Myanmar pledges further investment climate reforms

Jakarta, 22 October 2013

With the aim to improving investment climate, several ASEAN Member States, including Myanmar, have recently undertaken or are currently undertaking investment policy reviews with Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) using its Policy Framework for Investment. To this end, Myanmar’s Deputy Minister of National Planning and Economic Development, Dr. Khin San Yee, presented her country’s efforts at meetings of the OECD Investment Committee and Advisory Group on Investment and Development from 15 to 17 October 2013 in Paris.

Referring to key recommendations from the OECD Investment Policy Review of Myanmar, the Myanmar delegation noted that it was already working to ease the administrative burden on investors and simplify the screening process to reduce the amount of discretion of the Myanmar Investment Commission. It is also reviewing the many sectoral restrictions on foreign investors, and a new notification on these restrictions will be issued in the coming months.

Participants discussed the question of how to promote responsible investment in Myanmar. The Myanmar delegation expressed its support for initiatives by the OECD and its member governments to promote responsible investment by multinational enterprises investing in Myanmar.

The dialogue was part of an on-going OECD review of the investment climate in Myanmar covering investment policies, responsible business conduct, investment promotion, taxation, infrastructure and finance, and other areas of the Policy Framework for Investment – a tool to help governments improve the overall climate for domestic and foreign investment in their countries. The review also includes a special chapter on the essential question of how to promote sustainable investment in agriculture.

The OECD Investment Policy Review of Myanmar will be finalised in the coming weeks and launched in Myanmar in February 2014. It has been undertaken with the support of the ASEAN Secretariat under the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (AANZFTA) Economic Co-operation Work Programme. Five Investment Policy Reviews of ASEAN Member States have been undertaken or in the pipeline in partnership with the ASEAN Secretariat.

Sources / References:

http://www.asean.org/news/asean-secretariat-news/item/myanmar-pledges-further-investment-climate-reforms-welcomes-efforts-to-promote-responsible-investment

http://aanzfta.asean.org/

http://www.oecd.org/countries/myanmar/myanmar-pledges-further-investment-climate-reforms.htm