Myanmar Business Today - Vol 2, Issue 31

August 7-13, 2014Myanmar Business Today

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mmbiztoday.com August 7-13, 2014| Vol 2, Issue 31MYANMAR’S FIRST BILINGUAL BUSINESS JOURNAL

Myanmar Summary

Contd. P 8... Contd. P 8...

Inside MBT

Gov’t to Set up More Industrial Parks to Curb Price Manipulation

The authorities are to develop seven new industrial parks as

part of the process to re-strict price manipulation of industrial lands which are not being used to op-erate industries, a minis-

Htun Htun Minn ter said.“The prices of land in

major investment areas keep increasing so we are planning to set up seven new zones to increase supply,” U Thein Aung, deputy union minister for industry, said.

The minister said a vast amount of indus-trial lands are left empty as owners are hoarding them in the hope of mak-

“Even if we develop new industrial zones, it would

ensure the land is deliv-ered to people who are actually going to build factories and this could in turn provide jobs and re-duce poverty.

“If the existing lands for industries are held to be sold later at a greater

parks would fail,” he said.There are 18 major in-

dustrial parks in Myan-mar with many land plots of those zones sold to industrialists still being un-utilised. State and re-gional governments and industrial zone manage-ment and inspection com-

mittee are coordinating to collect data to prepare

“Rules and regulations should be set out to pro-mote transparency in this issue and to reclaim the land plots and sell them again to business-people who actually want to build or expand small and medium enterprises with fair price,” U Maung Muang Oo, secretary of Mandalay industrial zone management committee, told Myanmar Business Today.

Some states and regions

have seen in the past lands designated to be developed as industrial zones being misused through actions such as buying them quick-ly and build fences around them without operating on them.

There are more than 3,000 land plots in in-dustrial parks in Yangon which have not been uti-lised, according to real es-tate agents.

The current prices of in-dustrial park lands have increased exponentially compared to when they

current price range has landed between K500 million and 1 billion per acre compared with tens of millions when the gov-ernment started estab-lishing those zones.

“The plan can see reduc-tions of land price in Yan-gon. New zones will be developed mostly in the states and regions. The most important thing is to deliver those lands to the ones actually utilis-ing them,” U Myat Thin Aung, chairman of Hlaing

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Labourers work at a garment factory in an industrial zone in Yangon. The authorities are going to set up seven new industrial parks in a bid to quell rising prices of industrial land in the country.

Ministry to Allow Casinos in Border Areas P-3

Mogok, Mai Shu “Treasures Lands” Go Up for Auction P-5

Bankers Urge Gov’t to Set Up Credit Bureaus P-7


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Business News in BriefAll Asia Asset Capital says Myanmar agree-ment close to approval

All Asia Asset Capital Ltd said the signing of the power plant agreement between APU, the Myanmar and Thai-

Capital recently increased its stake, and the Myanmar

All Asia Capital said the agreement had been subject to “minor delays of a technical nature,” but that the Myan-mar government has now passed it to the economic de-partment. All Asia Capital’s agreement to acquire a 4.5 percent stake in APU is dependent on the power plant agreement being signed.

Myanmar-Laos bridge to boost regional trade

and Luang Namtha, will be completed next year and is expected to boost the economies on both sides of the Mekong. The Thai-Myanmar Cultural and Economic Cooperation Association and the Chiangsaen Interna-tional Institute for Skill Development recently surveyed the progress of the $26-million bridge. Phakaimas Weerra, Pakaimas Vierra, president of the association, told Thai media that the bridge would enhance the live-lihoods of communities on both sides, and would im-prove transport from Chiang Saen district in Chiang Rai province and Jinghong city in the far south of China’s Yunnan province. The two-lane Myanmar-Laos Bridge will span 691 metres and be able to support up to 75 tonnes.

Myanmar health and information ministers step down

Myanmar’s ministers for information and health have resigned, state media reported last week, the lat-est changes in a cabinet that has been grappling with a host of problems as the country presses on with reforms after decades of military rule. The New Light of Myan-mar newspaper reported that President Thein Sein had “allowed” Information Minister Aung Kyi and Health Minister Pe Thet Khin to step down “of their own voli-tion”. No reason was given for the resignations but the work of both of their ministries has been in the public spotlight in recent months. Several times in the past, ministers who were reported as having stepped down “of their own volition” were later found to have been forced out of the cabinet.

Myanmar makes $2.9 million heroin bust in ‘Golden Triangle’

The authorities have seized 140 kilograms of heroin packed into blocks and hidden in a car in the notorious “Golden Triangle” area near the Thai border, police said last week. Two men were arrested in the border town of Tachileik in eastern Shan State during the bust, which

netted drugs with a street value of $2.3 million, police told AFP. Opium, heroin and methamphetamine pills are frequently smuggled from Myanmar into Thailand, the gateway to the Southeast Asian narcotics market.

DC) says 10 per cent of the world’s opium is produced in Myanmar, making it the second largest producer of the drug – the base ingredient for heroin – after Af-ghanistan.

S Korea to loan $500 million for Myanmar’s economic development

South Korea is helping Myanmar in its economic de-velopment by extending economic development coop-eration fund (EDCF) to the country for implementing development projects. According to a framework agree-ment signed recently between the two countries, South Korea will disburse $500 million in loan to Myanmar with low interest rate. The deal aims to carry out pro-

tion sectors. In June, Myanmar and South Korea signed an agreement on bilateral investment promotion and protection during Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se’s visit to Myanmar.

Myanmar Summary

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Myanmar Summary

Ministry to Allow Casinos in Border AreasThree-star hotels in

border areas will be allowed to open

casinos, according to the Ministry of Hotel and Tourism (MoHT).

Only foreigners will be allowed to gamble in those casinos while locals will be banned from tak-ing part, the ministry said, adding that the hotels let-ting locals play would be dealt with in accordance with the regulations.

“Only hotels in border areas will be allowed to run casinos because the main goal is to increase foreign cash intake,” said U Sai Kyaw Ohn, deputy minister of the Ministry of Hotel and Tourism.

The ministry is work-ing with the Ministry of

adapt and revise both the Hotel and Tourism Law and the Gambling Law to legalise such operations. Both laws are expected to be amended before the end of this year, according to MoHT.

Htun Htun Minn Myanmar’s bustling border areas, which have more than 100 hotels,

foreign tourists in recent years, generating demand

later stage, hotels in oth-er states and regions will also be allowed to open casinos, the ministry said.

Casinos are being set up in cities where under-ground gambling opera-tions masquerade as ar-cade game centres, where under-the-counter ex-change of game coins for cash thrives. Such centres are required to secure permits from relevant au-thorities and city develop-ment committees before opening, and can be pros-ecuted if gambling is part of their operations.

“Hotels around the world have opened casi-nos. But this needs to be strictly regulated because this is large-scale gam-bling,” said U Than Shwe, vice chair of Myanmar Hoteliers Association.

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Myanmar Summary

JFE Engineering’s Myanmar Steel Plant Makes First Shipment

JFE Engineering’s Myanmar joint ven-ture has launched its

new plant in the country

block fabricated there, the Japanese steel giant said.

JFE Engineering and the Ministry of Construc-tion established J&M Steel Solutions Co Ltd, a JV company for infra-structure construction, in November last year, and began construction of a plant in December that fabricates steel structures such as bridges in Tha-keta township in Yangon.

The main facilities of the new 16-acre plant started operating in April

Aung Phyo and J&M announced con-struction of all facilities has been completed.

The bridge block of this

a 200-tonne truss bridge for one of Myanmar’s neighbouring countries, Laos. The plant is going to continue fabricating more blocks and is due to com-plete shipping them by August, JFE said.

The steelmaker said since the establishment of the company, J&M Steel has received orders from the ministry for steel bridge design, fabrication and construction-plan-ning regarding bridges such as the Than Lwin Bridge to be constructed in Kayah state in eastern

Myanmar and the Htee Gyaint Bridge across the Ayearwaddy river in Sa-gaing region.

In addition to these orders, JFE Engineer-ing subcontracts the fab-rication work which it receives from countries other than Myanmar to J&M Steel Solutions. The company’s order backlog now amounts to as much as 7,000 tonnes, it said.

Development of trans-portation infrastructure, such as roads and rail-ways, as well as logistics infrastructure, including port terminals are seen as vital to sustain Myan-mar’s recent economic growth.

J&M Steel Solutions

said it is committed to contributing to the coun-try’s domestic fabrication ratio which the coun-try strives to increase, while developing itself by introducing Japanese advanced technologi-cal skills from JFE Engi-

harbour and coastal piers and container cranes.

JFE said it aims to lever-age J&M Steel Solutions as the mother plant for infrastructure projects in regions including South-east Asian countries, the Middle East and Africa

overseas business.

engineering expertise to the environmental and

In addition to the Jap-anese supervisors dis-patched from JFE Engi-neering, those who have been accepted at its Tsu Works as trainees to learn welding skills since 2002 (about 30) will join J&M Steel to introduce Japa-

said.JFE Holdings, the par-

ent company of JFE En-gineering, was formed in 2002 by the merger of NKK and Kawasaki Steel Corp. At the time, NKK Corporation was Japan’s second largest steelmaker and Kawasaki Steel was the third largest steel-maker.

JFE Holding’s main business is steel produc-

tion. It also engages in en-gineering, ship building, and real estate redevelop-ment. JFE Holdings is the

the world with revenue in excess of $30 billion.

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Myanmar Summary

Mogok, Mai Shu “Treasures Lands” Go Up for Auction

Gem mining plots from Mogoke in Mandalay and Mai

Shu in Chin state, dubbed as the “treasure lands” by locals due to its enormous reserve of rubies, sap-phires and other precious gems, went up for auction

Phyo Thu on July 28. The auction, for both

new and expired plots, will go on until August 27, according to the supervi-sory work committee for gem plots.

A large proportion of mining licence in the re-gion will expire within

companies wanting to ac-quire or renew a mining licence can purchase an application form for K1 million ($1,000) per plot at the Ministry of Mining, the committee said.

Individuals from black-listed companies are banned from bidding, and all bidders are required to

attach a bank statement from a state-approved

nancial feasibility. Maps of the mining plots have been put on display at the Gems Museum in Nay Pyi Taw.

“Mining companies, for-eign or local, should op-erate in accordance with the appropriate stand-ards, and also make sure

evant areas,” said U Win Aung from an initiative working for Myanmar’s accession into EITI.

U Ko Ko Aye from My-anmar Mining Associa-tion said: “[The authori-ties] need to make sure that the social environ-ment of those areas are not harmed and small scale operations are pro-tected.”

A mining licence for gems usually last for three

the government might

consider changing the terms and conditions for

The mining sector earned $7 million from exports in the current

ond week of July while the volume of investment from local businesses amounted to more than K13 billion, according to statistics released by the Ministry of Commerce.

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Production of Minerals and Fossil Fuel Drops

Daw Le Le Thein, deputy minister for national plan-

ning and economic devel-opment, said there was a drop in the production of minerals and fossil fuels in the second half of the

Only 82.5 percent of the Ministry of Energy’s extraction target was met because of depleting oil

pected amount of natural gas bought from Thailand and a decrease in private production, she told a parliament session.

As for mining, opera-tions in Lone Khin and Pha Kant areas in Kachin state shrunk due to armed

mines being drowned out of competition, she add-ed.

She suggested reforms including approvals to oil operations in a timely manner, thorough prepa-ration and accurate im-plementation of projects and a repair and renova-

May Soe San tion program for aged

Myanmar Summary

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A worker waters jade stones at a Mid-Year Emporium for jade, gems and pearls at an emporium hall in the capital Nay Pyi Taw.

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Shwe Pipeline Carries 1.87 Billion cm Gas to China in First Year

China imported 1.87 billion cubic me-tres of gas through

the China-Myanmar gas

Zwe Waioperation, China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) said, as the pipeline slow-ly ramps up to full capac-ity.

The multibillion-dollar gas pipeline stretches over 2,400 km (1,500 miles) from the Indian Ocean through Myanmar to the southwestern Chi-

nese city of Kunming, al-lowing China to bypass the Malacca Strait, one of the world’s busiest ship-ping lanes.

The pipeline should be able to carry up to 12 bil-lion cubic metres of gas a year at full capacity, while a parallel oil pipeline due to come online later this year will carry up to 440,000 barrels of oil a day.

CNPC, which owns the pipelines, said in a state-ment posted on its web-site that the gas pipeline also supplied 60 million cubic metres of gas to My-anmar.

The gas pipeline brings gas to China from the

of Myanmar’s western state of Rakhine.

said previously that it would take about a year

capacity.In June, Myanmar an-

nounced revenues of $3.3 billion from gas exports

down from the previ-ous two years, due to in-creased domestic needs. Revenues are expected to grow as exports to China through the pipeline in-crease.

Myanmar Summary

China-Myanmar pipeline should be able to carry up to 12 billion cubic metres of gas a year at full capac-ity, while a parallel oil pipeline due to come online later this year will carry up to 440,000 barrels of oil a day.

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State-run New Light of Myanmar to Relaunch in September

The state-run Eng-lish daily the New Light of Myanmar

will be relaunched as the “Global New Light of My-anmar” on September 1, the newspaper reported.

Local company Global Direct Link was awarded a 49 percent stake in the newspaper in 2013, with the rest owned by the Ministry of Information’s News and Periodical En-terprise, in a bid to trans-form the government mouthpiece into a semi-independent journal.

Converting the state-run newspaper into a dai-

-ence” for the government and can be considered as a “profound change in es-sence,” Union Minister U Aung Kyi said at the launch of its new printing press.

He said the move is aimed at transforming the paper into a “free and public-centred” media as

Aye Myatthe media landscape.

-do news agency have been training local journalists over recent months, the newspaper said. As part of the changes, the com-pany has invested a re-ported $3.45 million in a new printing press that can print 70,000 copies per hour of a 48-page tab-loid or a 24-page broad-sheet.

Myanmar Summary

Myanmar Summary

FDI in Hotel and Tourism Hits $700 million

Foreign hotels and travel enterprises have invested more

than $700 million in Myanmar’s tourism sec-tor, Dr Tin Shwe, deputy minister for hotels and tourism said during the annual meeting of the Myanmar Tourism Mar-keting Association in Yan-gon.

This is a direct response to the booming Myanmar tourism industry, which according to the deputy minister has made in-roads in the international market thanks to success-ful promotion campaigns for the industry.

have invested $690.88 million in 22 hotel pro-jects and $39.2 million in joint-venture develop-ments of four hotels in Myanmar, according to government statistics.

The Myanmar tourism sector is expected to earn more than $1 billion this year, U Thet Naing Toe,

May Soe San vice president of Union of Myanmar Travel Associa-tion (UMTA) said.

The sector gained $534 million in 2012 and $926 million in 2013, according to the statistics released by the ministry.

Last year saw the entry of more than 1.05 mil-lion tourists to Myanmar while the number is ex-pected to nearly triple to 3 million in 2014, according to Ko Tin Tun Aung from UMTA.

The year-on-year in-crease in tourist arriv-als will receive a further boost, said Dr Tin Shwe, from the accession of three Pyu ancient city-states of Beikthano, ThayayKhittara and Han Lin into UNESCO’s World Cultural Heritage list. This is expected to attract many foreign tourists to central Myanmar where these sites are located.

Tourists from Thailand make up most of the tour-ists entering Myanmar this year, followed by the Chinese and Japanese,

Last week, Myanmar Business Today reported that the Myanmar government and the European Union (EU) have signed a voluntary partnership agree-ment to promote timer exports. We were informed that the Myanmar government is in negotiations with the EU to sign a

agreement.

Correction

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while French, Spanish and English tourists form the bulk of the European tourists so far.

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mmbiztoday.com

7LOCAL BIZ

Myanmar Summary

Bankers Urge Gov’t to Set Up Credit BureausMyanmar’s bank-

ing sector should work towards es-

tablishing credit bureaus that can provide “credit histories” of borrowers in a bid to provide a basis for creditors to access risks and actively screen pro-visions of loans, banking community said.

“The borrowers’ abil-ity to pay back the loans is an important factor in evaluating them. Myan-mar needs credit bureaus so that we can consult the credit histories to assess

-cial from Kanbawza Bank told Myanmar Business Today.

The current terms on loans in Myanmar usu-ally require collateral properties while provid-ing a small portion of the collateral’s value as a loan, hindering many businesspeople who can-not provide any collateral to access these loans, she

May Soe San

added.“We need capital, partic-

ularly overseas funds. As the Central Bank chooses which foreign banks are to operate in Myanmar, the capital they bring will

into the country. We need credit histories if we are to issue loans, and the Central Bank is starting to provide that. Our bank

-nancing businesses,” she said.

The Central Bank has set the current interest rate at 13 percent, while the interest rate for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is 8.5 percent, both of which are much higher compared to those of foreign countries.

“The current interest

rate cannot be lowered, due to Myanmar’s 7 per-

-pared with that of 2 per-cent in Thailand,” said a banking consultant. The

rates depend on the mi-croeconomic market, he added.

However, Myanmar’s domestic market will soon be increasingly open

to foreign banks, and even with pre-existing limits, a

-

for loans is expected in the country.

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Myanmar Summary

S Korean Shoe Factory Sued over Compensation Dispute

Ashoe factory owned by a South Korean businessman was

charged as it failed to pay salary and compensation to workers after the closure of the facility in late June, state-run media reported.

The factory owner will face four charges due to their failure to send no-tice to the Ministry of La-bor, Employment and So-cial Security for shutting down the factory and send documents related to the salaries of workers and agreements between the employer and workers.

The factory also failed to pay salary and compensa-tion to over 700 workers for the closure of the fac-tory and monthly social security fees for the work-ers to the Social Security Board in May.

The salary for June for more than 700 workers amounts to nearly K65 million ($67,080) and the total compensation for the closure of the factory amounts to K130 million ($134,159).

Kyaw Min The factory said in its announcement issued in early July that the closure of the factory was due to

they were facing as a re-sult of their low-quality products.

More than 750 workers lost their jobs when the factory closed.

The Master sports facto-ry was opened a year ago in the Hlaing Tharyar In-dustrial Zone in Yangon.

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Myanmar’s banking sector should work toward establishing credit bureaus in a bid to provide a basis for creditors to access risks and actively screen provisions of loans, banking community said.

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Myanmar Summary

Myanmar Summary

Myanmar Acreage Dished Out to Eni

Eni enters into PSCs for exploration of two onshore blocks

Ifollowing its partici-pation in the heavily-

contested international bidding for Myanmar’s onshore blocks, signed two Production Shar-ing Contracts (PSC) with the Ministry of Energy for RSF-5 and PSC-K on-shore blocks in Nay Pyi Taw last week.

The joint venture is be-tween Eni, with a 90 per-cent participating interest through Eni Myanmar BV, and the Myanmar Production and Explo-ration Company Ltd (10 percent).

Blocks RSF-5 covers an area of 1.292sqkm in the

500km north of Yangon, while block PSC-K cov-ers an area of 6.558 sqkm in the unexplored Pegu Yoma-Sittaung Basin, in central Myanmar.

The exploration period will last six years, divided in three phases.

This agreement marks -

anmar, a rapid expanding economy, and bolsters the

its presence in Southeast Asia, where it is present in China, Vietnam, Indo-nesia and Timor Leste.

Myanmar awarded 16 onshore blocks late last year, 13 of which were for production sharing con-tracts (PSC), with the oth-er three being petroleum recovery contracts (PRC).

Malaysian state player Petronas, ONGC Videsh

Kyaw Min of India, Brunei National Petroleum, Petroleum Exploration of Pakistan, Russia’s Bashneft, Cana-

of Luxembourg and Thai-land’s PTTEP all won blocks.

When the round was launched in January, 18 blocks were put on of-fer. However, two blocks received no bids, govern-

said. A total of 78 com-panies initially sent in letters of interest and 26 companies later submit-ted 54 proposals for 16 blocks.

From page 1...

From page 1...

Tharyar industrial zone, said.

U Kyaw Myint, Manda-lay regional minister for electric power and indus-tries, said the transaction contracts of the lands which were sold but re-ceived no development should be scrutinised, adding that this land issue may become a challenge for the government.

“Many entrepreneurs are facing obstacles to ac-cess land as land is being hoarded like commodi-ties. For example, we can’t disclose the location if we plan to open a CNG gas

station because otherwise the price of land in that

Kyaw Myint said.

planning to assign a group led by the vice president to identify empty land plots and to reclaim it by compensating the owner the amount paid to buy

However, the former

well-connected business-people are among the ones investing heavily in land in industrial zones raising doubts about the

-coming plan to regain the unused land.

The fact that those plots have gone through the hands of multiple owners or being used as collaterals for bank loans will provide complications for the pro-cess of regaining the lands, businesspeople said.

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MCRB Report Looks at Myanmar Companies’ Transparency

The Myanmar Cen-tre for Responsible Business (MCRB)

TiME/Pwint Thit Sa re-port looking at the trans-parency of Myanmar company websites relat-ing to information on re-sponsible business prac-tices.

The report, which draws on established methodol-ogy from Transparency International, analyses how much information company websites pro-vide on anti-corruption, organisational transpar-ency, and human rights, health, safety and the en-vironment (HSE).

The aim of the report, which will be repeated in 2015, is to encourage in-creased transparency by Myanmar businesses in these areas, the Yangon-based group said.

The report shows that nine of the largest My-anmar companies, led by KBZ, Parami, and Max Myanmar publish a signif-icant amount of informa-tion about their policies, standards and practices on these issues.

However 25 of the 60 large companies are not at all transparent, having no websites and therefore score zero in the survey.

A number of other com-panies publish only a lit-tle information, generally relating to anti-corrup-tion or organisational transparency. Companies scored fewest points in

Aye Myat

the areas of human rights, including land acquisi-tion, and HSE, where the Centre was seeking evi-dence both of policy ap-proaches and information about their implemen-tation, given that these

concern to the Myanmar people.

Vicky Bowman, director of the Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business, said: “We congratulate those companies who – despite no current nation-al regulatory requirement to do so – have begun a journey to be more trans-parent, and upgrade their corporate governance, sustainability practices and public communica-tion in line with interna-tional standards.

“For those companies who have not yet begun this journey, we hope they will do so.”

She said over the com-ing months, MCRB will

to Myanmar companies on best practice on anti-corruption and respect for human rights to ena-ble them to improve their performance.

Bowman added that this is a study of what informa-tion companies publish, and not an assessment of their actual performance in these areas.

“Policies and commit-ments mean nothing unless they are known, understood by all em-ployees and embedded in the company’s day to day business activities.”

She encouraged lo-cal media and Myanmar civil society groups to study the public commit-ments that these compa-nies have made, and hold them to account to deliver on them.

on these issues.

Soe Z

eya Tun/Reuters

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Myanmar Summary

Contd. P 12...

Myanmar’s Political and Economic Reforms Are Emerging Unevenly: Report

Despite a series of rapid and dramat-ic reforms since

electing a civilian govern-ment in 2010, Myanmar’s transition remains fragile, according to new research from the global humani-tarian agency Mercy

Wai Linn Kyaw Corps.Many outside observ-

ers see Myanmar as a country with abundant natural resources, under-developed markets and a government eager to assume greater stature regionally and globally. But the report, “Visibility versus Vulnerability: Un-

derstanding Instability and Opportunity in My-

facing a series of unique challenges.

military rule, an isolated economy and war be-tween the government and a number of ethnic minorities, Myanmar is

largely unprepared for its new role as an open soci-ety,” says Sasha Muench, director of Mercy Corps’ Economic and Market Development Technical Support Unit.

“There’s no question that the country holds great promise. But its challenges are also vast, not the least of which is a government and a civil-society sector still strug-gling to learn how to work together.”

The report recom-mends several policy and program changes to help Myanmar progress through the expected and unexpected problems that will arise as part of its transition process: Build networks for resil-ience involving govern-ment, civil society and the private sector; Develop

skills among key groups throughout the country;

Support responsible civil-society leadership to en-gage more constructively with government; Secure land rights in a quick, transparent and equi-table fashion; Invest in smallholder farmers as a means of fuelling equita-ble economic growth.

“To ensure that Myan-mar emerges as a stable, peaceful and developed country, it’s critical to en-sure that ordinary people

underway,” Muench said.

Postal System to See Increased Transactions:

Minister

Myanmar’s postal system is ex-pected to see an

increase in the volume of mail transactions by 95 percent during the cur-

Aung, deputy general manager of the Planning and Training Depart-ment at Myanmar Posts and Telecommunications said.

The comment was made at a Japan-Myanmar con-ference on postal services held at the Telecommuni-cation and Postal Train-ing Center.

“Improving Myanmar’s postal system requires not only reforming the organisation, but also im-proving the performance of employees. Japan re-formed its postal service more than 100 years ago,” Japanese Vice Minister

Communications Masa-hito Fujikawa said.

“Myanmar’s postal sys-tem needs to expand its operations and business

Phyo Thuproviding services in ad-dition to standard mail service and money or-ders,” Fujikawa said.

The governments of My-anmar and Japan signed an agreement for coop-eration in the postal sec-tor in April. So far, Japan conducted three surveys on the operations of My-anmar’s postal sector.

“The public lost faith in Myanmar’s postal system many years ago. We are trying to restore people’s faith,” U Kham Aung said.

Reforms are expected to begin in April 2015. MPT aims to improve the relia-bility of the postal system while introducing new services in cooperation with Japan.

“Japan recently pro-posed to help and is cur-rently working to identify what support to provide, as such the scope of co-operation is still limited,” said U Shwe Thun Maung, manager of Yangon Cen-

Despite a series of rapid reforms since 2011, Myanmar’s transition remains fragile, according to a new research.

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Air KBZ to Begin Charter Flights This Month

Air KBZ will intro-duce air charter service starting

this month, U Myat Thu general manager of the private airline told Myan-mar Business Today.

-ing aircrafts, along with an ATR72-500 airliner,

Kyaw Min which arrived on July 9, will be available for both domestic and interna-tional service in August.

“The new plane can-not be put into service right away. Inspections

be made in order to ac-commodate government standards,” he said.

“We are planning to

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season, which runs from April to September,” U Myat Thu said.

Air KBZ is currently con-

to Nay Pyi Taw, Kyauk-phyu, Sittwe, Tarchileik, Heho, Kyaingtone, Da-wei, MyaukOo, Mandalay and Kalay.

Myanmar Summary

Only 3pc of Tiger Populations Left In Asia: WWF

One of the world’s most majestic creatures is now

one of the most endan-gered. In a recent report, the World Wildlife Foun-dation (WWF) revealed a 97-percent drop in the population of Asian ti-gers.

There are currently only 3,200 tigers left out of 100,000 originally liv-ing in the wild, the report said.

The report warned that the major threats to Asian tiger species are poaching and illegal wildlife trade. The causes of this un-derground trade of tiger goods are hard to moni-tor, being of value for tra-ditional medicine or as a “status symbol” in Asian cultures.

The causes of habitat destruction are much harder to track, especially due to the nearly irrevers-ible damage to these re-gions. “Tigers have lost 93 percent of their historic range,” the report said.

In the report, WWF also exposed the human fac-tors that have led to the tiger’s decline. Ranging from simple facts about

Logan Linnane the species to the causes of their endangered sta-tus, the report makes a case for the protection of these animals.

In 2010, WWF and the 13 tiger range countries committed to doubling tiger populations in the region by 2022, under a campaign entitled TX2.

The organisation pro-fessed that it only held data for Nepal, India, and Russia. However, it lacked data from the oth-er countries in the region.

Regions where WWF has the most data are where they have been investing in projects to improve monitoring of tiger populations. Where there are no projects im-plemented, WWF encour-ages countries to monitor tiger populations within their borders.

The NGO plans to take on the most pressing is-

by joining with other or-ganisations to stop illegal wildlife trade and black market commerce.

These programs focus on enforcement of illegal poaching and reducing demand for tiger products and exports.

Reuters

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Myanmar Summary

Contd. P 12... Contd. P 12...

India Tests Myanmar Waters as Chinese Dominance Loses Steam

Indian External Af-fairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will conclude a

series of diplomatic mis-sions throughout Asia with a visit to the Asean Foreign Ministers’ Meet-ing in Myanmar in Au-gust. Her visit will set the stage for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s upcom-ing visit to Myanmar in November. These visits come as public and gov-ernmental opposition to Chinese infrastructure projects in Myanmar ris-

--

tegic gap left by China’s

While China remains Myanmar’s largest trade partner and supplies the bulk of the Myanmar Armed Forces’ weapons, the Myanmar govern-ment seems to be losing interest in Chinese infra-structure investments.

On July 18, Myanmar’s Ministry of Rail Transpor-tation announced the can-cellation of an agreement with the Chinese govern-ment to build a railway connecting Kunming in China to Kyaukpyu in Rakhine state. Ministry director MyintWai attrib-uted the cancellation to public opposition.

China’s ambassador to Myanmar Yang Houlan exposed Beijing’s discon-tent when he countered the ministry’s claim, say-ing in a July 25 press con-ference that the project would proceed with the support of the Myanmar

Jacob Goldberg government and people. He also claimed the op-position to the project has been overstated by the Myanmar government.

Yang’s claims have not been corroborated by the Myanmar government.

The 1,215-km Kunming-Kyaukphyu railway, pro-posed in a 2011 MoU be-tween the Chinese and Myanmar governments, would have followed the route of an existing pipe-line that connects gas

-ming. The $1 billion pipe-line was fully funded by the Chinese government.

A recent Reuters report said the pipeline has been delivering only 15 percent of its intended annual ca-pacity to its destination in Kunming.

Similarly, the bulk of the $20 billion cost of the now-defunct railway pro-ject was to be borne by the China Railway Engineer-ing Corporation (CREC).

However, in the three years since the MoU was signed, public opposition to the project has ham-pered all progress on con-struction. Political parties and civil society groups in Rakhine state, through which the railway would have passed, have pro-tested the construction of the pipeline as well as the railway, citing envi-ronmental and social con-cerns. Groups in Rakh-ine state also oppose the practice of exporting local natural resources out of Rakhine territory.

The cancellation of

the Kunming-Kyaukpyu railway project follows a growing trend of op-position to Chinese in-vestment in Myanmar’s infrastructure. In 2011, public opposition to the multi-billion dollar Myit-sone hydroelectric dam,

another Chinese pro-ject, prompted President Thein Sein to suspend the

Wasbir Hussain, di-rector of the Centre for Development and Peace Studies in Guwahati, de-scribes China’s engage-ment with Myanmar as the pursuit of a three ob-jectives. First, China seeks to use Myanmar’s natural resources to meet its do-mestic demand. Second, China wants to expand its access to the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea in order to develop a modern maritime recon-naissance system. Third, China is bent on deny-ing India strategic space across South Asia.

The cancellation of the Kunming-Kyaukpyu rail-way project and the lack-luster performance of the China-Myanmar gas pipeline endanger all of Beijing’s objectives.

At the same time, New Delhi seems to be achiev-ing its strategic goals in Myanmar with increas-ing ease, allowing India

-ing gaps in its Look East Policy.

While Chinese projects Myanmar are consistent-ly falling prey to public disapproval, several in-frastructure projects that will connect Myanmar to India’s northeast states appear to be making pro-gress, even in the face of similar local opposition.

Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Pro-ject, which will connect India’s Mizoram State to a deep-sea port in Sittwe, is projected to be completed by 2015. The project will expand the capacity of the Sittwe port facility, giving India’s northeast states access to a harbour in the

Chinese President Xi Jinping (L) holds a welcome ceremony for Myanmar President U Thein Sein outside

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From page 11...

Construction Ministry Seeks Parliament Approval for $80-m ADB Loan

The Ministry of Con-struction is seeking approval from par-

liament for a loan of $80 million from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to upgrade a highway in southwestern Ayeyawady Delta.

The upgrading of Mau-

Kyaw Min bin-Kyaiklat-Pyaponis road is estimated to cost $88 million and the gov-ernment will provide the outstanding amount.

Minister for construc-tion U Kyaw Lwin said that it was essential to upgrade the road for the economic recovery in the area which was worst hit by Cyclone Nargis in

Myanmar Summary

Myanmar Summary

2008.If upgraded, the road

and will serve as an evac-uation route in the event of disastrous cyclones like Cyclone Nargis, he said.

ADB had provided My-anmar a loan of $60 mil-lion in January which will be used in power sector to cover installation of new transformer at sub-power stations in power supply system of Yangon, Mandalay, Magway and Sagaing regions, substitu-tion of old power cables with new ones, instal-lation of aerial bundled conductors at power lines and that of digital meters.

The Ministry of Coop-eratives also sought par-liament approval to buy farm machinery from South Korea which it be-lieves will help realise the goal of reducing poverty to 16 percent in 2015.

Gov’t Signs Petroleum Recovery Deals on Two

Onshore Blocks

The authorities have signed improved petroleum recov-

ery deals for two onshore blocks with foreign and

Under contracts ini-tiated in Nay Pyi Taw between the state-run Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE), Brit-ish Virgin Islands-based MPRL E&P Pte Ltd and Myanmar Petroleum Ex-ploration and Production Co, the tasks of improved petroleum recovery is to be implemented on two onshore blocks in Pyay and Myanaung out of 16 onshore blocks.

The oil companies are to conduct the environmen-tal impact assessment (EIA) and social impact assessment (SIA) in the respective blocks and co-operate with local author-ities for development of the regions.

In October 2013, 10 for-eign companies out of 78 – from Britain, Brunei, Canada, India, Italy, Lux-embourg, Malaysia, Paki-

Aye Myat stan, Russia and Thailand – won tenders for oil and gas exploration at 16 on-shore blocks in Myanmar.

-tistics, foreign investment in the oil and gas sec-tor amounted to $14.372 billion in 115 projects as of June, accounting for 30.76 percent of the total. The sector is the second-largest foreign invest-ment receiving sector fol-lowing electric power.

Myanmar Summary

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Bay of Bengal and con-necting Myanmar to Kol-kata port.

Groups such as the Kaladan Movement in Ra-khine state and the Chin Human Rights Organi-zation have raised con-cern about the Kaladan project due to the lack of environmental impact as-sessments throughout the planning process and the

either the Indian or My-anmar governments to consult with populations living along the route of the project.

Nonetheless, this oppo-sition seems to have little impact on the progress of the project.

Earlier in July, the gov-ernments of India and My-anmar also pledged to pro-ceed with the creation of a highway bus route that will connect Moreh in India’s Manipur state to Manda-lay, which is set to be com-pleted in October.

According to Madhur-jya Kamar Dutta, program manager for trade and investment facilitation at the Mekong Institute for Development and Coop-eration, India-funded in-frastructure projects will facilitate the emergence of a new Mekong-India eco-nomic zone. The Moreh-

a crucial gap in the Asian Highway network as well as connect India’s north-eastern states to the East-West Economic Corridor, which connects Mawla-myine in Myanmar to Da Nang port in Vietnam. Thus, India will achieve a level of connectivity throughout Southeast Asia similar to what China has enjoyed for centuries.

Both Indian and Chi-nese infrastructure pro-jects in Myanmar have faced public opposition, but only China’s plans have unravelled as a re-sult, while India’s projects have remained intact. It is possible the Myanmar government has found a new patron in Asia. But it is more likely that these events follow Myanmar’s well-known practice of balancing the great pow-ers against each other. By challenging China’s monopoly, the Myanmar government is opening strategic space to create further competition be-tween India and China,

leverage and autonomy in the international arena.

From page 11...

From page 9...

MPT provides services

throughout the country and has more than 4,000 employees. The quality and scope of the services are expected to improve with the potential for

support from Japan.

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mmbiztoday.comREGIONAL BIZ 13

Myanmar Summary

China Poised to Pass US as Top Business-Travel Market

China is poised to displace the U.S. as the world’s biggest

business-travel market by 2016, aided by accel-erating export growth and

Spending worldwide for business travel will climb 6.9 percent this year to $1.18 trillion, according to a report released to-day by the Global Busi-ness Travel Association. Growth will accelerate by an estimated 8.6 percent next year and then slow in 2016 through 2018, the GBTA forecast shows.

In China, the increasing pace of exports since mid-2013, consumer prices running below govern-ment targets and nominal wage gains that support

growth are contributing to an expansion in the market. That contrasts with the US, where eco-nomic growth has been “stubbornly low,” along with employment and wages, the GBTA said.

“China, along with the other BRIC countries of Brazil, Russia and In-dia, are leveraging their business travel expendi-tures into more economic opportunities,” said Mi-chael McCormick, GBTA executive director. “We expect to see this shift in business travel spending to continue.”

Spending in Russia may fall more than 5 percent this year, the GBTA said,

Mary Schlangenstein

amid safety concerns and the international sanc-tions imposed on the country, triggered by the crisis in Ukraine.

Since the GBTA began its study in 1998, the US has been the world’s larg-est business travel mar-ket, although it’s not seen the fastest expansion. While spending in China increased an average 16 percent a year since 2000 to reach $225 billion in 2013, in the US it rose 1.1 percent annually to $274 billion.

Conjested AirspaceLast year, American

business travellers spent $1.20 for every dollar spent by the Chinese, down from $7.7 in 2000, according to the GBTA, which analyzed travel spending in 75 countries for its study.

The projections have implications in areas as

diverse as hotel construc-tion and plane purchases by airlines, and if real-ized will add pressure on China’s already congested

-lays run at about 25 per-cent and only 20 percent of available airspace is al-lotted to civil aviation.

China is expected to ac-count for half of the in-crease in Asia’s commer-

in 2020 from 6,000 at the end of 2013, according to Ed Greenslet, who pub-lishes The Airline Moni-

to just over 7,200 from 6,482 in the same period, he said. Bloomberg

Stimulus Spending as Growth Dips

Sbillions of dollars in stimulus spend-

ing and property market-boosting steps to shore up demand after report-ing its weakest economic growth in more than a year.

Exports in Asia’s fourth-largest economy have

-pected from a pick-up in the global economy this year, but domestic de-mand has been fragile since a mid-April ferry accident hit tourism and its services industry.

The government rolled out an additional 11.7 tril-lion won ($11.4 billion) in spending and 26 trillion

-nancial support, and loos-ened mortgage borrowing restrictions.

The central bank sepa-

3 trillion won to encour-age them to expand lend-ing at low interest rates to companies that build factories in the country or buy machinery.

Analysts said the sup-port package was likely to give at least a short-term boost to consumer spend-ing, but warned it could add to household debt levels, already among the highest in the world. “This is surprising to us in that it marks a shift in policy stance toward debt-driven growth from what was focused more

Christine Kim and Choonsik Yoo

on containing debt,” said Young Sun Kwon, econo-mist at Nomura in Hong Kong.

President Park Geun-hye has called for all-out ef-forts to boost the economy and Finance Minister Choi Kyung-hwan promised to take massive action, which investors believe will pres-sure the central bank to cut interest rates as soon as August.

The economy grew 0.6 percent in the April-June period over the prior quarter, the weakest since

and below expectations for 0.7 percent growth, data earlier on July 24 showed. The ministry cut its 2014 growth forecast to 3.7 percent from 4.1 percent. Reuters

Myanmar Summary

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Asian Economies to Struggle on Weak Export Demand

The outlook for emerging Asia has dimmed further

this year on weak demand for exports, although growth in India is expect-ed to accelerate into 2015 even as China is held back in part by a slowing prop-erty market, Reuters polls showed.

China and India have been stung by the West’s slow recovery from the Great Recession and, add-ing to the problem, both countries have struggled to implement reforms at home to boost productiv-ity and consumer spend-ing.

But signs of stabilization have emerged in China, the world’s second-largest

Indonesia approved a new regulation eas-ing the export tax on

mineral concentrates for miners planning to build a smelter in Southeast Asia’s

regulation on the export tax has been signed,” said Deputy Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro.

In January, Indonesia imposed an escalating tax policy, which penal-

Sumanta Dey

Adriana Nina Kusuma and Randy Fabi

economy, which grew by a slightly-faster-than-ex-pected annual 7.5 percent in April-June, thanks to a raft of government stimu-lus measures.

Chinese manufactur-ing expanded at its fast-est pace in 18 months in July, according to a pre-liminary HSBC survey of purchasing managers on July 24.

However, economists in the Reuters survey con-ducted from July 17-23 were wary about pushing growth forecasts much higher. They now expect the Chinese economy to grow 7.4 percent in 2014, a modest increase from the 7.3 percent predicted in April, according to 44 respondents.

They expect growth to

slow to 7.2 percent next year. That underlines the

-ernment stimulus meas-ures have had so far and

property market slump could worsen and hurt the broader economy.

Chinese exports rose 7.2 percent in June from a year before, lower than expected. They were up only about 0.9 percent in

with a year earlier, com-pared with year-on-year growth of close to 10 per-cent in January to June 2013.

“The mini-stimulus measures have helped to support growth in the second quarter but we see some downside risks stemming from a prop-

erty market correction due to oversupply and un-certain external demand,” said Jian Chang, an econ-omist at Barclays in Hong Kong.

Economists in the poll also cut 2014 growth fore-casts for India, Indonesia, the Philippines, South Korea and Thailand while Australia and Malaysia were predicted to expand at a slightly faster pace.

The forecast for Thai-land was cut the most after months of political turmoil that led to a mili-tary coup in May, as well as the continuing weak-ness of exports. Its econo-my is expected to grow by just 1.8 percent in 2014, down from the 2.6 per-cent forecast in April.

The Thai economy is then seen expanding 4.0 percent next year. Most other economies are also expected to perform slightly better in 2015.

For India, economists penciled in 5.3 percent

-cal year, down from the 5.5 percent seen in April.

For now, they fail to share the enthusiasm of investors for the new gov-ernment of Prime Minis-ter Narendra Modi. His landslide election win two months ago has helped send Mumbai’s Sensex in-dex up more than 24 per-cent this year.

Most Asian countries have begun increasing exports to the United

States as its economy has rebounded following a dismal start to 2014 but orders to the euro zone, China and regional trade partners have stagnated or slipped.

“Despite the pick-up in exports to the U.S., emerging market ship-ments excluding those from China have yet to rise broadly,” said David Hensley, an economist at JP Morgan.

-gion has limited the scope for any easing in mon-etary policy and almost all major central banks in the region are likely to hold interest rates steady until the end of next year,

resisting pressure to stim-ulate demand.

Only the Bank of Korea is expected to cut its base rate, by 25 basis points to 2.25 percent sometime in the third quarter.

In contrast, both the Federal Reserve and the Bank of England are ex-pected to raise interest rates by the middle of next year, although the

-tion there could delay any move.

The outlook for Asia was, however, better than for Latin American economies, where Brazil is seen managing just 1.1 percent growth this year. Reuters

Indonesia Eases Mineral Export Tax for Firms Building Smelters

ised any company which had not made progress on building a smelter by slapping them with a 25 percent tax on copper concentrate exports or a 20 percent tax on lead, zinc, iron and manganese shipments. The tax was due to increase annually to 60 percent in 2017.

The tax was intended to force miners to develop smelters and mineral pro-cessing facilities and part of a government push to derive bigger returns from Indonesia’s min-eral resources. But rather

than pay it, most miners stopped exporting from Southeast Asia’s biggest economy and one of the world’s top mineral pro-ducers.

The government also banned the export of un-processed ore, and that ban will remain in place. Reuters

Myanmar Summary

Myanmar Summary

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Joko Widodo, Indonesia’s president-elect.

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Myanmar Summary

Fleeing Migrant Workers in Thailand Delay Rice Shipments

Rice prices in Thai-land, the world’s second-biggest ex-

porter, will probably ex-tend their gains because of shipping delays as

-ter the military coup, the Thai Rice Exporters Asso-ciation said.

As many as 70 percent of the workers involved in loading grain at ware-houses and moving it to vessels have left the country, Chookiat Ophas-wongse, the association’s honorary president, said. That could delay deliver-ies by as much as three weeks, he said.

Thailand is set to ac-count for 22 percent of global rice exports this year, US Department of Agriculture data show. More than 200,000 work-ers from neighbouring countries left Thailand

Supunnabul Suwannakij

since the military seized power on May 22 amid fears of a crackdown on illegal labor, according to the International Organi-zation for Migration. The military denies ordering such a move. Thai rice prices have increased to a three-month high.

“We’re now facing prob-lems of severe labour shortages and tight sup-plies, which will boost prices in the short term,” Chookiat said, predicting that rates may increase by as much as $20 in the next two months. Thai 5-percent broken white rice, an Asian benchmark, climbed for a third week on July 18, adding 1.5 per-cent to $398 a tonne.

A supply shortage after the military halted sales from state stockpiles is also bolstering rates, Chookiat said. The army stopped sales and curbed movement of grain to review the quality and

quantity of reserves built up through a state buying program started in 2011. Inventories rose to 14 million tons from 5.6 mil-lion tons three years ago, USDA data show.

Excess SuppliesAmple stockpiles in

Thailand and competition from Vietnam will curb gains, said Kiattisak Kan-layasirivat, a Bangkok-based director at Ascend Commodities SA, which trades about 500,000 tons of rice annually. “As prices rise, demand for Thai origin slows. Buyers will seek cheaper sources like Vietnam.”

While prices for 5-per-cent broken white rice in-creased for the three weeks leading up to July, they have declined 9 per-cent this year because of excess supplies in Thai-land and India.

“Only about 500 tonnes of rice a day can be load-

ed now, compared with 2,000-3,000 tons nor-mally,” Kiattisak said, referring to grain bought from Thai exporters for shipment to Africa. “I’ve never seen such slow loading before. The ship-ment could be delayed by a month.”

The National Council for Peace and Order, as the junta is known, aims to solve the problem of illegal workers, Air Chief Marshal Prajin Juntong, the head of

council expects migrant la-bor will return to Thailand because of high demand, he said.

Loading BagsWorkers load bags from

warehouses onto lighters and onto vessels at ports, said Sermsak Kuonsong-tum, director of Chai-yaporn Group, an export-er, and association vice president.

The loading rate is

about 300 tonnes a day now compared with 1,500 tonnes normally, Serm-sak said.

The country has a mi-grant worker population of 2.23 million, including 1.82 million people who entered the country il-legally, according to the Department of Employ-ment. Of the total, 1.74 million are from Myan-mar, 395,000 from Cam-bodia and 96,000 from Laos. Bloomberg

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mmbiztoday.comINTERNATIONAL BIZ 16

Myanmar Summary

Co-host:

Myanmar Global Investment ForumMyanmar

In partnership with the Myanmar Investment Commission (MIC), the 3rd Annual Euromoney Myanmar Global Investment Forum will be held again in Nay Pyi Taw on 16-17 September.

Join us this September, to meet with over 800 international and local business leaders, policymakers, financiers, and economists, who will share their outlook as the ‘Golden Land’ continues its dramatic re-emergence into the international community. Recent developments such as the easing of economic sanctions, a liberalising financial sector, and strong activity in agriculture and trade, have contributed to raising Myanmar’s international profile as an investment destination.

Some key topics will include:

For more information or register, please visit our website: www.euromoneyconferences.com/myanmar or email us : [email protected]

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India Threatens to Derail WTO Deal, Prompts Angry US Rebuke

India threatened on July 25th to block a worldwide reform of

custom rules, which some estimates say could add $1 trillion to the global economy and create 21 million jobs, prompting a US warning that its de-mands could kill global

Diplomats from the 160 World Trade Organiza-tion member countries meeting in Geneva had been meant to rubber stamp a deal on “trade fa-cilitation” that was agreed at talks in Bali last De-

ever global trade agree-ment.

But India, in an 11th-hour intervention, de-manded a halt to the trade facilitation timetable until the end of the year and said a permanent WTO deal on food stockpiling

Frank Jack Daniel & Tom Miles

must be in place at the same time, well ahead of an agreed 2017 target date.

“My delegation is of the view that the adoption of the TF (trade facilitation) Protocol be postponed till a permanent solution on public stockholding for food security is found,” Indian Ambassador An-jali Prasad told the WTO meeting.

The ultimatum revived doubts about the future of the WTO as a negotiat-ing body, and many dip-lomats said Delhi’s stance could derail the whole process of world trade lib-eralization.

“It is no use to sugar coat the consequences of such action or to pretend that there would be busi-ness as usual in the after-math,” US Ambassador Michael Punke said.

“Today we are extreme-ly discouraged that a small handful of members

in this organisation are ready to walk away from their commitments at Bali, to kill the Bali agree-ment, to kill the power of that good faith and good-

the lights in this building back to dark,” he said in a statement.

Modi has vowed to spur economic growth through sweeping changes to poli-cies that many people felt had stagnated under the outgoing administration, and his every step is be-ing closely monitored at home and abroad.

Reuters

Cars, pedestrians, carts and motorcycles move down a congested street in Mumbai.

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mmbiztoday.comINTERNATIONAL BIZ 17

Myanmar Summary

Myanmar Summary

Investors Pin Growth Hopes on US as Ukraine Crisis Casts Shadow on Europe

With the prospect

tions against

in Europe, investors will be looking to the United States and China to un-derpin the global econo-my.

The recent US GDP reading and jobs data will help markets to judge the strength of the economy’s rebound and the likely speed of the Federal Re-serve’s return to more conventional monetary policy. The Fed meets on Tuesday and Wednesday.

“The US-China story is looking more encourag-ing,” said James Knight-ley, an economist with ING. “With the European Central Bank’s moves, that should allow the euro zone economy to swing upwards but with a good six- to 12-month lag.”

In Europe, the downing of a Malaysia Airlines air-liner over eastern Ukraine has left countries such as Germany with little choice but to change their long-passive stance and impose tougher sanctions on Moscow over the role of pro-Russian separa-tists.

Early in the week of July 27 to August 2, European Union ambassadors met

could include closing EU capital markets to state-owned Russian banks, placing an embargo on arms sales and restricting

John O’Donnell supply of energy technol-ogy.

Globally, such sanctions would bite hardest in Eu-rope, where Russia does most trade, compound-ing economic problems not only for Russia, but throughout the region.

The International Mon-etary Fund has already

on investment in Russia of sanctions as it pared back its forecast for global economic growth in the week of July 20-26.

businesses in Germany, which accounts for more than one quarter of all ex-ports across the European Union, has dipped further since the plane crash.

“An escalation carries large risks for the econo-my,” he said, cautioning in particular of the knock

a big risk from further

sanctions although one has to accept that clear (diplomatic) signals are needed.”

Bounce-backThe crisis comes at a

delicate moment for the 18 countries using the

recovery is losing pace. Investors will get a snap-

tion rate, which has sunk well below the European Central Bank’s target last Thursday.

With Britain, one of the stronger European econ-omies, caught up in the push for mutually painful sanctions against Russia, economic growth pros-pects hinge on the United States and China.

“We think there is go-ing to be a bounce-back in (US) GDP,” said ING’s Knightley. The Reuters consensus shows annu-

alized growth picking up to 3 percent in the April-June quarter.

Data from Beijing is ex-

economy picked up in July after government moves to boost lending to busi-ness, such as reducing the amount of cash banks must hold in reserve.

China’s economy grew at 7.5 percent in the sec-ond quarter. But the drags on growth, including a downturn in property prices and high local gov-ernment debts, are simi-lar to those in Europe.

Analysts believe that deeper reforms, such as overhauling giant state companies, will be needed in the long term to keep the economy growing at the pace the authorities want.

That keeps the focus on US Federal Reserve and how fast it will run down the stimulus that

has pumped cheap mon-ey around the world, prompting investors to take increasing risks.

The Fed gathers on Tuesday for its two-day meeting but no change of course is expected yet.

In early July, Feder-al Reserve Chair Janet Yellen signaled that she would keep the central bank’s purse strings loose

nancial crisis are “com-pletely gone.”

But some analysts say the central bank may be forced to take a stricter approach to avoid pump-ing up market bubbles.

“People worry that the Fed may raise interest rates earlier than expect-ed,” Nie Wen, an analyst with Hwabao Trust in Shanghai, told Reuters. He predicts a rise in inter-est rates as soon as early next year.

Michael Heise of Allianz warns that keeping mon-ey too cheap for too long carries a major risk.

“If the central banks stay too accommodative for too long, you can have a boom ... and it can come to a massive correction.”

In a reminder of the del-

cial policymakers, Argen-tina will seek next week to reach agreement with in-vestors suing the country for full repayment of their bonds.

President Cristina’s

stance would appear to indicate that the country

Ireland to Give Green Light for Hedge Funds to LendCarmel Crimmins

Ireland, one of the big-gest hubs for funds in Europe, will allow

hedge funds based in the country to lend to com-panies under new rules drawn up by the central bank, the bank said.

With banks in Europe still reducing their lend-ing to households and corporations in the wake

issue bonds are increas-ingly seeking to borrow from other sources such

as insurers, private equity

Ireland has traditionally prevented hedge funds domiciled in the coun-try from lending because regulators viewed it as too risky. But with access to credit a growing prob-lem in Europe, the central bank has drawn up regu-lations that will allow spe-cialized loan funds that it authorizes to extend loans internationally.

“In our view this is a sector that should be sub-ject to some additional regulation,” said Martin

Moloney, head of markets policy at the Irish central bank.

“If you have loan origi-nation funds operating out of Ireland and lending into other countries there are potential cross border issues. We wanted to deal with that upfront and we have been very focused on

sues.”The central bank is

drawing heavily on new regulations devised to prevent a repeat of the banking crisis to regulate funds which lend money.

Under the rules, a loan fund will not be able to lend more than a quarter of its assets to one bor-rower and the amount of debt the fund can take on will be capped at a ratio of 1 to 1, meaning that if a fund has assets of 100 million euros it can bor-row another 100 million euros.

The move by the Irish central bank comes as the European Central Bank and the Bank of England are trying to resurrect the European Union’s market for asset-backed securi-

ties as a way of getting

businesses and plug some of the gap left by banks. Reuters

will go down to the wire. If talks fail, Argentina fac-es its second default in 12 years. Reuters

Andrey R

udakov/Bloom

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mmbiztoday.comINVESTMENT & FINANCE 18

Myanmar Summary

Japan’s ANA Ditches Myanmar Airline Investment PlanJapanese airline All

Nippon Airways (ANA) has cancelled

its plan to buy a 49 per-cent stake in local carrier Asian Wings Airways as growing competition had made the investment too risky.

“We failed to reach agree-ment with AWA in regard to a capital participation investment and as a result halted the investment,” ANA said in a statement.

“Competition between new and old airlines in

bringing rapid changes in the external environment, and calling into question the assumptions made at the time of the original decision,” the airline said.

ANA announced the $25-million investment in the Myanmar carrier last year as part of a strat-egy to expand overseas by investing in airline-relat-ed businesses.

Kyaw Min

At the time, the deal -

ment in a Myanmar-based commercial carrier by an international airline. ANA said the deal was in line with its group strategy, “which involves diversi-

areas, centred primar-ily around airline-related businesses particularly in

the Asian area”.Yangon-based Asian

-ing in 2011, operates tur-boprop ATR 72 regional aircraft and an Airbus

in Myanmar, with plans to expand international services to destinations in Southeast Asia.

ANA, which resumed

and Yangon in 2013 after a 12-year hiatus, raised $1.6 billion in a share of-fering two years ago to fund purchases in airline-related businesses fo-cused on Asia. Last year, the company established

-gapore to coordinate its acquisitions.

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Myanmar Summary

David Mayes

There is a large but very illiquid asset class that falls un-

der the broad category of passion investments. A passion investment can

watches and jewellery, classic cars, art, wine, comic books to trading

-utes spent on the topic during my academic stud-ies essentially amounted to a warning to stay from them. Yet many people have experienced great returns in this asset class. In my opinion it is a very personal choice if invest-ing in passion assets is a

-cision.

-ence stems from asking yourself the following question. Are you per-sonally passionate about what you are consider-ing investing in or are you considering investing in it because you know other people are passion-ate about it? While this doesn’t seem to make a

losing investment.The main reason is that

due to their illiquidity and rarity, it is extremely dif-

Pros and Cons of Passion Investmentsonto passion investments. This gets compounded if you don’t have the same specialist knowledge of the sector as the person on the other side of the

obtain that knowledge if it is not a true passion of yours.

The caveat here can be that too much passion sometimes clouds your judgement. That classic car you have dreamed about since childhood may sway you to buy it at a price that does not re-

a great upside of that kind of scenario is that you may end up stuck holding onto something that you truly love. In that sense a hobby expenditure be-comes the result of a passion investment gone wrong.

On the other hand, I would avoid passion in-vestment funds like the plague. Even though ac-cording to the Coutts Pas-sion Index the asset class has outperformed shares in the last decade, a run on a fund invested in pas-sion assets could result in a disaster of epic propor-tions. By the very nature of the fact that a lot of the value is derived from the passions of people inter-ested in them, liquidat-ing a portfolio of watches, cars, or comic books in any timely manner would be near impossible with-

down.Further on the issues

surrounding the illiquid-ity of this asset class, I would strictly limit the percentage of your net worth tied up in passion investments to about 10 percent. If your business is closely related to pas-sion investments and it is your main expertize then this number could be slightly higher, but even then you should separate your personal net worth from the success or fail-ure of your business. This is practical advice regard-less of the industry.

Passion investing at-tracts many people due to the fact that it can be a lot more fun than prob-ably any other form of investing. They are also a lot more fun to show your friends than a statement from your broker show-ing which shares or funds you hold. The downside is that they are illiquid, and if you are a novice you will surely get taken advantage of by the many sharks in the game. How-ever, if you truly have a passion for some of these goods and know your

-casionally be very good.

David Mayes MBA provides wealth man-agement services to ex-patriates throughout Southeast Asia, focusing on UK Pension Trans-fers. He can be reached at [email protected]. Faramond UK is regulated by the FCA and provides advice on pen-sions and taxation.

Thailand to Allow Companies to Raise Money for Overseas Projects

Thailand plans to al-low companies to raise funds locally

for infrastructure projects in neighbouring countries such as Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia.

The regulator will ap-prove rules as early as this quarter for so-called In-ternational Infrastructure

-struction of power plants, tollways and other public works, said Vorapol So-catiyanurak, secretary general of the Securities & Exchange Commission. Several Thai and for-eign companies have ex-

Anuchit Nguyen -ing infrastructure trusts, he said.

Thailand, Southeast Asia’s second-biggest economy, has been pro-moting itself to neigh-bours with less-developed capital markets as a place for raising funds. Army chief Prayuth Chan-Ocha, who seized power in mili-tary coup on May 22, has said he will boost invest-ments in projects along the nation’s borders to increase trade. The three neighbours accounted for less than 4 percent of Thailand’s international trade in 2013.

“Laos, Myanmar and

Cambodia will require a vast amount of funds for the development of their infrastructure,” Vorapol said. The trusts help serve those needs and will be an “attractive” investment option, he said.

Laos raised 1.5 billion baht ($47 million) by sell-ing sovereign bonds to

time in May 2013. Com-panies such as Banpu Pcl (BANPU), Thailand’s big-gest coal miner, CK Power Pcl (CKP) and Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Holding Pcl (RATCH) are building power plants in Laos that will supply electricity to Thailand.

Gunkul Engineering Pcl (GUNKUL) has power plant projects in Myan-mar.

The new trusts will be backed by revenue from the infrastructure pro-jects in those neighbour-ing countries. At least 70 percent of the total con-struction must have been completed for compa-

Vorapol.Vorapol said he expects

state-controlled compa-nies such as Airports of Thailand Pcl, Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand and Expressway Authority of Thailand to launch initial public of-

ferings for infrastructure funds. He declined to pro-vide a timeframe. Bloomberg

Myanmar Summary

books to trading cards.

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vufajymMum;cJhonf/



Bangkok Bank Touts Bringing Investors from Around Asia to Myanmar

More than 100 prospective in-vestors inter-

ested in doing business in Myanmar recently joined the “Bangkok Bank Brings Asia to Myanmar” event in Yangon.

The organiser, Bangkok Bank, brought in local businesspeople from vari-ous industries, including food and beverages, ag-riculture, construction, tourism and hotels, auto parts, plastics and chemi-cals, and design and dé-cor.

“We are organising many activities to support the country’s economic

May Soe San development and help our customers get to know the country’s potential and connect their busi-nesses here,” Bangkok Bank President Chartsiri Sophonpanich said.

“We were one of the lead sponsors of the Myanmar Global Investment Fo-rum, which was held in Nay Pyi Taw. We took our SME customers to Myan-mar to explore business opportunities. We have held various seminars about Myanmar for cus-tomers, businesspeople and the general public in Bangkok.”

The event also included a visit to the Thilawa Spe-cial Economic Zone and

local markets, and a semi-nar that featured speakers from both Thailand and Myanmar.

“Knowing that we have had a representative of-

to 20 years, customers of our overseas branches, especially from Japan and Singapore, have been asking about Myanmar’s development and pros-pects,” Chartsiri said.

“Some of them are keen to travel to Myanmar to witness our development themselves. This trip was intended to help sup-port our existing custom-ers overseas so that they

knowledgeable speakers

about the business pros-pects in Myanmar.”

The bank aims to engage in every permitted bank-ing operation, including providing loans, if it can receive one of Myanmar’s highly-coveted foreign banking licences, Chaiyrit Anuchitworawong, ex-ecutive deputy president, said.

Bangkok Bank is one of 25 banks shortlisted by the Central Bank to operate in Myanmar. If selected, it expects to pro-vide lending services and

for imports, exports and transactions, Chaiyrit said at the event.

The shortlisted banks are from South Korea, Japan, India, Australia, France, China, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and Vietnam.

The Myanmar Central Bank is expected to grant licenses to 5 to 10 banks in September, where the selected banks will be limited to one branch and permitted to only operate wholesale banking ser-vices.

Although the entrance of foreign banks will pro-vide technical support to

banks need support and protection from the Cen-

Myanmar Summarytral Bank to avoid a col-lapse of the domestic sys-tem, a local banker said.

Established in 1944, Bangkok Bank’s total as-sets as of March were over $75 billion. It has more than 1,150 domestic branches and an interna-tional network of 27 over-seas branches. Bangkok Bank opened a represent-

1994.Chartsiri said: “Our

long-established pres-ence in Myanmar means our people on the ground have been working for us for a long time, know their markets well, and are ideally placed to sup-port customers and inves-tors particularly in the growing economies of Southeast Asia.

“Our focus is to pro-vide services that meet the needs of our custom-ers, namely Thai cus-tomers growing their international presence; multinational businesses with whom we have had a long and productive rela-tionship, such as our Chi-nese customers in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia; and local customers in countries where we have a base.”

Myanmar – Investing in A Far Frontier

Frontier investors have been excited by the opening up of

Myanmar’s market since its quasi-civilian govern-ment came to power in 2011, after nearly half a century of military rule. But investors also com-plain that there is very lit-tle to invest in. This one is a deep frontier – there is no real stock market, and investors have tended not to go directly into local companies.

Myanmar is seen as ripe for business expansion, given only an estimated 30 percent of the popula-

Carolyn Cohn

tion have access to elec-tricity, for example. And the IMF predicts growth of 8.5 percent in the coun-try this year, one of the fastest growth rates in the world, due partly to rising gas production.

London-listed All Asia Asset Capital recently in-creased its holding in a Myanmar and Thai-based

and is also invested in a Thai hospitality and gam-ing company which has a resort across the border in Myanmar.

Frontier investors across the globe look for annual double-digit re-turns in long-term in-vestments such as private equity, though there can be transparency risks in

these small, unlisted com-panies. In this new mar-ket of Myanmar, the re-turns could be especially attractive, says Sri Hartati Kurniawan, All Asia Asset Capital’s CEO, who sees potential returns in My-anmar among the best in the region:

“We are aiming for 20 percent a year – we are coming in early. We are taking into consideration we are investing in a fron-tier market, there are cer-tain risks associated with that.

Myanmar is rushing to catch up and make itself attractive to international investors as a place to do business, Kurniawan adds.

“There are a lot of things going on, a lot of property

development, infrastruc-ture development, they are building new roads – I was surprised myself. Hotels are quite good for business people.”

But for portfolio inves-tors restricted to listed companies or debt, My-anmar’s borders remain closed.

According to Wells Far-go fund manager Antho-ny Cragg: “There is quite a lot of private equity in Myanmar, such as oil and gas and agricultural prod-ucts. But there are no di-rect listed plays.”

Carolyn Cohn works in London as part of the Reuters investment strat-egy editorial team, spe-cialising in emerging and frontier markets.

Myanmar Summary

Delegates pose for a photo at the Bangkok Bank event in Yangon.

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Myanmar Summary

Opponents Seek to Halt Dam Construction on SE Asia’s Second Longest River

Activists, research-ers and environ-mentalists from

Myanmar and Thailand

a way to stop hydropower dams planned on Myan-mar’s section of the Sal-ween River, one of Asia’s

Originating from the Tibetan Plateau, the Sal-ween is Southeast Asia’s second longest river. It

through China, Thailand and Myanmar to the An-daman Sea, criss-crossing many of Myanmar’s eth-nic minority areas, where it provides food and jobs.

Campaigners say six dams in Myanmar, being developed jointly by Chi-nese, Thai and Myanmar investors, threaten the future of local people and the rich biodiversity of the Salween basin. China is also planning 13 dams on the upper Salween.

The Myanmar dams, with a combined power generation capacity of around 15,000 mega-watts, are also located in

zones. This has raised concerns of renewed or

-tween the army and eth-nic rebels over natural resources, undermining

nationwide peace. Myanmar’s powerful

military is also involved in the dam projects. Grow-ing militarisation, illegal

Thin Lei Win logging, land grabs and forced labour already af-fect communities in the dam areas – and those who voice opposition are threatened, say Shan and Karen campaign groups.

In addition, most of the electricity produced would be exported to Chi-na and Thailand, leaving little for energy-starved Myanmar, while ethnic minorities who are al-ready marginalised would be left with a degraded river and environment.

“There is no local partic-ipation, no transparency

-cal people. The dams just

human rights abuses, and villagers have to relocate,” said Sai Khur Hseng, gen-eral secretary of Ethnic Community Development Forum (Burma), an alli-ance of ethnic organisa-tions across the country.

“How do you measure the value of what all the people are relying on? You cannot measure the value of culture, religion (or) biodiversity,” added Khur Hseng, who is also coordinator of the Shan Sapawa Environmental Organization.

Ethnic groups’ lifeline

Partly due to its remote location, the Salween Riv-er is less well known and populated than the Me-kong, its big brother. Still, 6 million people, mostly ethnic and religious mi-norities, live in the Sal-

southwest China’s Yunnan province.

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ween watershed and de-pend on the river for jobs and nutritious food, ac-cording to WWF.

These minorities are al-ready neglected in China, Myanmar and Thailand, said Pianporn Deetes, campaign coordinator for environmental group In-ternational Rivers (IR) in Thailand.

“There is no spotlight on the area and it’s easy for investors to exploit it. The voices of the marginalised ethnic (people) who will bear the cost of the dams are not heard,” she said.

A petition with over 33,000 signatures call-ing for a halt to the dams was released on March 14, the International Day of Action for Rivers and against Dams. Campaign-ers also raised awareness during the ASEAN Peo-ple’s Forum in March, an event bringing together civil society from the 10 countries that make up the ASEAN regional bloc.

“Two months after that, the building of Kun Long dam was discussed in (Myanmar’s) parliament, and it sounded like they are going to go ahead,” said Saw Thar Phoe of Ka-ren Rivers Watch (KRW). “Whether they don’t hear us or they are not listen-ing, we do not know.”

In September 2011, My-anmar’s President Thein Sein suspended the Chi-nese-led Myitsone dam, Myanmar’s largest hy-dropower project, after weeks of public outrage.

Myitsone is located at the source of the Ayeyar-waddy River, considered a lifeline for the country.

“For the ethnic groups in the east of Myanmar, the Salween plays the same role as the Irrawad-dy,” said IR’s Deetes.

Legal challenge?Carl Middleton, a for-

mer campaigner with IR who now lectures at Bangkok’s Chulalong-korn University, said it was “highly likely” people living along the Salween

the projects – both mate-rially and culturally.

“While promises are often made from dam developers to support af-fected communities, the track record in the region for livelihood replace-ment programs is not good,” said Middleton, who is organising a re-search conference on the Salween in November.

Given that the Salween dam deals were signed with the Burmese junta, who ruled the impover-ished Southeast Asian

for almost half a century, Myanmar’s new quasi-ci-vilian government should reconsider them, cam-paigners say.

There is no river basin authority and no agree-ment between the coun-tries on how to develop and sustain the river, however, and activists are now mulling a legal chal-lenge.

In June, a Thai court ac-cepted a lawsuit against the government-owned Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) and four other state bodies for agreeing

to buy electricity from a controversial hydropower dam being built in neigh-bouring Laos. Activists say the Xayaburi project threatens the livelihood of tens of millions who depend on the river’s re-sources.

“Even if we cannot stop

other buyers or funders, it’s unprecedented that transboundary impacts

-nised. We’re working with the same group of lawyers

for the Salween dams,” said IR’s Deetes.

EGAT’s international arm is involved in at least two out of the six planned Salween dams in Myan-mar. Thomson Reuters Foundation

“There is no local participa-tion, no transparency and

no benefit to the local peo-ple. The dams just lead to

more fighting and human rights abuses, and villagers have to relo-

cate.”

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mmbiztoday.com

22INVESTMENT & FINANCECurbing Money Laundering: Acid Test

for Myanmar’s Financial Reforms

Last year Myanmar was urged under in-ternational pressure

to make progress with anti-money laundering

-nancial Action Task Force (FATF), a watchdog group that monitors interna-tional money laundering,

other related threats to the integrity of the inter-

announced Myanmar has

-nancial crimes due to the lack of improvement of its anti-money laundering regime and lack of pro-gress in implementing its action plan.

Therefore, Myanmar re-mains on the list as one of the countries listed with

anti-money laundering

on par with Indonesia, Ecuador and Algeria. Due to the absence of a viable banking system, many Myanmar citizens – particularly emigrants remitting money from other ASEAN countries to their family in Myanmar – have relied on informal money transfer mecha-nisms, such as the “hundi system” in India. How-ever, underground bank-ing systems have their disadvantages, including the lack of enforcement. Informal money transfer systems remain a vital lifeline for rural families who live far from any bank and depend on mon-ey sent back from family

Stefanie Siegfried & Franziska Doepel

abroad.In addition to legisla-

tive reform, there is also need for more awareness of possible laundering

--

of how to recognise the -

cial crimes. Without new reforms Myanmar could be vulnerable to money laundering and become a safe haven for illicit trans-

-cial crimes.

On March 14, a new law came into force in order to counter money laun-dering. However, Myan-mar still faces numerous

-nancial crimes. The 2002 anti-laundering law con-tained loopholes and was not in line with interna-tional standards. But even with the new law and the money laundering moni-toring system, Myanmar continues to demonstrate weakness and there re-mains numerous ways to circumvent the law. The

new anti-laundering leg-islation provides for pen-alties of three to seven years imprisonment and

($500,000) for money laundering convictions. It is also the latest in a series

aim to make Myanmar a more reputable invest-ment destination.

But new anti-laun-dering measures aside, some of Myanmar’s other projected reforms could have the unfortunate con-sequences of attracting would-be money launder-ers. For example, casinos have long been a feature of some of Myanmar’s ethnic militia-controlled borderlands close to Thai-land and China. Gam-bling dens function as a revenue source for groups that have fought against

for the last seven decades even though they remain banned in areas under government control. If regulations are to change to allow the legal opening

of casinos and gambling stations, they must be in alignment with the FATF.

Further, new regula-tions are essential to pro-tect Myanmar’s economic reform process and the country’s acceptance in

sector. Currently, the Asia Green Development Bank (AGD) case is a litmus test for Myanmar’s bank-ing and monetary system. The case became public after up to 60 percent of AGD Bank changed hands from prominent entre-preneur U Tay Za and his Htoo Group of Compa-nies, severing direct own-ership ties with the bank. U Tay Za, the founder of AGD – one of the largest privately-owned banks in Myanmar – agreed to sell 60 percent of the bank to late General Ne Win’s three grandsons – Kyaw Ne Win, Aye Ne Win, Zwe Ne Win. After the secret multi-billion dollar pur-chase of AGD Bank, U Tay Za and the Htoo Group of Companies are no longer

on the shareholders list. By suddenly pour-

ing in more than $4 bil-lion, which Ne Win’s three grandsons claim is a friendly interest-free loan from state-owned

China National Cor-poration for Overseas Economic Cooperation (CCOEC), into Myanmar they caught the attention of the Monetary Investi-gation Department, now investigating on this case.

A proper and thorough investigation can show-case the growing strength of Myanmar’s banking and monetary system to the public and the global community.

It can be said that with the enforcement of the new anti-money laun-dering law, Myanmar is showing its willingness to follow up on its reform scheme and to provide a stable basis for economic and legislative reform to strengthen its position as a destination for invest-ment that adheres to in-ternational standards.

Strohal Legal Group -

ing highly personalized services specializing in international and cross border business. SLG en-joys a well-established reputation across Europe, Southeast Asia and the Middle East. In Myanmar, SLG provides services un-der the name U Min Sein & Strohal Associates Law Firm. The views and opin-ions expressed here are the author’s own and do not

Today’s editorial opinion.

Myanmar Summary

Myanmar SummaryMPT Eyes Faster Internet for Users

Myanmar Posts and Telecom-m u n i c a t i o n s

(MPT) will work together with Japan’s KDDI and Sumitomo Corp to pro-vide high-speed internet service to its users, an of-

will expand the state-run company’s communica-tion networks as well as work with MPT in the

Kyaw Min coming months to up-grade the internet infra-structure to provide faster services, U Khin Maung Tun, general manager of MPT, said.

“We are planning to lower the sale price of land lines and expand our network to popularise us-age,” he said.

“On the client side, products with various data usage allowances will be marketed to pro-vide more options to our

customers.”No.2 Japanese wireless

carrier KDDI and trad-ing house Sumitomo said last month that they had reached an agreement with MPT to jointly un-dertake telecommunica-tions operations in Myan-mar. The joint operations touted “Japanese-quality services of the highest lev-el in the world” in mobile

-cation.

It is estimated that less

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than 10 percent of Myan-mar’s population has ac-cess to internet with most using antiquated ADSL networks.

-vest about $2 billion over the next decade to ex-pand service in one of the world’s least-connected countries.

Through the joint opera-tion with KDDI and Sum-itomo, MPT hopes to gain an edge in the emerging competition with foreign

telecom giants, Ooredoo and Telenor.

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Reuters


mmbiztoday.comPROPERTY & REAL ESTATE 23

Myanmar Summary

Marga Banks on Myanmar Reforms to Foray into Property Development

Economic growth and political re-form in Myanmar

continues to drive foreign investment, which ac-cording to DICA topped $492.62 million in the

market for luxury proper-ty and mixed-use real es-tate development. Despite the fact that rent contin-ues to balloon for the av-erage Myanmar citizen and the expat community, in what many analysts be-lieve to be an unsustain-able bubble, Myanmar’s demand and thirst for luxury accommodations continues to rise.

These large-scale devel-opment projects boast the creation of properties that meet international stand-ards to accommodate the changing face of Myan-mar, which now attracts not only the international business executive but also Myanmar diaspora

tourists seeking a high quality, unique and opu-lent accommodations and experience.

Amid rapid economic growth, the backdrop is forming for the developing real estate and property market, which positions Dagon Center 1 among the top competitors.

-ship project of Marga Landmark Development Company – is a 22-acre high-end, mixed-use property development that boasts a luxurious lifestyle experience in the heart of Yangon. Designed and built to international standards, Dagon City 1of-fers a branded retail zone,

featuring the latest tech-

Aundrea Montaño

and luxury serviced apart-ments to tap the expanding business environment and increasing tourist arrivals. Marga Landmark Devel-opment Company – a joint venture between the global syndicate, Marga Group and Thu Kha Yadanar, a Myanmar company – cre-ated the ambitious plans for the exclusive Dagon City 1 property, which will be located in downtown Yangon at U Htaung Bo Circle.

Marga is yet to an-nounce when they will break ground on Dagon Center 1. The luxury property is expected to cost approximately $300 million and is expected to

years of breaking ground. As one of the earliest

investors in China, Dr Stephen Suen, chairman of Marga Landmark De-velopment Company, said the growth and reform process of Myanmar is tremendous and unique compared to the opening of China.

growth in Yangon much faster than that of China

in the early 1990s,” Dr Suen told Myanmar Busi-ness Today in an exclu-sive interview.

Dr Suen said he remem-bers when he bought his

“I only received a small piece of paper to prove that I was the owner. The land law was only in its infancy and there was no contract law, lawyers or dispute mechanism.”

With rapid political re-form and economic liber-alisation starting in 2011, and while the country still needs to pass the Condo Law and Mortgage Law – two pieces of key legis-lation directly impacting the development of lux-ury mixed-use properties – Dr Suen believes Myan-mar is poised for contin-ued dramatic growth.

“We already know the Condo Law is in the pipe-line. I think the Mortgage Law is held up because the balance sheets of My-anmar banks continue to lack adequate capital. However, this is a soft issue and will likely be resolved when foreign banks are allowed to op-

erate in the country.” According to Dr Suen,

Myanmar’s ability to con-duct simultaneous politi-cal and economic reform has made the country a favourable destination for foreign direct investment. While reforms and eco-nomic liberalisation con-tinue, “it presents a great foundation unseen in any other emerging market, including China.” Dr Suen also sees the government demonstrating immense political will and capability in producing change that will last into the future.

Marga’s project demon-strates the dominance of Asian investors in Myan-mar. The country’s largest foreign investors are com-panies from Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, and, of course, China. While western countries, in particular the United States, remain hesi-tant to invest in the coun-try, partly due to a belief that reforms have stalled, investors from Asian coun-tries have no qualms with the country’s political and economic trajectory.

political and economic reform, Dr Suen believes Myanmar’s strategic lo-cation makes the country a prime location for ex-panded investment and he plans to ramp up in-vestment in the country.

te lecommunicat ions , and agriculture, he did not specify what form of future investments he might make.

“Myanmar is a very good location because it shares a border line with three big economies: China, In-dia and the ASEAN states. It has easy access to the region, and is home to nearly half of the world’s population,” he said.

-mitted to impact invest-ment and contributing to Myanmar’s social de-velopment. The develop-ment of Dagon City 1 is expected to employ over 5,000 individuals.

The company has also committed to direct two percent of its annual prof-its towards corporate so-

in education, the support of elderly populations and Buddhist programs. Dr Suen seeks to multiply investment impact by en-couraging other investors to enter Myanmar for the

-ple in the country.

Dr Stephen Suen, Chairman, Marga Landmark Development Company.

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mmbiztoday.com

24


mmbiztoday.comAUTOMOBILE 25

Myanmar Summary

Myanmar Summary

Toyota Clings to Global Sales Lead Over Volkswagen

Toyota Motor Corp. hung onto a slim global sales lead

over Volkswagen AG

six months as rising U.S. demand for SUVs paced a

Deliveries for Toyota, including its Hino Motors Ltd. (7205) and Daihatsu Motor Co. units, climbed 3.8 percent to 5.1 mil-

half, according to a com-pany statement. By com-parison, Volkswagen has reported sales of about 5.07 million units, includ-ing results for its heavy-truck units.

Japan’s largest listed

from U.S. buyers’ desire to drive sport utility ve-hicles, which are on pace to outsell sedans in the

Rising deliveries of the new Toyota Highlander and Lexus GX drove U.S. market share gains as Volkswagen posted sales declines and pledged to introduce a mid-size SUV in 2016.

Craig Trudell and Masatsugu Horie

“They’ve gotten so good at building products that really hit with custom-ers,” said Jim Press, a for-mer U.S. sales chief and 37-year Toyota veteran who now consults for the Renault-Nissan alliance. “Contrast that to Volk-swagen: they don’t have

They’ve failed to succeed in North America because they don’t really under-stand it.”

Even so, Volkswagen is closing the gap with Toyota. The German au-tomaker reported about 2.57 million deliveries for the April-to-June period, excluding results for its MAN SE and Scania AB units, which topped Toy-ota’s 2.51 million vehicles sold in the quarter.

Both companies remain ahead of General Motors

months of the year.“The result was surpris-

ing,” Yoshiaki Kawano, a Tokyo-based analyst for IHS automotive, said of

six months. “The nega-

tax rate wasn’t as big as

we assumed. Their sales should be aided by the U.S., where the economy is good and consumer’s tastes are shifting from traditional sedans to pick-up trucks and SUVs.”

In the U.S., deliveries of Toyota’s Highlander SUV surged 17 percent this year through June, while sales of the RAV4 crosso-ver climbed 15 percent. The automaker also more than doubled deliveries of its refreshed Lexus GX SUV.

Including more fuel-ef-

models, SUVs accounted for 36.5 percent of U.S. new-vehicle registra-tions this year through May, compared with 35.4 percent for sedans, re-searcher IHS Automotive said this month. Sedans, which held the top spot for decades, had led 36.6 percent to 33.9 percent a year earlier.

SUV AdvantageToyota and Lexus SUV

models outsold Volkswa-gen and Audi by 7-to-1 in the U.S. this year through June, according to re-searcher Autodata Corp.

the world’s second-largest auto market, the Wolfs-burg, Germany-based company plans to add a seven-seat SUV to its line-up in 2016 and build the model at its Tennessee factory.

Toyota and Volkswagen both have forecast more than 10 million deliveries for 2014. Toyota sold 9.98 million vehicles last year to lead the industry for the second consecutive year, followed by Volkswagen’s 9.73 million and GM’s 9.71 million. Bloomberg

The Customs De-partment is going to implement a new

policy beginning on Sep-tember 1 for automobiles that have been kept at the port for more than 60

The automobiles that ar-rive at the port, before an

Kyaw Min import licence is issued or updated, are allowed to be kept at the port tem-porarily. However, auto-mobiles stranded at the port for 60 or more days

auctioned.“Previously, cars that

were listed for auction could be withdrawn through an appeal pro-

cess. But the [process] will be scrapped and the Customs Department will seize all cars left at the port for more than 60 days,” U Nay Say, mem-ber of the Customs Clear-ance Representatives, told Myanmar Business Today.

Vehicles seized by the Ministry of Commerce

and the Customs Depart-

with the proceeds being added to the state budget to support development

While car dealers said the Customs Department is acting within its regu-lations, they added that some car showrooms are forced to keep their cars at the port as they face space problems.

“In cases where the cus-tomers cancelled orders, and the showroom did not have any space for more cars, the showroom could not pick up the au-tomobiles from the port,” said Ko Lin Sat, manager of Neon Car Showroom.

Imports of about 2 mil-lion automobiles have been permitted during the 21-month period from October 2011 to July 2013, according to the statistics of the department.

After introducing an automobile replacement campaign in October 2011, the Customs Department

-mobiles from the port until

-cial data.

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mmbiztoday.com

26IT & TELECOMViber Focuses on Myanmar As User Base Shoots

Up to 5 Million in Three Years

Iattended the media event held by Viber in Yangon last week.

Viber is the mobile mes-saging company that was bought over by Japanese e-commerce giant Ra-kuten for $900 million early this year.

The team led by Crys-tal Lee, Viber country manager for Philippines, showed impressive Myan-

from OnDevice’s research published in June:

Andrew Tan

Viber’s user base has increased exponentially from three subscribers in February 2011 to 5 million subscribers in July.

Reinforcing the message that Viber will always be free for internet call and group chat. Crystal em-phasised that keeping the user interface simple, easy to use and adver-tisement free is the main

reason why Viber has per-formed exceptionally well in Myanmar against its much larger rivals such as Whatsapp and Wechat. Of course it helps that What-sapp and Wechat require subscribers to authenti-cate their mobile number via international SMS which at the moment can-not be received by mobile users in Myanmar due to the archaic telecom infra-structure. This situation will change soon as the two new telecom opera-tors Telenor and Ooredoo launch their mobile net-work and challenge the somnambulant ex-tele-com monopoly MPT.

Viber is hoping to mon--

scriber’s base by working with third party develop-ers, m-payment platform and operators to promote its premium stickers download service. While still maintaining a pool of basic stickers that are free to download for the Myanmar market – it will look to aggressively increase its revenue via premium services that are chargeable.

The challenges Viber face in the Myanmar market are: poor telecom

The Viber Internet messaging and calling service application is displayed on a smartphone.

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infrastructure, slow inter-net speed, dysfunctional banking system, low pen-etration of credit card and unavailability of online payment system such as PayPal or Alipay.

create challenges for for-eign companies in many industries that want to capitalise on the eco-nomic reform and growth potential in Myanmar. It is especially daunting for big companies that have existing business model that works in big coun-tries like China, US and Germany but are not will-ing to make adjustments for emerging markets like Myanmar.

I believe the smaller and agile team from Viber may have a better chance of making mobile mes-

growing business in My-anmar than their bigger rivals. The fact that they have showed up in My-anmar before the telecom market has opened up and has already gathered

a testament of the speed and determination of the company.

I hope that this time next year, we will be invit-

ed by Viber again to hear how they have managed to make Myanmar their

Andrew Tan is the Managing Director of Consult-Myanmar Co Ltd. Consult-Myanmar is a Yangon-based Sin-gapore-owned company that is incorporated in Myanmar. Consult-My-anmar provides busi-ness advisory, business partner search, company incorporation and immi-gration service to foreign investors that are inter-ested to start a business in Myanmar.

Myanmar Summary

MPT Launches Discounted Promotional Service

State-run telecoms services provider Myanma Posts &

T e l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n s (MPT) launched a one-month friends and family (F&F) campaign last week

-nect with their families at a discounted rate.

The move came only a few days before Ooredoo, one of the two foreign telecoms licence winner, launched its mobile ser-

ever international service provider in the Southeast Asian country.

The friends and family special promotion cam-paign will run until Au-gust 31st. Prepaid card users of GSM and WCD-MA mobile phones will be able to register and enjoy

Zwe Wai discounts, MPT said in a statement.

When registered, a cus-tomer will be charged a

of K2,500 and K25 per minute for registered numbers for 30 days after registering. One can list up to three phone num-bers.

only GSM and CDMA SIM card holders; MPT said it is also trying to of-fer the same for CDMA in the near future.

To subscribe, custom-ers have to send a free-of-charge SMS message to 1331, typing “ADD” fol-lowed by a “space” and the desired mobile number to register for the discount.

Customers can get the promotion details from a dedicated MPT help line at 1876.

Myanmar to Cooperate With Foreign Software Companies

Myanma Com-puter Company (MCC), Myan-

will cooperate with Ger-many-based SAP in order to promote IT sector of the country.

Liher Urbizu Sierra, managing director of SAP Indochina, and chair-man of MCC Group U Tin Win Aung signed an agreement on the use of SAP Enterprise Resource Planning software in Yan-gon last week.

SAP North Consulting Group, which produces en-terprise solutions to Micro-soft, Oracle and other com-panies and MCC Group,

Aung Phyo will now provide service of enterprise resource plan-ning software to the ICT companies of Myanmar.

training school in Myan-mar and later incorpo-rated Myanma Computer Co Ltd in 1989 to expand into other ICT-related ac-tivities .

Myanmar Summary

Myanmar Summary

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mmbiztoday.comIT & TELECOM 27

First shown to the public at the Con-sumer Electronics

Show (CES) in January, the 105-inch Curved Ultra HD TV from LG Electron-ics (LG) became available for pre-orders last week in

Aung Phyo

LG Announces Start of Sales of Curved Ultra HDTVSouth Korea.

The Ultra HD TV’s cin-ematic 21:9 aspect ratio LCD screen features 11 mil-

than on a Full HD TV, the South Korean electronics giant said, adding that with such a high pixel density, images are rendered with a

sharpness and clarity that is “lifelike”.

The 105UC9 achieves its picture quality through LG’s True 4K Engine Pro and IPS 4K Panel –True 3K Engine Pro eliminates visual errors and can up-scale lower-resolution con-tent into near-Ultra HD quality, while the IPS 4K Panel provides consistent contrast and a wide view-ing angle.

“The vision behind LG’s 105-inch 21:9 Curved Ul-tra HD TV was to bring the movie theatre into the liv-ing room,” said Min Park, managing director of LG Myanmar.

“Featuring a curved 5K CinemaScope screen and a 7.2 channel speaker system,

the 105UC9 is LG’s most spectacular ULTRA HD TV yet. This product pushes the envelope in home en-tertainment innovation and demonstrates what is pos-sible when you bring today’s most advanced TV technol-ogies together.”

LG’s TV delivers audio through a built-in 7.2 chan-nel, 150W sound system, incorporating LG’s Ultra Surround concept and de-veloped in partnership with premium audio products manufacturer Harman Kar-don. The curvature of the display has been carefully calibrated to maximise the immersive ambiance. When viewing programs in 16:9 format, the unused screen space on the sides can dis-

play additional information or programming details to enhance the viewing experi-ence.

The LG 105UC9 will be rolled out in other markets from the fourth quarter,

exact dates of availability will be announced locally.

Myanmar Summary

Myanmar Summary

Dealers “Soft-Launch” Ooredoo SIM Cards in MyanmarMandalay, Nay Pyi Taw see sales of SIM Cards way above official price

Mobile products dealers in Man-dalay and Nay Pyi

Taw began selling Oore-doo SIM cards and top-up cards on Tuesday last week, several days ahead

launch of Ooredoo services throughout Myanmar.

Local Myanmar language newspaper The Voice Daily recently quoted Ooredoo Myanmar’s public rela-tions manager, Thiri Kyar Nyo, as saying that Oore-doo services would be launched nationwide on August 2.

Ooredoo has remained silent on whether these sales are a part of their of-

press release from Oore-doo, the launch is expected to be sometime in the third quarter of this year. And recently, Ooredoo sales di-rector, U MyintZaw, told Mizzima, “Our SIM cards are not for sale yet.”

However, Myanmar Business Today has dis-covered that mobile prod-ucts dealers in Mandalay and Nay Pyi Taw have al-ready begun selling Oore-doo SIM cards and top-up cards, with prices rang-ing between K1,500 and K7,000 – far above the of-

of K1,500. Thiri Kyar Nyo was un-

able to comment on these

Jacob Goldberg sales, saying only, “We are

channels by providing SIM cards and top-ups to deal-ers.”

She also said that more

a press conference in Yan-gon on Saturday, August 2.

U Pyi Soe Htun, direc-tor of the Lu Kyi Min mobile products shop in Mandalay, told Myanmar Business Today that he received a delivery of 800 SIM cards from Ooredoo on Tuesday, and he began selling them the same day. He has set aside 200 SIM cards for individual sales,

free to customers with the purchase of handsets.

He said that Ooredoo SIM cards come with 20 free megabytes of mobile data until August 15, plus 900 free minutes and 900 free text messages to other Ooredoo users, in addition to 90 free minutes and 90 free text messages to MPT users.

U Pyi Soe Htun also ex-plained that Ooredoo does not allow dealers to place additional orders of SIM cards until 80 percent of their original stock has been registered with the provider.

However, SIM cards can-not be registered until after

This means that until

there will be a limited sup-ply of SIM cards available,

even though demand re-mains high.

Earlier this year, Oore-doo Myanmar CEO Ross Cormack told the Oxford Business Group, “Working in partnership with other industry partners with proven track records will allow us to provide low cost smartphones and meet the promise to provide SIM cards at a retail price rather than a black market price.”

However, this limited re-lease of SIM cards seems to be making it possible for

-cantly above retail price.

Nyi Nyi Zaw, a Mandalay resident, said she bought her Ooredoo SIM card yes-terday for K5,000 and saw others for sale for as much as K,7000.

These prices are still well below the current black-market rate for SIM cards

Myanmar Post and Tel-ecommunications (MPT), which can range between K80,000 and K100,000. Outside of the black mar-ket, MPT SIM cards are distributed only by lottery.

Many question whether this limited release of SIM cards in Mandalay and Nay Pyi Taw was orchestrated by Ooredoo, and if so, why it was not publicised.

Ooredoo’s silence has led to some speculation that

“soft launch” in Mandalay

anti-Muslim sentiments in

the cities on sales – Oore-doo hails from the Muslim country of Qatar. In June, a group of radical Buddhist monks called for a boycott of non-Buddhist products and services, which some believe is gaining traction.

-able SIM cards has been highly anticipated since Qatar’s Ooredoo and Nor-way’s Telenor won a com-petitive tender last year to

service providers to en-ter the Myanmar market alongside MPT, which also plans on releasing its SIM cards for general sale in partnership with Japan’s KDDI.

A woman shows a sim card from Qatar’s Ooredoo after buying it from a phone shop in Yangon.

Soe Z

eya Tun/Reuters

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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 AirwaysFD 252 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 RGN DMK 8:30 10:15 AirAsia FD 251 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 DMK RGN 7:15 8:00 AirAsiaFD 254 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 RGN DMK 17:30 19:10 AirAsia FD 253 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 DMK RGN 16:20 17:00 AirAsia

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 2 3 4 5 6 7 RGN SIN 19:05 23:40 TigerAir TR2826 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 SIN RGN 17:05 18:25 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 MAIAK 505 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 RGN KUL 8:30 12:50 AirAsia AK 504 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 KUL RGN 06:55 08:00 AirAsiaAK 503 2 4 6 RGN KUL 19:30 23:45 AirAsia AK 502 2 4 6 KUL RGN 17:50 19:00 AirAsia

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

Flight No. DDayss From To ETD ETA Operated by: Flight No. DDayss From To ETD ETA Operated by: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 Airlines

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

Mann Yadanarpon Airlines


mmbiztoday.comIT & TELECOM 29

Myanmar Summary

Myanmar Summary

These Two Social Networks Will Make You Money

Facebook recently reported massive earnings for the past

three months, claiming it rakes in almost $1 billion every 30 days. But for all that generated, none of it ever touches the us-ers’ pockets, something a handful of entrepreneurs are looking to change.

In July, two new social networks launched pub-licly with the same goal: to put money in the pock-ets of the users with the best content. Both Bonzo

unique ways for their us-ers to make a buck for the content they share.

Bonzo Me dishes back to users up to 80 percent of the advertising revenue on user generated posts, the Associated Press re-ports. The iOS, Android, and web app launched earlier in July and has a few thousands users who

Joey Cosco altogether have netted around $30,000.

Bubblews began a beta version of the service in September 2012 and clocked around 200,000

launching two weeks ear-lier, the AP says. This app gives users one penny for every click, like, or com-ment their posts score, but only in $50 chunks.

“No one should come to our site in anticipation of being able to quit their day job,” Bubblews CEO Arvind Dixit told the AP.

“But we are trying to be fair with our users. Social networks don’t have to be places where you feel like you’re being exploited.”

This could not only be a dig at Facebook, but also at sites like YouTube, which pays its partnered users with sliding scales it doesn’t like to break down into detail.

If anything, the two apps are more like Vine, whose

top earners largely make money by acquiring and plugging sponsors into 6-second videos. With Bonzo Me and Bubblews, however, the advertisers are already there, leaving only content decisions up to users. That makes for a diverse selection with Bubblews users posting diary entries, recipes, phone reviews, and even thoughts on the inner workings of the Bubblews community.

“With the recent shut-downs of various writing websites, like Yahoo Con-tributor Network, I think this has also contributed to the rise of accounts. I think this has a possibil-

ways,” Bubblews user &Bellatricks wrote.

“I really hope that more people will equal more money and not the other way around.”

Business Insider

Flickr/C

ourtney Carm

ody

Ideabox Myanmar to Bring Together Students andApp Professionals to Drive Future Partnerships

Ideabox Myanmar an-nounced the launch of AppBus and ideabox

App Competition 2014, two initiatives designed to kickstart the mobile application ecosystem in Myanmar.

AppBus and the AppBus Competition 2014 aims to encourage greater inter-action between students and professionals work-ing in the mobile appli-

Kyaw Min cation industry, Ooredoo Myanmar, which is be-hind Ideabox, said.

“The objective of App-Bus and the ideabox App Competition is for us to introduce students to the heart of the mobile tech-nology and digital services industry in Yangon,” said Kaung Sitt, co-founder of ideabox Myanmar.

“Innovation is critical to us all staying ahead of the wave of technological advances in the mobile

industry. Nowhere is this more true than in Myan-mar where the country is currently leapfrogging into an era of new tech-nology.

“This tour and compe--

portunity for students to get a real-life glimpse into the lives of software developers and entrepre-neurs here, so they can expand their understand-ing of what future career options are available to

them.”Late last month an “Ap-

pBus” hosted up to 15 stu-

ever mobile application technology enthusiasts’ tour of Yangon technolo-gy startups, including vis-

-nomation, Rebbiz and Code2lab.

During the AppBus tour, participants met the founders of Myanmar mobile application de-velopment companies to

hear about the idea gen-eration process behind the development of these apps.

Additionally the app de-velopment competition aims to give students and working professionals the opportunity to work on digital service ideas they are passionate about.

Submissions for ide-abox App Competition 2014 will close on Sep-tember 29 at 23:59, and all entries should be sub-mitted via email at [email protected].

Only Android apps will be accepted, while the apps will be judged based on usefulness, functional-ity, technical sophistica-tion and commercial vi-ability.

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mmbiztoday.comSOCIAL SCENES 30

Launching ceremony of 2014 Taiwan excellence campaign in Myanmar

Walter Yeh, Executive Vice President, Taiwan External Trade Develop-ment Council (TAITRA).

Walter Yeh, Executive Vice President , Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA), gives his speech at the event.

Chiu, Director of Economic Division, Taipei Economic and Cultural Offi ce in Th ailand, giving a speech at the event.

U Th ein Han , Vice President of UMFCCI, gives a speech at the event. Delegates pose for a photo at the event. Delegates pose for a photo at the event.

Event of CB Bank’s Agent Banking

Ah Yaing, master of ceremony at the event. Htun Htun Minn

Dr Aung Th ura , CEO of Th ura Swiss. Htun Htun Minn Ni Ni Khin Zaw. Htun Htun Minn

U Kyaw Lwin, executive vice chairman & CEO of CB bank. Htun Htun Minn

U Myo Myat Th u, project director of Forever group. Htun Htun Minn

Viber & the Vibrant Mobile Communication Landscape in Myanmar

Crystal Lee(L), Philippines country manager.Anthony, Zagar communications. Crystal Lee, Philippines country manager.


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32ENTERTAINMENTNew Khiri Tour Links Two Ancient Kingdoms in Myanmar

A new six-day adventure trip between Bagan and Mrauk U is for travellers who are comfortable with no electricity or phones along the way

Khiri Travel Myan-mar has launched a trip that links the

two ancient kingdoms of Bagan and Mrauk U in Myanmar, the Bangkok-based tour company said.

bring travellers to the Mrauk U area via this challenging route to the far west of the country through the Chin and Arakan ranges.

fantastic scenery, remote Chin villages, planta-tions, jungle, boat rides, two days of reasonably strenuous hiking, and a glimpse into a rich living history that few people outside of Myanmar have seen.

Edwin Briels, Khiri Travel Myanmar general manager, describes the facilities during much of the trip as “basic” – local houses with mosquito nets and blankets, and washing facilities either at the communal well or

Aung Phyo in the river. Food will be simple local dishes prepared by the guide.

After Bagan, highlights include a 4WD trip through dry mountain riv-erbeds where there are no bridges and a two-hour hike to the top of Mt Kanpetlet (formerly Mt Victoria) at over 3,000 metres. Visitors can also swim in the seven-tiered waterfall at the source of the Lay Myo river amid forested mountains.

Between Matupi and Amsway, visitors get to test their mettle further with a 22km hike and an overnight in a local house, sleeping on bam-boo mats.

Further on between Ma Du and Law Thu in a day with a 29km walk, visi-tors may see local women with their faces fully tat-tooed – an old habit said to make them look too bizarre to be abducted by kings of the former Bagan

empire.Like many other Asian

adventure trips, the jour-ney includes a boat ride, this one on the Lay Myo river all the way from Chin state to Rakhine state. The boat navigates from mildly turbulent white water down to the calmer waters of the val-ley where the river opens out into the fertile valley where the archaeological ruins of Mrauk U await inspection.

The area is rich in historic remains from the 14th to 18th centuries when Mrauk U was the capital of the Arakanese empire, which stretched

Burma Boating Expands Fleet for Myeik Cruises

Yacht charter operator Burma Boating is expanding

With the beginning of the coming sailing sea-son in late October, SY Sunshine and SY Adventure will cruise the Myeik Archipelago under Burma Boating’s

SY Aventure is a 95ft yacht with three double cabins. The schooner SY Sunshine (103ft) was built to the design drawn up by famous naval architect William Fife Jun.

In 1906, the original Sunshine was in the possession of the Portuguese Royal family, during which time she was called “Maris Stellis”. Sunshine has space for six guests.

The Myeik Archipelago in Myanmar’s south remains one of the planet’s most unspoilt destinations.

“Sometimes we sail for days without seeing any other yachts or tourists,” says Herbert Mayrhauser, Burma Boating’s co-founding captain.

The 800 islands only recently opened to foreign visi-tors.

There are no hotels and only about 2,000 foreign tour-ists per year, even though the area is only a three-hour drive away from Phuket, one of Asia’s tourism epicentres.

The traditional inhabitants of the Myeik Archipelago

Sometimes called “sea-gypsies”, this ethnic minority group leads a traditional, semi-nomadic lifestyle, domi-

charters, sailing holidays and boutique cruises on its four yachts with space for six to 12 guests.

Customers can book a cabin and join one of the weekly six-day cruises for €1,800 per person. For small groups

charters, starting from €1,400 per day.

Wai Linn Kyaw

from the Ganges to the Ayeyarwaddy (Irrawad-dy).

Briels said: “The jour-ney is the destination. We link Bagan to Mrauk U through incredibly beau-tiful, remote and unex-plored areas where guests will most likely be among

to set foot in the village.“Both Bagan and Mrauk

U each deserve an addi-tional two or so days for detailed exploration.”

From Mrauk U it is easy to take a boat to Sittwe for onward domestic

go to the beaches of Nga-pali for relaxation.

The fabled temples of MraukU.

Khi

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Myanmar Business Today - Vol 2, Issue 31

Business

Transcript of Myanmar Business Today - Vol 2, Issue 31