About Myanmar

Dubbed as the Last Frontier of Asia, Myanmar is a country with enormous potential, having been closed to most of the world for over 50 years. Myanmar is :   A nation of approx. 60 million people Abundant in natural resources with access to the world’s busiest shipping lanes Strategically situated between, and has direct access to, China and India, the world’s emerging super powers. A member of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Undergoing rapid transformation Set to establish a stock exchange by 2015

Investment surge expected for "gold mine" Myanmar

Myanmar's hermit economy is set to boom on an anticipated influx of foreign investment in a "gold mine" of opportunities once sanctions are lifted, said Craig Steffensen, the Asian Development Bank's country manager for Myanmar and Thailand.
 
"Myanmar is a gold mine, any way you look at it - natural resources, gas and oil deposits, spatial dimensions, location between China, India, Southeast Asia. It's a huge market waiting to happen and growth will come from everywhere, not one specific sector," he told Reuters in an interview. "The boom that's about to begin has brought people from four corners of the globe. There's tremendous potential ... there's no flight to, or hotel in Myanmar that isn't booked by businesspeople looking at opportunities there to get involved in tourism, banking, telecommunications and construction."
 
That interest in the long-isolated country picked up after its year-old quasi-civilian government embarked on an astonishing wave of reforms unimaginable under the five-decade rule of the military, which plundered and mishandled an economy squeezed by Western sanctions imposed for human rights abuses.

Source:todayszaman.com, April 2012

New Myanmar Foreign Investment Law Now In Force

After considerable internal debate, Myanmar’s new Foreign Investment Law (“FIL”) was enacted on 2 November 2012. The FIL sets out a revised voluntary framework for foreign investment in Myanmar whereby those foreign investors who apply and receive a permit to operate within its restrictions will receive tax and other benefits and guarantees.
 
Investors not seeking the investment incentives under the FIL will still be able to invest in Myanmar by establishing entities directly with the Company Registration Office (“CRO”). Under the FIL, the Myanmar Investment Commission (“MIC”) will continue to be tasked with granting permits for foreign investment. Together with the government, MIC is afforded considerable discretionary power to establish investment approval procedures and evaluate potential investments.
 
Although the new FIL has clarified certain investment incentives and restricted sectors for foreign investment, a number of ambiguities remain, in particular with regards to the investment approval process and the extent to which investments in restricted sectors will be allowed. We await further supporting laws and it remains to be seen whether they, together with the operation of the legislation in practice, will allow investors to exercise with relative ease the rights granted under the FIL.
 
Foreign investment in Myanmar may be effected by an entity that is 100% foreign owned but may also take the form of a joint venture between a foreigner and a citizen, and between a foreigner and a state economic organization.
 
An earlier draft of the FIL had stated that a foreign investment could be nationalized (i.e. expropriated), subject to market value compensation, which of course is permitted in many countries (including the US, known as "eminent domain"). The FIL now provides that no foreign investments will be nationalized during the term of, including any extension of, the MIC permit.

Source:lexology.com, December 2012