

if it went ahead could turn the country into a net exporter of

to be built before the end of this decade.

Meanwhile, investors are bank-ing on the transport sector to drive their business. The passen-ger-vehicle market expanded by

of light and heavy trucks doubled to 125,000 in the same period, highlighting the growth in indus-trial activity.

“There are currently six cars for every 1,000 Myanmar citi-zens, compared with 14 per 1,000 Vietnamese and 270 per 1,000 Thais,” said analyst Shine Zaw-Aung at consultancy New Crossroads Asia in Singapore.

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Srilankastockpics



Malaysia’s IHH Aims to Expand in Myanmar, Vietnam and China

Malaysia’s IHH Health-care Bhd, the world’s second-largest hospi-

tal operator by market value, is

into Myanmar as well as expand further in China and Vietnam, its chief executive said.

IHH’s primary focus of expan-sion is emerging markets, CEO Tan See Leng told Reuters in an interview, as it looks to rep-licate the success it has had in India and Turkey.

IHH, the healthcare arm of Malaysian state investor Khaz-anah , has expanded aggres-sively since its July 2012 listing and counts Singapore hospital operator Parkway Holdings, Turkish hospital group Aciba-dem AS and India’s Apollo Hos-pitals Enterprise Ltd among its overseas assets.

The company has added over

and now has nearly 9,000, said Tan.

Strong growth potential, im-

Yantoultra Nguidebt levels have sent its stock soaring nearly 50 percent since its market debut. It now has a market value of around $10.5

HCA Holdings Inc among hos-pital operators.

But high labour and other running costs for the business

million ringgit ($49 million), though that was up 25 percent from the same period a year earlier.

Tan added that other key mar-kets for expansion include My-anmar and Vietnam and that the company will explore both organic growth and acquisition opportunities.

“We are looking at Myanmar...we are looking at sites in Hanoi and in Myanmar itself, we look at Yangon, Mandalay,” he said.

“The other thing that we are starting to now explore poten-tially would be Cambodia, but I think Cambodia still a bit early for us.”

He added that Indonesia’s economic growth was also at-tractive and that the company may look at opportunities in some of the country’s bigger cit-ies, although attracting quali-

that easy.He declined to comment on

reports that the company had been interested but had now turned cool on bidding for Australian hospital operator Healthscope.

One particular focus will be China now that Beijing is mov-ing to ease curbs on foreign investment in joint-venture hospitals in a bid to improve its healthcare system, he said.

With almost eight years of op-erating in China, Tan said IHH is well poised to capture growth in the industry, for which an-nual healthcare spending is ex-pected to triple to $1 trillion by 2020, according to consulting

“We have also built ‘guan xi’ or relationship and networks

authorities, and understand the licensing of their approvals,” said Tan, who took the helm of IHH in January. Reuters

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Myanmar Summary

care sector.

MS

F



Myanmar Summary

Investing in Myanmar: Balancing Risk and Reward (Part II)Although quite involved and not inexpensive, the process of investment in Myanmar can be very rewarding

In Part I of this article, we re-viewed the Myanmar invest-ment considerations of a US

investor as they are impacted by US legislation and practice. This article continues the analysis by examining the “on-the-ground” investment considerations in Myanmar, including its For-eign Direct Investment Law of 2012 (FDI) and Foreign Direct Investment Rules of January

other aspects of investment.

Investment security-

sions that protect foreign in-vestment from nationalization and guarantees repatriation of

capital. These protections are in addition to the guarantees an

bilateral treaties Myanmar has with other countries (Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Philippines, China, Kuwait and India). Simi-lar investor protection provi-sions can be found in the newly enacted Myanmar Special Eco-nomic Zones Law, which is ap-plicable in the three Special Economic Zones (Dawei, Thila-wa and Kyauk Phyu).

Additionally, Myanmar re-cently became a full member of World Bank’s MIGA, which makes direct foreign invest-ment into Myanmar eligible for the agency’s investment guarantees (e.g. covered risks include expropriation, breach of contract, transfer restric-

obligations, or war/civil distur-bance). Furthermore, Ameri-can businesses which desire to make investments in Myanmar sourced with US manufactured goods or services can also avail themselves of limited facilities extended by the US ExIm Bank, including limited short and me-dium term lending and invest-ment insurance. Additionally, it is expected that OPIC will soon start a program for Myanmar-bound US investors.

Form and functionOnce the issue of security of

its investment is resolved, a US investor must choose the right corporate form for its in-vestment vehicle. A number of questions need to be asked: How will the Myanmar entity (public or private limited liabil-ity company, or a branch) relate

Eric Rose & Nina Dunn

to the investor’s other invest-ments? Is 100 percent foreign ownership the only means of investment, or is seeking a suit-able local partner an option?

Legal barriers contained in the FDI and the FIR will require that the foreign investor peti-tion the Myanmar Investment Commission (MIC) for a permit and for an exemption from the FIR limitations that prohibit, for example, the operation of foreign-controlled businesses in certain business activities reserved to either state-owned enterprises, or to Myanmar citi-zens. The MIC Permit will al-low the newly formed Myanmar subsidiary to import duty-free

-rials for its project, will exempt

taxes, and allow it to lease land for at least 50 years (as of today, foreign entities, or their Myan-mar subsidiaries, are otherwise prohibited from owning or leas-ing long-term land or build-ings, a very distinctive disad-vantage to foreign investment). Foreign-controlled Myanmar businesses have to project what areas of business they intend to operate in at the outset, thus a clear outline of their intended activities has to be provided to the MIC as well as to the Min-istry of Planning’s Department of Investments and Corpora-tions Administration (DICA)

in seeking exceptions from the FIR prohibitions, as well as pe-titioning for the grant of an MIC Permit and a Permit to Trade, respectively.A local partner and a ca-pable bank

Assuming that a Myanmar partner is required, the US in-vestor has to do three things before starting any registration process: conduct a thorough due diligence investigation into the background of the poten-tial Myanmar partner; submit a prospective name of the My-anmar business for preliminary

approval by the Companies

discuss with its U.S. bank the prospective investment in My-anmar.

Doing the preliminary inves-tigation of the Myanmar part-ner is a critical step in order to reduce any chance that the partner has OFAC SDN connec-tions (see Part 1 of this article, which was published last week, for a more in-depth discussion of this aspect). Choosing the name is an important factor, as registrations of trademarks and trade-names in Myanmar are

essential to protect oneself from copycats. Although the country does not yet have a comprehen-sive IPR legal system, it does have a procedure for register-ing trademarks. Talking with your banker is a prudent initial step because very few US bank-ers will conduct business with Myanmar or its banks or com-panies. The ability to repatri-

value without a banking rela-tionship capable of undertaking such transactions … or without

solutions. It goes without say-

ing that due diligence should also be performed on any local Myanmar bank to be used. The local banks may or not be on the SDN list, and/or have the sophistication and capital to be able to assist the US investor.

Eric Rose is the Lead Direc-tor of Herzfeld Rubin Meyer

in Myanmar. He focuses on the global aspects of business

-cluding mergers, acquisitions, privatisations, technology transfers, compliance counsel-ling, and international com-mercial transactions. His expe-rience in Myanmar spans over twenty years.

Nina Dunn, who is an ad-viser to Herzfeld Rubin Meyer & Rose, has more than twenty-

-ternational trade and invest-ment, securities and defence and national security matters.

international corporations with respect to a wide range of corporate issues, achieving fa-vourable results from govern-ment agencies, including the

The article was originally published on InsideCounsel.com and has been republished with the authors’ and publica-tion’s permission.

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“Myanmar recently became a full member of World

Bank’s MIGA, which makes direct foreign investment

into Myanmar eligible for the agency’s investment guarantees.”

ing.

Kyaw

Min


mmbiztoday.comPROPERTY & REAL ESTATE 23

Myanmar SummaryjrefrmEdkifiHa&SYaersm;uGef,uf (MLN)

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Patience, Logistics And Law in Yangon: Why Fortune Will Favour The Brave in Asia’s Final Real Estate Frontier

Following three years of constant chat-ter and speculation

about Myanmar being the

Yangon to attend the sec-ond Real Estate and Ur-ban Build Platform con-ference.

There was plenty of talk at the two-day confer-ence about the potential of property investment in Yangon and elsewhere, al-

Terry Blackburn though it is clear there is still a long way to go for foreign investors. The key presentation on day one was from a member of the government on the new

this is passed, there is lit-erally no way for foreign-ers to legally own prop-erty in the country.

The Ministry of Con-struction representative who gave the presenta-tion was admirably open to suggestions from the

the bill, primarily in-spired by the Singapore condo law, but this would suggest it is still some way

-thing emerging this year is rather remote.

One key aspect of the bill will be the restrictions on foreigners buying any-

Whilst this seem perplex-ing to some, my host in the country, Brett Miller, managing director of Scipio Services, reckoned it was to prevent locals

from being pushed out of Yangon’s many low-rise properties should a boom come to town.

Years ago, Phnom Penh was considered to be the next gold rush town for ASEAN property. Yet this never really materialised; primarily due to the lack of strong economic fun-damentals, foreign inter-est and enough locals with cash to transform Cambo-dia from an aid-depend-

ent economy. Whilst su-

Cambodian capital with its downtown colonial relics (it will be interest-ing to see if all the talk of renovation rather than replacement comes to pass in the former British colony), Yangon is a com-

-sition. There’s plenty of cash around, although most of it is currently in the hands of a tiny minor-

ity, and the massive de-mand has already pushed rents and land prices up to astronomical levels.

Miller and Scipio are currently renovating

block, which previously acted as the headquar-

contemporary space with

going for a minimum of

Lawyers Plan to Sue Govt, Firm for Turning Heritage Building into Hotel

Myanmar Lawyers’ Net-work (MLN) is plan-ning to sue the gov-

ernment and a private company for developing a hotel project at a heritage building in down-town Yangon, MLN executive Soe Tint Yi said at a protest last week.

About 200 lawyers took part in the protest.

Criticising the government for lack of transparency, U Soe Tint

lawsuit against the Chairman of the Myanmar Investment Com-mission and the private com-pany.

Located at the heart of the commercial city and overlook-ing the Yangon River, the 90-year old building used to house the Yangon Division Court and township courts till 2012. The

May Soe San Second Parliament Meeting was held in that building after Myanmar won independence from the British in 1948.

Negotiating with Minister at

Thane, the network demanded preservation of the historical building rather than leasing it as a hotel in order to maintain the integrity of the country, say-ing that “the architecture of the building is just for a court”.

Township courts and the Yangon Divisional Court were reportedly forced to vacate the building in early 2012.

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With many multinationals currently camping out in dilapidated condo units, demand will inevitably be

Wai

Lin

n K

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WMC


mmbiztoday.com

24

Myanmar Summary

PROPERTY & REAL ESTATEChina Tourist Sites Beat Cities in Accor Expansion Focus

Six new hotels in the pipeline for Myanmar

Accor SA will build about a third of its 100 planned Chinese hotels in tourist

destinations as rising wealth in the country leads to growing leisure travel and oversupply in

Domestic tourism in the country is “growing at a rate of knots,” Michael Issenberg,

region, said in an interview. That’s making tourist spots more attractive than many ur-ban sites, he said.

“If people acquire wealth, they want to travel,” Issenberg said. “That’s been the big change.

cities.”Europe’s largest hotel opera-

tor has already opened sites on ski slopes near the North Ko-rean border, a beach resort on tropical Hainan island, and a central Chinese forest park among its 128 hotels in the country. That’ll help it capital-ise on domestic tourist trips that are forecast to grow by about 11 percent a year between

data from Euromonitor Inter-national.

Other international leisure companies are also targeting China’s domestic tourist mar-ket. Carnival Corp will dispatch a fourth cruise ship for the country next April and Walt Disney Co plans to open a $5.5 billion theme park resort in Shanghai during 2015.

Hennes & Mauritz AB (HMB), the Swedish fashion chain, has opened a store in Zhangjiajie, which serves central Hunan province’s scenic Wulingyuan national park. The town is also home to an Accor Pullman hotel.

David Fickling

Natalie B

ehring-Chisholm

/Bloom

berg

Largest MarketChina overtook Germany in

2012 to become the largest outbound tourism market, ac-cording to the United Nations World Tourism Organization. International spending by Chi-nese travellers rose 26 percent

agency said May 14.Expansion by domestic and

international companies in Chi-na has slowed some hotel op-erators’ ability to increase room rates.

At InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) revenue per avail-able room in Greater China rose just 0.7 percent from a year ear-

Hotels in the densely populat-

percent of rooms during April.

That compares with occupancy rates of about 70 percent in Ac-cor’s economy hotels globally and 68 percent in its upper- and mid-market locations during

presentation in January.

‘Chronic’ Oversupply and Myanmar

“The oversupply can be chron-ic if things keep getting built, but if the supply even starts to moderate, demand will catch up,” Issenberg said.

“If you ask anybody, ‘If you had more time or money what would you do?’ almost every-body says travel.”

The chain is also building six new hotels in Myanmar amid rising foreign investment in the

open this month in the capital Nay Pyi Taw with others to fol-

low in Yangon and the scenic Inle Lake.

Setting up credit-card pay-ment networks, getting insur-ance and training workers in hygiene is still a challenge in a country that has little experi-ence with tourism, he said.

tourist arrivals during August

for which data compiled by Bloomberg is available, com-pared with 2.4 million during the same month in neighbour-ing Thailand.

“I went in December, and a hotel we were visiting had an ATM machine and was really excited” about it, Issenberg said referring to Myanmar.

“That tells you the state of the country, that this is big news that you can actually get cash.” Bloomberg

Myanmar Summary

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many multinationals cur-rently camping out in dilapidated condo units, demand will inevitably be

Unlike Phnom Penh, and other frontier markets, it takes more than a pocket full of cash and a sharp suit to get into Myanmar’s real estate industry. It would appear that a keen

points of logistics is es-sential.

Brett and his partners worked together previ-ously in security in East Timor, while his facility management guy is an ex-marine, fresh from run-ning logistics and supply

chains in Camp Leather-neck in Afghanistan. They are all young, smart, en-thusiastic and extremely patient. Yangon is not the wild east and the mantra of anything goes and any-thing can be bought at a price does not play well here. Try buying prop-erty through a proxy and you’ll most likely lose it or certainly be stuck

the condo law comes in. Building anything, selling anything and servicing anything is a tricky busi-ness and requires lots of contacts, planning and patience. Hence Timor and Afghanistan, rather than Singapore and Hong Kong, are better places to cut your teeth if you want

to get into business in Myanmar.

In Miller’s case, as a US citizen, it also means not doing business with the hundred or so ex-gener-als and drug lords that are still on the US sanc-tion list, several of whom have now moved into real estate. If he does, he’ll risk going to prison back home. Small details like that probably help to keep the focus on playing by the rules.

Things happen fast in Southeast Asia. Desirable areas emerge almost over-night and entire neigh-bourhoods can be trans-formed. Take Bangkok’s hippest neighbourhood, Thong Lor. Ten years ago it was on nobody’s radar,

but is now one of the city’s most sophisticated drink-ing and dining spots. Ar-eas of Yangon are sure to undergo similar transfor-mations and those, like Miller and his partners, who were willing to take the plunge, are clearly on the cusp of something big.

favour the brave in Myan-mar.

Terry Blackburn is CEO of Ensign Media and pub-lisher of Property Report.

in Property Report web-site.

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mmbiztoday.comAUTOMOBILE 25

Myanmar Summary

Myanmar Summary

Mercedes Allows Chinese to Peek Under Hood in Asia Growth PushChinese granted unprecedented access to new models

Battling to catch up with German rivals in China, luxury carmaker Daimler

is shifting gears, giving local au-thorities unprecedented access to new Mercedes models and even tailoring engines destined for its home market to Chinese regulations.

For years, Daimler has lagged Audi and BMW in the world’s biggest car market. Last year, Mercedes-Benz, the company’s premier luxury brand, sold 228,000 cars there, compared to nearly 492,000 for Audi and over

For years, Daimler harboured doubts over the sustainability of growth in China. German la-bour union resistance to shift-ing production out of Daimler’s

also played a role.Another key factor has been

Daimler’s more cautious ap-proach to sharing technological know-how due to fears of piracy. This prevented the company from deepening its footprint in China, where foreign automak-ers are required to work with lo-cal companies, at a time when its rivals were going all-in.

Edward Taylor

because the Chinese have taken steps to crack down on copy-right violations, but also because Daimler executives have realised there is no alternative to closer cooperation if they are to make up lost ground in a market that continues to post impressive growth rates.

This year, Daimler is starting production of its newest C-Class in China as well as Germany, a step-change for a manufacturer that had previously delayed local Chinese production of new mod-

els by months.Beijing Benz Automotive

Co, the joint venture company Daimler runs with Chinese partner Beijing Automotive Group Co, is also constructing a new production line for the compact GLA model.

Tranferring know-how To get permission to build both

cars locally, they need to undergo a 160,000 kilometre emission durability test and a regulation test with Chinese authorities. These can take up to a year.

As part of this process, Mer-

to take samples of components and make detailed measure-ments of its newest cars.

“To put it bluntly, we are trans-ferring know-how,” said Rene Reif, head of engineering and manufacturing at Beijing Benz.

Key battleground Daimler only started making

Mercedes-Benz cars in China in 2006, reaching production ca-pacity of 120,000 vehicles last year. Audi, which has been mak-ing cars there since 1988, sur-passed that level in 2007.

Asia remains the key battle--

claim the crown of the top-selling maker of luxury cars in the world. The last time Mercedes held the title was in 2004.

Last year, BMW led the pack with 1.65 million units sold worldwide. Audi was next at 1.57 million and Daimler in third place, with 1.47 million Mer-cedes-Benz branded cars sold.

Concerns that closer coopera-tion might open the door to pi-racy by Chinese manufacturers have been mitigated by better protections, says Thomas We-ber, the Daimler board member

Daim

ler AG

Chinese-made Spare Parts Rule Auto Market

in charge of research and devel-opment.

“Innovations that are intro-duced late, are of no use,” said Weber. Reuters

Cheap Chinese-made spare parts for Japanese auto-

-gon’s auto market, beating out their pricier yet genuine counter-parts, industry sources say.

The price gap between Chinese-made and Japanese-made spare parts could be tenfold, some-times as high as 100 times, spare parts shop owners at Yangon’s Bayintnaung car market told My-anmar Business Today.

“A new Japanese-made engine

Htun Htun Minn 5,000,” a spare parts shop owner at Bayintnaung said.

“The users usually opt for the cheaper one.”

Following the relaxation of im-port regulations three years ago and slash in custom taxes and duties, Japanese automobiles

as 250,000 cars came into the country since mid-2011, accord-ing Road Transport Authority’s statistics.

Some businessmen still im-port Japanese-made accessories but customers prefer cheaper Chinese-made parts. “Most of the Japanese spare parts in the

market are old as imports have slowed down,” another shop owner said.

However, traders say Japanese spare parts imports will even-tually pick up as there will be a

and demand amid an increasing number of Japanese car imports.

“Currently, there’s little import -

ket will soon have a big demand. Also, using cheap spare parts and body accessories is bad for a car, and cars become prone to more accidents if the owners use sub-standard parts,” an automobile engineer said.

Drivers using Chinese-made car spare parts often face car mal-function and accidents, a spokes-person from Eaitsarthaya Auto-mobile spare parts shop said.

Besides Chinese-made auto spare parts, accessories from Thailand, Indonesia, the Philip-pines and India are also com-mon, automobile market sources say.

Authorities also advise using genuine automobile parts to in-crease road safety. Vehicles from Aung Mingalar Highway Ex-press station are currently being checked for authentic spare parts

from Aung Mingalar Highway Vehicle Control Department said.

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mmbiztoday.com

26

Myanmar Summary

AUTOMOBILE

Google Inc is building cars that don’t have steering wheels, accelerator ped-

als or brake pedals, in an ambi-tious expansion of the internet

driving cars.The small electric cars, which

seat two passengers, are cur-rently prototypes that Google has been building through partner-ships with automotive suppli-ers and manufacturers, Google co-founder Sergey Brin said at the Code conference in Southern California.

Google aims to build up to 200 such cars in the near term and hopes the vehicles will be avail-able in various cities within a couple of years, he said.

Google has been testing self-driving cars since 2009, incorpo-rating laser sensors and radars into standard automobiles such as the Prius from Toyota Motor Corp and sport-utility vehicles from Toyota luxury car division Lexus.

While those vehicles require a human to remain in the driver’s seat and to take over in certain situations, the new cars operate completely autonomously.

Alexei Oreskovic

Google BuildingSelf-Driving Cars with No Driver Seat, Steering Wheels

Brin said the cars could oper-ate as a service, picking up pas-sengers when summoned, and

of interconnected “trains”.“Ten seconds after getting in I

was doing my email, I had forgot-ten I was there,” Brin said of his experience riding in one of the pod-like vehicles, which resem-ble a cross between a Smart car and Volkswagen Beetle. “It ulti-mately reminded me of catching a chairlift.”

Brin declined to specify wheth-er Google intended to build and sell the cars itself, saying only that the company would “work with partners”.

The driverless cars are current-ly limited to a maximum speed of 25 miles (40 km) an hour, but Brin said there was no reason the cars could not go as fast as 100 miles an hour or more once they had been proven to be safe.

The front of the cars contains about 2 feet (61 cm) of foam and the windshield is made out of plastic instead of glass to make the cars safer, he said.

“Within a couple of years I hope we will surpass the safety metrics we’ve put in place, which is to be

driver, and we will start testing them without drivers and hope-fully you’ll be able to utilise them at some limited cities,” Brin said.

A handful of US states, includ-ing California and Nevada, have passed legislation to allow test-ing of self-driving cars on public roads. Brin said he was optimis-tic that the new, passenger-only self-driving cars would be ap-proved for testing in the US and overseas in the future. Reuters

GM Engineer Said He Forgot Change to Switch in Recalled Cars

Asuspended General Mo-tors Co engineer who worked on the defective

ignition switch at the heart of a massive recall told congres-sional investigators that he had forgotten ordering a change to

a deposition last year, the New York Times reported.

GM engineer Ray DeGiorgio did not say anything to the con-gressional investigators to sug-gest that Chief Executive Mary Barra knew about the defective switch before she took the top

Aurindom Mukherjee and Peter Henderson

job at the company this year, the Times said, quoting people famil-iar with the session.

DeGiorgio, who was suspended by GM on April 10, designed the

and other models, including the Chevrolet Cobalt, which have

deaths to accidents related to the switch.

The defective switch was rede-signed in 2006 without a change to the part number, which later confused investigators looking into crashes of the now-recalled cars. Congressional investigators produced an internal GM docu-ment showing DeGiorgio had

2006.In a deposition last year for a

lawsuit related to a fatal 2010 crash in Georgia, DeGiorgio de-nied that he knew of the change. The New York Times reported that he told congressional inves-tigators recently that at the time of the deposition, he had forgot-ten about the change, because it was part of a package of changes. Reuters

Car Battery Maker LG Chem to Decide on Capacity Expansion

in 3 Months

South Korea’s LG Chem Ltd plans to make a decision on expanding production capacity for electric vehicle (EV) batteries in three to four months, expecting EV demand

“We are seriously considering investing in expanding (our EV battery production),” President Kwon Young-soo, who oversees LG Chem’s battery division, said on Thursday at the Busan Mo-tor Show.

He did not elaborate on where it plans to expand capacity.LG Chem, which supplies batteries for cars from General Mo-

tors Co and Renault SA, has one EV battery plant in Korea and another in the United States.

In February, Chief Executive Park Jin-soo said the company was considering building an EV battery plant in China, expect-

would drive demand. Reuters

Hyunjoo Jin

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loomberg

Myanmar Summary

Myanmar Summary

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mmbiztoday.comIT & TELECOM 27

Myanmar Summary

Myanmar Summary

Myanmar Summary

Yoma Boosts Myanmar Telco Tower Stake to 25pc

Singapore-based conglom-erate Yoma Strategic Holdings (YSH) said it has

ramped up its stake in its My-anmar telecoms tower venture

-cent.

YSH Finance Ltd, a subsidiary of Yoma, will now hold a quar-ter stake in Digicel Asian Hold-ings Pte Ltd while the rest will

Central America and Asia Pa--

lionaire Denis O’Brien.YSH Finance Ltd is 80 per-

cent owned by Yoma Strategic and 20 percent by First Myan-mar Investment Co Ltd (FMI),

YSH Finance had subscribed for an additional 420,000 new

-

was funded in cash from Yo-ma’s placement proceeds raised in November 2012.

Phyu Thit Lwin

from partnering Digicel Group, given the latter’s experience and investment in the telco

tower company business.-

tends to roll out telecommuni-cations towers across Myanmar as the country seeks to rapidly increase mobile phone penetra-tion following the award of two mobile telecommunications licences to international tele-communications operators.

Italian Firm to Deploy $51-m Myanmar Mobile Backhaul NetworkItalian wireless communi-

cations solutions provider, SIAE MICROLETTRONI-

CA, said it was hired to provide its microwave radio solutions

in Myanmar for the latter’s net-work rollout.

Without specifying the name of the operator, the Milan-

“A leading global mobile op-erator is using SIAE MICRO-ELETTRONICA microwave radio solution for building a state-of-the-art mobile wireless

HSPA and LTE services in Myanmar.”

In January, one of the two telecoms licence winner, Telenor, said it will invest $1 billion in Myanmar to set up mobile network using HSPA and LTE-ready technologies. The Norwegian

-work coverage for 90 percent of the population in Myanmar

-work will mainly relay over full outdoor microwave radios, the

network comprises of two re-gions worth over $51 million and will be completed over a

Wai Linn KyawSIAE added.

ALFOplus Series packet micro-wave full outdoor solution to build backhaul network. Back-haul generally refers to the side of the network that communi-cates with the global Internet, paid for at wholesale commer-cial access rates to or at an Eth-ernet Exchange or other core network access location.

“This network consolidates

region where we are steadily growing in several mobile net-works,” Stefano Ferraresi, key sales account Myanmar, said.

“In this dynamic market our solution are highly valued thanks to the product long life span and best market power consumption performances,” he added.

SIAE MICROELETTRONICA, founded by Edoardo Mascetti as Societa Italiana Apparec-chiature Elettroniche (Italian Company for Electronic Equip-ment) in 1952, is present in over

Digicel Asian Holdings an-nounced in Decem-ber last year that it had been awarded a contract to pro-vide telecommuni-cations towers to Ooredoo Myanmar, one of the two inter-national telecoms operators in Myan-mar.

“It is intended that these telecom-munications towers will also be made available to other operators,” Yoma said in a statement.

Mobile subscrip-tions in Myanmar are projected to in-

crease strongly within the next

in 20151. -

bile users is expected to drive 20 percent of all foreign direct investment to the Myanmar tel-ecommunications industry, an

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Oliver S

low

Intel Readies 3D-Printed Robots for Handy Consumers

Intel Corp introduced a walk-ing, talking robot last week

that will be available to con-sumers later this year, if they are willing to assemble it with a kit that costs around $1,600.

The company’s Chief Executive Brian Krzanich was accompanied by “Jimmy” on stage at the Code Conference in California. The

onto the stage, introduced itself and then waved its arms.

Intel describes Jimmy as a re-search robot, but the company

plans available without charge for a slightly less advanced version, and partners will sell

Noel Randewich and Alexei Oreskovic

printed, such as motors and an Intel Edison processor, in kits.

Jimmy can be programmed to sing, translate languages, send tweets and even serve a cold beer. Reuters

Intel’s Jimmy the Robot is shown in this publicity photo.

industry with an estimated $1 billion in FDI in 2014, and is on track to be the FDI leader in 2015.

Yoma Strategic posted a 44.9

shareholders to $5.1 million for its fourth quarter ended March

-lion a year ago.

-tors technological solution for microwave and millimetre wave transport, services and design.

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mmbiztoday.com

28

INTERNATIONAL AND DOMESTIC FLIGHT SCHEDULEFligghhtss ffroom Yanggon (RGNN) to Bangkok ((BKK) Fligghhtss ffroom Banggkok (BKKK) to Yaangon (RGN)

Flight No. DDayss From To ETD ETA Operated by: Flight No. DDayss From To ETD ETA Operated by:PG 706 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 RGN BKK 7:15 9:30 Bangkok Airways DD4230 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 DMK RGN 06:30 07:55 NOK AirlinesDD4231 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 RGN DMK 8:00 9:45 NOK Airlines 8M336 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 BKK RGN 6:40 7:25 MAIFD2752 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 RGN DMK 8:30 10:15 Thai AirAsia FD2751 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 DMK RGN 7:15 8:00 Thai AirAsia8M335 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 RGN BKK 8:40 10:25 MAI TG303 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 BKK RGN 8:00 8:45 Thai AirwaysTG304 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 RGN BKK 9:50 11:45 Thai Airways PG701 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 BKK RGN 8:50 9:40 Bangkok AirwaysPG702 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 RGN BKK 10:45 12:40 Bangkok Airways FD2755 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 DMK RGN 11:35 12:20 Thai AirAsiaY5-237 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 RGN BKK 18:05 19:50 Golden Myanmar Airlines PG707 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 BKK RGN 13:40 14:30 Bangkok AirwaysTG302 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 RGN BKK 14:45 16:40 Thai Airways Y5-238 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 BKK RGN 21:10 21:55 Golden Myanmar AirlinesPG703 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 RGN BKK 15:20 17:15 Bangkok Airways FD2753 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 DMK RGN 16:35 17:20 Thai AirAsia8M331 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 RGN BKK 16:30 18:15 MAI PG703 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 BKK RGN 16:45 17:35 Bangkok AirwaysFD2754 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 RGN DMK 17:50 19:35 Thai AirAsia TG305 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 BKK RGN 17:55 18:40 Thai AirwaysPG704 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 RGN BKK 18:25 20:20 Bangkok Airways DD4238 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 BKK RGN 19:30 20:15 NOK AirlinesTG306 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 RGN BKK 19:40 21:35 Thai Airways 8M332 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 BKK RGN 19:20 20:05 MAI

DD4239 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 RGN DMK 21:00 22:45 NOK Airlines PG705 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 BKK RGN 20:00 21:15 Bangkok Airways

FFligghhtss ffroomm Yangoon (RGN)) to Chiaang Maii (CNX) FFligghhtss ffroomm Chiangg Mai (CCNX) to YYangon (RGN)W9-9607 4 7 RGN CNX 14:50 16:20 Air Bagan W9-9608 4 7 CNX RGN 17:20 17:50 Air Bagan

Flligghtss ffroom Yanggon (RGNN) to Sinngapore (SIN) Flligghtss ffroom Singaapore (SIN) to Yangon ((RGN) Y5-233 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 RGN SIN 10:10 14:40 Golden Myanmar Airlines Y5-234 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 SIN RGN 15:35 17:05 Golden Myanmar AirlinesMI509 1 6 RGN SIN 0:25 5;00 SilkAir SQ998 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 SIN RGN 7:55 9:20 Singapore Airline8M231 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 RGN SIN 8:30 13:00 MAI 8M6231/3K585 1 3 4 5 6 SIN RGN 9:10 10:40 Jetstar AsiaSQ997 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 RGN SIN 10:25 14:45 Singapore Airline 8M232 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 SIN RGN 14:10 15:40 MAI

8M6232/3K586 1 3 4 5 6 RGN SIN 11:30 16:05 Jetstar Asia MI518 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 SIN RGN 14:20 15:45 SilkAir8M233 5 6 7 RGN SIN 13:45 18:15 MAI 8M235 5 6 7 SIN RGN 19:15 20:45 MAITR2827 1 6 7 RGN SIN 15:10 19:35 TigerAir TR2826 1 6 7 SIN RGN 13:00 14:30 TigerAirTR2827 2 3 4 5 RGN SIN 17:10 21:35 TigerAir TR2826 2 3 4 5 SIN RGN 15:00 16:30 TigerAirMI517 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 RGN SIN 16:40 21:15 SilkAir MI520 5 7 SIN RGN 22:10 23:35 SilkAir

FFliightts frromm Yangonn (RGN) tto Kualaa Lumpuur (KUL) Fligghtts frroomm Kuala LLumpur (KUL)too Yangonn (RGN)AK1427 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 RGN KUL 8:30 12:50 AirAsia AK1426 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 KUL RGN 6:55 8:00 AirAsia8M501 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 RGN KUL 8:55 12:55 MAI MH740 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 KUL RGN 10:05 11:15 Malaysia AirlinesMH741 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 RGN KUL 12:15 16:30 Malaysia Airlines 8M502 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 KUL RGN 14:00 15:00 MAI

Fligghtts frrom Yanngon (RGGN) to HHanoi (HHAN) Fligghtts frrom Hannoi (HANN) to Yanngon (RRGN) VN956 1 3 5 6 7 RGN HAN 19:10 21:30 Vietnam Airlines VN957 1 3 5 6 7 HAN RGN 16:35 18:10 Vietnam Airlines

Flligghhtss ffroomm Yangon (RGN) to Ho CChi Minhh (SGN) Flligghhtss ffroomm Ho Chii Minh (SSGN) to Yangonn (RGN) VN942 2 4 7 RGN SGN 14:25 17:10 Vietnam Airlines VN943 2 4 7 SGN RGN 11:40 13:25 Vietnam Airlines

Flligghtss ffrom Yanngon (RGGN) to TTaipei (TTPE) Flligghtss ffrom Taipei (TPEE) to Yanngon (RGN)CI7916 1 2 3 4 5 6 RGN TPE 10:50 16:10 China Airline CI7915 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 TPE RGN 7:15 10:05 China AirlineBR288 2 5 6 RGN TPE 11:35 17:20 EVA Air BR287 2 5 6 TPE RGN 7:30 10:35 EVA Air

Flligghhtss ffroom Yanggon (RGNN) to Kunming(KMG) Flligghhtss ffroom Kunmming(KMMG) to Yangon ((RGN)CA906 2 3 4 6 7 RGN KMG 14:15 17:35 Air China CA905 2 3 4 6 7 KMG RGN 12:40 13:15 Air China

MU2032 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 RGN KMG 14:40 17:55 China Eastern MU2031 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 KMG RGN 13:30 14:00 China EasternMU2012 3 6 RGN KMG 12:20 18:10 China Eastern (via NNG) MU2011 3 6 KMG RGN 8:25 11:30 China Eastern (via NNG)

Flligghtss from Yanngon (RGGN) to BBeijing (BJS) Flligghtss from Beijjing (BJSS) to Yanngon (RRGN)CA906 2 3 4 6 7 RGN BJS 14:15 21:55 Air China (via KMG) CA905 2 3 4 6 7 BJS RGN 8:05 13:15 Air China (via KMG)

Fligghhtss ffroom Yanggon (RGNN) to Naanning (NNG) Fligghhtss ffroom Nannning (NNNG) to Yaangon ((RGN)Flight No. DDayss From To ETD ETA Operated by: Flight No. DDayss From To ETD ETA Operated by:MU2012 3 6 RGN NNG 12:20 16:25 China Eastern MU2011 3 6 NNG RGN 10:15 11:30 China Eastern

FFligghhtss ffroomm Yangoon (RGN)) to Honng Kong (HKG) HHonngg KKoong (HKG) Flights from Yaangon ((RGN) KA251 1 2 4 6 RGN HKG 1:10 5:35 Dragon Air KA250 1 3 5 7 HKG RGN 21:50 23:45 Dragon Air

*PPleaasee noote thee dday change for the deparrture time too Hong Kongg.

Flligghhtss ffroomm Yangon (RGN) to Guanng Zhouu (CAN) Flligghhtss ffroomm Guang Zhou (CCAN) to Yangonn (RGN) 8M711 2 4 7 RGN CAN 8:40 13:15 MAI CZ3055 3 6 CAN RGN 8:40 10:30 China Southern AirlinesCZ3056 3 6 RGN CAN 11:20 15:50 China Southern Airline 8M712 2 4 7 CAN RGN 14:15 15:45 MAICZ3056 1 5 RGN CAN 17:40 22:15 China Southern Airline CZ3055 1 5 CAN RGN 14:45 16:35 China Southern Airlines

FFlighhts ffroom Yanggon (RGN) to Koolkata (CCCU) FFlighhts ffroom Kolkkata (CCUU) to Yaangon (RRGN) Flight No. DDayss From To ETD ETA Operated by: Flight No. DDayss From To ETD ETA Operated by:

AI228 5 RGN CCU 18:45 19:45 Air India AI227 1 5 CCU RGN 10:35 13:20 Air IndiaAI234 1 5 RGN CCU 13:40 16:55 Air India (via GAY) AI233 5 CCU RGN 13:30 18:00 Air India (via GAY)

Fligghhtss ffrom Yanngon (RGGN) to GGaya (GAAY) Fligghhtss ffrom Gayya (GAY) to Yanngon (RGGN) 8M 601 1 3 5 6 RGN GAY 10:30 11:50 MAI 8M 602 1 3 5 6 GAY RGN 12:50 16:00 MAIAI234 1 5 RGN GAY 13:40 15:00 Air India AI233 5 GAY RGN 15:00 18:00 Air India

Fligghtts frrom Yanngon (RGGN) to TTokyo (NNRT) FFliightts frrom Tokkyo (NRTT) to Yaangon (RRGN)NH914 1 3 6 RGN NRT 22:00 06:40+1 ALL NIPPON Airways NH913 1 3 6 NRT RGN 11:10 17:05 ALL NIPPON Airways

FFligghhtss ffrom Yanngon (RGGN) to SSeoul (ICCN) FFligghhtss ffrom Seooul (ICN)) to Yanngon (RGGN)KE472 1 3 5 7 RGN ICN 0:05 8:00 Korean Air KE471 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ICN RGN 18:40 22:55 Korean Air

OZ7463 4 7 RGN ICN 0:50 8:50 Asiana OZ4753 3 6 ICN RGN 19:30 23:40 Asiana

Flligghtss ffrom Yanngon (RGGN) to DDoha (DOOH) Flightts frrom Dohha (DOH) to Yangon (RRGN)QR619 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 RGN DOH 8:00 11:45 Qatar Airways QR618 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 DOH RGN 21:05 06:29+1 Qatar Airways

Flligghhtss ffroomm Yangon (RGN) to Nay Pyi Taww (NYT) Flligghhtss ffroomm Nay Pyyi Taw (NNYT) to Yangonn (RGN)Flight No. DDayss From To ETD ETA Operated by: Flight No. DDayss From To ETD ETA Operated by:FMI-A1 1 2 3 4 5 RGN NYT 7:30 8:30 FMI Air Charter FMI-A2 1 2 3 4 5 NYT RGN 8:50 9:50 FMI Air CharterFMI-B1 1 2 3 4 5 RGN NYT 11:30 12:30 FMI Air Charter FMI-B2 1 2 3 4 5 NYT RGN 13:00 14:00 FMI Air CharterFMI-C1 1 2 3 4 5 RGN NYT 16:30 17:30 FMI Air Charter FMI-C2 1 2 3 4 5 NYT RGN 18:00 19:00 FMI Air CharterFMI-A1 6 RGN NYT 8:00 9:00 FMI Air Charter FMI-A2 6 NYT RGN 10:00 11:00 FMI Air CharterFMI-A1 7 RGN NYT 15:30 16:30 FMI Air Charter FMI-A2 7 NYT RGN 17:00 18:00 FMI Air Charter

FFliightts frrom Yangoon (RGN) to Manndalay ((MDY) FFliightts frrom Manddalay (MDDY) to YYangon (RGN)Y5-234 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 RGN MDY 6:15 7:30 Golden Myanmar Airlines Y5-233 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 MDY RGN 8:10 9:25 Golden Myanmar AirlinesYH 909 2 4 6 7 RGN MDY 6:30 8:10 Yangon Airways YH 910 1 3 MDY RGN 7:40 10:30 Yangon AirwaysYH 917 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 RGN MDY 6:10 8:30 Yangon Airways YH 918 1 2 3 4 6 7 MDY RGN 8:30 10:25 Yangon AirwaysYH 727 1 5 RGN MDY 11:15 13:25 Yangon Airways YH 728 1 5 MDY RGN 9:10 11:05 Yangon AirwaysYH 731 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 RGN MDY 15:00 17:10 Yangon Airways YH 732 1 2 3 4 5 6 MDY RGN 17:10 19:15 Yangon AirwaysW9 501 1 2 3 4 RGN MDY 6:00 7:25 Air Bagan W9 502 1 2 3 4 MDY RGN 16:10 18:15 Air BaganK7 222 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 RGN MDY 6:30 8:40 Air KBZ K7 223 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 MDY RGN 9:00 11:05 Air KBZYJ 201 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 RGN MDY 11:30 12:55 Asian Wings YJ 202 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 MDY RGN 16:00 17:25 Asian Wings

Days - (1) Monday (2) TTueesdaay (33) WWeddnessdaay (4) Thursdayy (5) Friday (6) SSaturday (7) Suunday Days - (1) Monday (2) TTueesdaay (33) WWeddnessdaay (4) Thursdayy (5) Friday (6) SSaturday (7) Suunday


mmbiztoday.comIT & TELECOM 29

Myanmar Summary

Myanmar Summary

Microsoft Corp showed

a real-time, spoken-word translation service for

time the world’s largest soft-ware company has demonstrat-ed the breakthrough technology publicly in the United States.

Skype Translator, as it is cur-rently called, allows speakers in

other’s words spoken in their own language, according to a demo introduced by Chief Ex-

the Code Conference technol-ogy gathering in California.

“It is going to make sure you can communicate with anybody without language barriers,” said Nadella, who took over as Mi-crosoft CEO in February and is keen to re-establish the compa-ny as a technology leader after a decade of slipping behind Apple Inc and Google Inc in mobile computing.

Nadella described the under-lying technology as “magical,” but said the task now was turn it into a real product rather than just a research project, promising it would launch by

Alexei Oreskovic and Bill Rigby

the end of the year. He did not say if it would be a free add-on for Skype users or a paid extra.

Immediate reaction to the demo, featuring an English-speaking Microsoft executive chatting with a German coun-terpart, was mixed. One Ger-man-speaking audience mem-ber said the translation was good enough for vacation, but not for business.

The new technology, which Microsoft demoed in a rougher form 18 months ago in China,

feature for its Skype online chat service, which boasts hundreds of millions of users. It is an ad-vance on Microsoft’s current translation features that only work with written words on its Bing search engine and Internet Explorer browser.

Microsoft has been work-ing hard on speech recognition technology for years. Earlier

its voice-activated “personal assistant” designed to rival Ap-ple’s Siri. Reuters

LG Electronics Launches Revamped G3 SmartphoneSouth Korea’s LG Elec-

tronics Inc launched a re--

at a discount to its predeces-sor model last week and said it would ship more than 10 mil-lion units to improve its ailing handset business.

-ished metallic look, will pull its handset business out of the red and provide meaningful earn-ings momentum in the coming quarter.

The new device has a 5.5-inch screen with almost twice the resolution of its G2 predecessor

The resolution is also better -

sung Electronics Co’s Galaxy

features a laser focus for the camera.

899,800 Korean won ($880) is about 6 percent lower than the G2 in South Korea, highlighting the intensifying competition on both price and features among

Se Young Lee smartphone makers as market growth slows.

“Broadly speaking, business conditions should be better in the second quarter than the

chief executive of LG’s mobile business, told reporters dur-

-tor.

-crete earnings guidance and did not specify a timeframe on

which will be rolled out world-wide to more than 170 carriers.

While LG did not disclose

more than 5 million units of the device have shipped since its

LG brought forward the

market speculation that Apple Inc could reveal its next iPhone in August.

LG’s mobile division report-ed an operating loss of 9 bil-lion won ($8.80 million) in the January-March quarter due to competition from Chinese ri-vals like Huawei Technologies and Lenovo Group. Reuters

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AP


mmbiztoday.comSOCIAL SCENES 30

Ross Cormack, CEO of Ooredoo Myanmar, speaks at the press conference. Kyaw MinAbel, Chief Mentor of Ooredoo Myanmar. Kyaw Min

Ooredoo Press Conference on

Progress on Network Launch

From (L) to (R) , U Kyaw Zay Yar Win , Jason Tan,U Myint Zaw, Daw Th iri Kyar Nyo, Rossv Cormack, U Soe Moe Kyaw, Ross Cormack, U Ko Ko Th ein, U Zaw Win Khaing & Paul Whitworth. Kyaw Min

Zin Th i Htut, Myat Myo Pwint, Kyaw Zay Yar Win, Mable Hnin & Chan Mya Aye. Kyaw Min

Th e audience in Yangon was captivated by the beautiful melodies of the Royal Compositions by King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Th ailand. Royal Th ai Embassy Pro Musica Orchestra performs. Royal Th ai Embassy

U Aye Myint Kyu, Union Minister for Culture, presented a fl ower bouquet to Admiral M.L. Usni Pramoj, Privy Councillor and conductor as a token of appreciation. Royal Th ai Embassy

Pisanu Suvanajata, Ambassador of Th ailand to Myanmar, welcomed U Aye Myint Kyu, Union Minister for Culture, as the guest of honour and co-host of the Mid-Summer Night Music: Friendship from Th ailand at the Strand Hotel, Yangon. Royal Th ai Embassy

U Aye Myint Kyu, Union Minister for Culture, with the guests of honour. Royal Th ai Embassy

Professional and talented musicians of the Bangkok Pro Musica Orchestra mesmerized the audience with the Royal Compositions by King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Th ailand. Royal Th ai Embassy

Mabel Hnin & Soe Yu Paing. Kyaw Min

Presentation on Investment Man-agement from BestInvest by Infi nity

Financial Solutions

Delegates pose for a photo. Wai Linn KyawMark Ommanney, Manager, Business Development of Bestinvest, gives a pres-entation. Wai Linn Kyaw

Trevor Keidan, Chief Executive of Infi nity Financial Solutions Ltd, gives a presentation.

Pro Musica Orchestra's Performance in Yangon & Nay Pyi Taw


mmbiztoday.comCLASSIFIEDS 31


mmbiztoday.com

32ENTERTAINMENTSecond Israeli Film Festival in

Myanmar This MonthKyaw Min

The Israeli Embassy in Yangon is going to launch the “Second Israeli Film

Festival 2014” this month. The festival will

take place at Junc-tion Cineplex in Myanmar’s capital Nay Pyi Taw from June 5 to 6, and at Myoma Cinema in Myanmar’s second-largest city Man-dalay from June 6 to 7.

screened at the second edition of the festival, which is a part of the framework of the cultural cooperation between Israel and Myanmar, revolve around com-munity life, relationship and love, career and action.

give a glimpse of the Israeli

the Myanmar audience to see the Israeli daily life routine, the dilemmas and the diversity that the Israeli society is confront-ing,” the Israeli Embassy in Yangon said in a statement.

was held in Yangon last No-vember.

drama taking place in an Israeli village, in the early 2000s. In the centre of the story stands Tamar, the eldest of three sisters, who gave up on her life dream to go back home and support her parents. The story starts with the middle sister’s wedding; then the youngest

announces she is also engaged

puts a lot of pressure Tamar, who is in a stable but not excit-ing relationship, and things get complicated when she falls in

love with someone new.

“By Summer’s End” is set up in a small Israeli village, in the summer of 1978, one month prior to the Camp David peace ac-cord. What troubles Michal is that her 7-year-old daugh-ter, Maya, cannot read or write, and that her teacher wants to hold her

back a year. Michal rises to the occasion and vows that by the end of the summer, Maya will learn how to read and write and will move on to the next grade. But this summer is set to be full of surprises for the family. Michal’s father, who’s been missing for 20 years, suddenly returns, and brings

Chinese Actor Meets Myanmar Fans in YangonPhyu Th it Lwin

Chinese actor Zhang Jin-lai, famous for his role as the “Monkey King” in

’80s Chinese television series “Journey to the West”, recently met with Myanmar fans in Yangon, after his arrival in the former capital city on a visit to Myanmar at the invitation of the Myanmar-China Friend-ship Association.

Zhang Jinlai, also known by his stage name Liu Xiao Ling Tong (literally: “Little Six Year Old Child”), said: “I came here not only for meeting with My-anmar fans but also for further enhancing Paukphaw (frater-nal) friendship between our two peoples.”

Zhang donated K1 million ($1,040) to Su Taung Pyae National Race Youth Develop-ment Charity School, home of more than 1,700 students, most of whom orphans or from poor families across the country.

The gathering was sponsored

by ASEAN-China Center, the Chinese Embassy in Myan-mar and the Myanmar-China Friendship Association. Chi-nese Ambassador to Myanmar Yang Houlan, Secretary-Gen-eral of ASEAN-China Center Ma Mingqiang and Chairman of Myanmar-China Friendship Association U Sein Win Aung were also present.

The visit of Zhang falls on China-ASEAN culture exchange year and plays a major role in culture exchange between Myan-mar and China, said Ma.

Zhang later visited the new capital Nay Pyi Taw and the second largest city Mandalay.

Zhang’s Myanmar visit is the second of a Chinese actor after Hollywood star Jackie Chan visited Myanmar on a UNICEF program in 2012.

Zhang portrayed the Monkey King (Sun Wukong) in the 1986 television series Journey to the West, which was adapted from the classic novel of the same title.

with him the family’s dark past and hidden secrets that have been dutifully repressed. The

Women’s international Film Festival 2011, and Israeli Film Centre in New York and Haifa International Film Festival 2011.

“Desperado Square” illus-trates a romantic drama and awarded by the Israeli Film Academy for best director and best supporting actor. In an old neighbourhood, stuck in

of Morris Mandabon’s death is approaching, and his youngest son, Nissim has a dream. In the dream his father orders him to reopen the old neighbourhood

Chinese actor Liu Xiao Ling Tong, best known for his role as the Monkey King in the 1986 Chinese TV series “Journey to the West”, performs during his visit to Myanmar in Yangon.

movie theatre thus breaking the vow Morris had made years ago never to screen movies again.

“Operation Thunderbolt” is a

Aviv to Paris, via Athens, that was hijacked by four terror-ists. After lending in Entebbe, Uganda, the Jewish passen-gers were separated and held hostage in demand to release many terrorists held in Israeli prisons. After much debate, the Israeli government sent an elite commando unit, to raid the air-

By Summer’s End movie poster.

Poster of the fi lm Desparado Square.

Th eatrical US poster of Opera-tion Th underbolt.

WM

C

U Aung/Xinhua

myanmar business today - vol 2, issue 22.pdf

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