New Light of Myanmar (3 Feb 2014 - Monday)

The Mirror Daily (3 Feb 2014 - Monday)

Myanma Alinn Daily (3 Feb 2014 - Monday)

Look Who Pays The Price Of Burma's Investment Fever

The new freedom of the Asian nation, also known as Myanmar, has drawn global investors in a race to profit from new development. But Burmese workers and farmers suffer the side-effects.

Bo Bo Aung traveled to Sweden for one reason: to warn about how huge investments may soon change the landscape, the environment and the economy of Burma, the Southeast Asian country also known as Myanmar.

Empowering our businesses for economic integration

THIS YEAR, the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) welcomes Myanmar as its new chair -- a stirring recognition of the country’s efforts to trudge the challenging path toward political and economic reform. Surmounting fragility and conflict to become a market-based economy, Myanmar is well on the road to becoming a gateway between East, South, and Southeast Asia, and will no doubt benefit greatly from its strategic position in the heart of the region.

Myanmar's Yangon bans Toyota Hilux as passenger carrier

Toyota Hilux pick-up trucks are not allowed to run as passenger carriers in Myanmar's Yangon municipal area starting mid-February amid government efforts to prevent road accidents and facilitate passengers, local media reported Wednesday.

Hilux pickups in 33 townships of Yangon municipal area will be replaced by mini buses at the end of February, according to the Yangon All Bus Lines Supervising Committee.

Timah set to begin Myanmar tin exploration in June

Tin miner PT Timah (TINS) is set to begin tin ore exploration in Myanmar in June, marking the start of the company’s expansion in the Southeast Asian country.

Timah president director Sukrisno said Tuesday that the company was close to obtaining its mining site recommendation. “We have already obtained forestry- and agriculture-related recommendations. Hopefully we will secure the site recommendation this month, so that we can begin the exploration in June,” he said.

Japan grants aid to Myanmar for radar system

Japan has granted financial aid of $40 million to help Myanmar establish three weather radars and 30 automatic weather observation stations, media reports said Wednesday.

The four-year project will be implemented from 2014 and 2017, Xinhua quoted Myanmar Transport Minister U Nyan Tun Aung as saying.

He was speaking at an information system modernization project preparation workshop in Nay Pyi Taw, said the New Light of Myanmar.

China’s Oil Pipeline Through Myanmar Brings Both Energy and Resentment

Until recently, 80 percent of China’s oil and gas imports were transported by ship through a narrow waterway separating Indonesia and Malaysia, known as the Strait of Malacca. The possibility that hostile forces could one day block that crucial passageway and starve the country of energy has long made China’s leaders nervous.

Myanmar plans to launch e-book sales, rental service

The Myanmar Publishers and Distributors Association (MPDA) has reached an agreement with JAS Mobile Phone Company to launch Myanmar e-book sales and a rental service.

Among the organisations that have come to negotiate with us, the negotiation with JAS Mobile Phone Company went well. So, we will sign the contract on February 10,” said MPDA secretary Myint Tun.

Telenor, Ooredoo get Myanmar licenses

The Myanmar government has finally awarded nationwide telecom licenses to Telenor and Ooredoo, seven months after the two companies won the tender to build mobile networks in the nation.

Myanmar lawmakers have after a long delay settled on a regulatory framework for the newly liberalized telecom sector, clearing the path for Telenor and Ooredoo to roll out services in the nation.

Ooredoo accepts licence to operate in Myanmar

Qatari operator Ooredoo today announced that it has officially accepted a telecommunications licence to operate in Myanmar.

The Ooredoo group chairman and the Ooredoo Myanmar chief executive formally accepted the licence at a ceremony in Naypyidaw hosted by the Union Government of the Republic of Myanmar.

Telecom investments threaten privacy rights in Burma

The World Bank may be dangling the prospect of affordable cell phones in Burma at the expense of freedom of expression and privacy rights. Foreign investment in Burma’s underdeveloped telecommunications sector is about to boom – as of this week, Qatar’s Ooredoo and Norway’s Telenor have received licenses to develop Burma’s networks. To support growing investment, the World Bank – which pledged $2 billion in development aid to Burma on 26 January – will approve a Telecom Sector Reform project on 6 February. But the World Bank, perhaps eager to rapidly develop Burma’s telecom sector without vexing the Burmese government, is failing to support crucial privacy and data protection reforms.

Myanmar to host ASEAN library development forum

YANGON (Xinhua) - Myanmar will host ASEAN Library Development Forum in Nay Pyi Taw next Monday, according to official media Friday.

The forum will be participated by dozens of librarians from library associations, faculty members of library science, veteran librarians and experts from member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Emerging opportunities

As it re-enters the international community after decades in isolation, Myanmar is a country that is ripe with possibilities for Australian law firms and businesses, writes Melinda Tun.

I recently facilitated a delegation of representatives from major Australian companies Woodside Energy, McConnell Dowell and Aurecon to Myanmar.

We travelled to the country's former capital, Yangon, as part of the Australia-Myanmar Chamber of Commerce's Industry Skills Program to share Australian industry best practices in port and marine infrastructure projects with Myanmar academics, professionals and industry bodies.

The Golden Hour For The Golden Land: Myanmar's Need For U.S. Public-Private Partnerships

Recently in Yangon, over a hundred youth representing every region and ethnic minority in Myanmar participated in their first “Tech Camp,” a U.S.-government sponsored conference on using technology to tackle critical challenges. Among the attendees were Chit Ko Ko Win and Ethan Kurt, two Myanmar young men who have started a social enterprise that uses a $35 dollar, fully functional computer to bring educational resources to remote communities. Chit Ko Ko and Ethan see an opportunity to improve education through affordable technologies–a smart investment to upgrade the skills of the country’s labor force and promote inclusive growth. Low-cost community investments like these can fuel economic growth and renew long-neglected civil society institutions in Myanmar, which was largely closed for the last 50 years.

More airlines to serve Myanmar

Japan and Myanmar have agreed to revise a bilateral aviation accord to allow more than one air carrier from each country to offer flights, the Foreign Ministry said.

Japanese Ambassador to Myanmar Mikio Numata and Tin Naing Tun, director general of the Department of Civil Aviation at Myanmar’s Transport Ministry, signed a protocol to revise the 1972 accord in Yangon, the ministry said Thursday.

The revision will allow more than one airline from each nation to fly between the two countries, making it possible for Japan Airlines to jump into the fray.

Myanmar's electricity supply to increase in next five years

YANGON, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar's electricity supply is expected to increase in the next five years as the World Bank (WB) is planning to invest 1 billion U.S. dollars in the country's power sector including electricity generation, transmission and distribution over the period.

World Bank President Jim Yong Kim told a recent Second Myanmar Development Cooperation Forum held in Nay Pyi Taw that the WB group will support Myanmar in the coming years in the areas of energy, health and agriculture through a multi-year public and private sector investment program of around 2 billion dollars.

Myanmar to pass telecommunications by-law for more licences

NAY PYI TAW—Myanmar will enact a telecommunications by-law by the end of February and issue more telecommunications-related licences, says a government official.

The information was disclosed yesterday during a signing ceremony with Ooredoo for a nationwide telecommunications licence.

Myanmar: Reinsurance will become foreign players' gateway to mart

Despite the government wishing to keep the insurance market in Myanmar closed while it develops, there are likely to be reinsurance opportunities for foreign carriers in the short to medium term, says the international law firm, Clyde & Co.

In its “Corporate Insurance – 2014 Market Predictions” report, Clyde &Co said that the domestic holders of 12 recently-issued insurance licences will be nurtured by the government for one to two years before foreign entrants will be allowed. Currently the new license holders are deemed to be too inexperienced in insurance related matters to be permitted immediate access to the private reinsurance market.