ANA廿五億日元參股緬甸一航空公司

日本第二大航空營運商全日空(ANA)的母公司ANA控股，以25億日元(2,556萬美元)買下緬甸「亞洲之翼航空」(Asian Wings Airways)的四成九股份。

ANA廿七號在一份聲明指出全日空控股(ANA Group)，將入股「亞洲之翼航空」，涉及約2,500萬美元，是開拓新國際市場的策略之一。

總部在緬甸最大城市仰光的「亞洲之翼」，2011年投入運作，一直以國內航線業務為主。據悉，這家東南中型航空公司稍後10月，將開通仰光至泰國旅遊名勝清邁的國際航線。

國銀 搶進柬埔寨緬甸寮國

工商時報 記者彭禎伶、孫彬訓／台北報導 

國銀海外拓點，柬埔寨、緬甸和寮國正夯。為協助國銀拓展海外市場，金管會與柬埔寨洽簽金融合作備忘錄（MOU）已到最後階段，今年可望完成；下一個業者極有興趣進駐的市場，則是仍未開放外資銀行設點的緬甸。

至於寮國，國銀中除第一銀行外，華南銀行近期也開始評估，因當地法規已經開放外資銀行設立分行，最低營運資本金為1,000萬美元（約新台幣3億元），不少國銀都有意搶進這塊新興市場。

一銀在今年4月開始訪查寮國局勢，並派人前往，成為評估寮國設點的首家國銀；近期華銀也開始評估寮國。由於一銀、華銀的海外布局一向具指標意義，寮國可望成為其他國銀，評估在東協10國設點的最新熱門國家。

寮國去年獲准加入世界貿易組織（WTO），有助於搭上亞洲經濟快速發展的列車，也提供全球製造業在大陸之外，找尋低廉人力時的另一個選擇，且近幾年寮國的經濟發展快速，2011年經濟成長率為8.3％，未來經濟也預估可高速成長。

但一銀和華銀主管也分析，寮國是中南半島唯一內陸國，現在還有運輸成本的問題待克服，加上台商數仍不夠充足，因此還要觀察，優點則是寮國設點模式明確，可設立分行，或透過合資、併購當地銀行，且目前還沒有國銀設點。

緬甸也是國銀有意搶進的國家，但外資銀行要在緬甸設立子行或分行，至少還要等2016年以後，之前國銀只能成立不能辦理業務的辦事處「蹲點」，或設立辦事處後再併購或合資緬甸當地銀行，但併購或合資的相關辦法尚未定案。

目前國銀已有一銀設立緬甸仰光辦事處；玉山銀行則由金管會、緬甸主管機關核准設立辦事處；國泰世華銀行、兆豐商銀由金管會核准設立辦事處，都是希望深入了解緬甸當地金融環境及未來發展機會。

此外，彰化銀行、華南銀行、臺灣企銀等銀行都評估在緬甸設點，讓緬甸成為國銀在東協10國相當熱門的布局重點國。

銀行局統計，國銀在泰國、菲律賓、印尼、新加坡、越南、馬來西亞、柬埔寨、緬甸等東南亞國家，已設置26家分行、 17處代表處、6家子行及子行下共70個分支行。

金管會表示，近期國銀最積極的東南亞市場是柬埔寨和緬甸，目前與柬埔寨的MOU已談的差不多，現在只差雙方簽字確認，如合庫、一銀、兆豐、國泰世華銀、玉山銀等，也紛紛以設分行或收購當地銀行的方式進駐，已有一定的成績。

目前國銀積極開拓的下一站即是緬甸，官員表示，當地一台自動櫃員機（ATM）都沒有，官方也正在考慮是否要開放外銀到緬甸設分行，已經有兆豐、一銀、國泰世華銀及玉山銀已或正在申請在當地設辦事處。

發開新外勞來源國 政府積極爭取引進緬甸勞工

人力仲介業者期盼政府開發更多外勞來源國，勞委會也列為施政方向。據了解，政府上周派官員前往緬甸，爭取明年引進緬勞。

引進外勞除了涉及防疫、警政外，還需成立辦事處處理簽證，事關敏感的外交問題，勞委會低調進行。

另外，英語系的斯里蘭卡，也是我國爭取對象。

勞委會官員強調，爭取新的外勞來源國，可分散風險，不會對本國勞工就業產生新衝擊，因為申請外勞的門檻沒有放寬，總量不變。

原文網址: 發開新外勞來源國　政府積極爭取引進緬甸勞工 | 頭條新聞 | NOWnews 今日新聞網 http://www.nownews.com/2013/08/26/91-2978534.htm#ixzz2d2qmScOx

南進緬甸、柬埔寨 籌設工業區

益州集團董事長秦嘉鴻擅於創造新的事業，當年推動加油站民營化，打破中油一家獨營的市場，再一手創立全國加油站，如今再創新事業，準備建立「汽、機車優質平價保修便利店」，採取實體與虛擬店面同步進行開發，並跟數家科技大學合談好建教合作，培養技術關鍵人才，搶進汽機車維修市場。秦嘉鴻也密集考察東南亞市場，考慮進軍當地開發工業區，目前鎖定緬甸及柬埔寨為重點。

將設汽機車保修便利店

秦嘉鴻表示，「汽、機車優質平價保修便利店」，整個構想是採取跟便利店一樣的通路觀念來建立，第一家旗艦店設在土城工業區，預定今年底就可以成立，接著將在中壢工業區及五股工業區拓點，現在正在找地當中；預計在二年內成立20-30家連鎖修車平價保修便利店。

各店的構想是，以複合式商店模式經營，除了維修汽機車之外，還有各種汽機車零組件、咖啡、麵包、輕食乃至全國電子等各類商品，共同上架，採取異業結盟方式一起進擊；在咖啡區還架設有網路系統，讓消費者可以上網工作或玩樂，也可以從網上了解自家車子的整個維護內容及履歷。

建教合作 謀學生出路

至於維修便利店內的人員，主要是來自北部各科技大學汽車科系的學生，已經談妥的有台北科技大學、亞東技術學院等，聘請這些學校教授為顧問，建教合作，謀學生出路，同時連鎖店開發，可以進入技術及人員培訓，彼此互利，材料則儘可能使用台灣廠商生產的零件，以擴增台灣廠商的供貨點。

由於汽機車維修保養採取系統的維護，為每部進廠的車子都設立維護履歷，建立Vehicle Health Management車輛健康管理認證，未來汽修技師可具備車輛健康管理師，對車輛安全檢驗給予認證資格。

對於這項新創事業，秦嘉鴻已經投入約7000萬元進行前置規劃及電腦系統建置，總投資金額預定是2年2億元，第一家旗艦店將設在土城工業區內，不含土地成本投資1500萬元，預定今年底之前就可以正式開店；未來將以北部各工業區為主要拓點區，現階段也同步在五股及中壢工業區找地，準備拓點。

此外，秦嘉鴻也看好東協國家發展前景，正在積極籌備南進，他最看好緬甸及柬埔寨，投資主軸為工業區開發，已經派遣人員前往考察，他自己也去過兩次，目前已進入團隊研商的階段。

南進需政府從旁協助

秦嘉鴻分析，緬甸正進入民主化的過渡期，經濟環境如同四十年前的台灣及二十年前的中國，人工及土地都便宜，給了一個足夠發展的契機，過去遭到美日經濟制裁的情況已經告一段落，美日都從制裁手段轉入開發及投資者身分，日本及韓國在當地開設有工業區，台灣如果前去開發工業區，具有商機，但現在最大的問題是，我國在當地沒有任何政治及經濟的據點，形成投資障礙，如果沒有政府從旁協助，在當地開發工業區，可能有投資孤兒的危機，目前在當地的台資企業約有100多家。

來源 自由時報

缅甸服装企业出口加大 比去年收入翻番

在今年的第一季度，缅甸的服装出口收入创造记录，根据缅甸服装制造商协会(MGMA)的官方统计数字。在今年的1-3月份，缅甸的服装出口收入达到3亿美元，几乎比去年同期的出口收入翻番。

　　在今年的第一季度，缅甸的服装出口收入创造记录，根据缅甸服装制造商协会(MGMA)的官方统计数字。

　　在今年的1-3月份，缅甸的服装出口收入达到3亿美元，几乎比去年同期的出口收入翻番。

　　在以前，在4-6月份服装订单下降，工业消息说。

　　日本和韩国给缅甸下达了大多数的订单。美国和欧盟国家在缅甸允许进入欧盟的贸易特惠机制之后，给缅甸下达的订单数量也在上升。

Foreign investment in Myanmar up 24 pct in 4 months of FY 2013-14

Contracted foreign investment in Myanmar amounted to 1.77 billion U.S. dollars in the first four months (April-July) of the fiscal year 2013-14, up 26 percent or 0. 37 billion dollars, an official said here Friday.

Of the total,, Japan injected 0.18 billion dollars into five enterprises, accounting for 10 percent, said U Aung Naing Oo, director general of the Directorate of the Investment and Company Administration (DICA) under the Ministry of National Planning and Economic Development.

Contracted foreign investment in Myanmar from 32 countries and regions hit 42.95 billion dollars between 1988 and the end of July 2013, according to the latest official figures.

China took the lead with 14.188 billion dollars, accounting for 33.04 percent of the total foreign investment, followed by Thailand (9.979 billion dollars), China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (6.404 billion dollars), Britain (3.045 billion dollars), South Korea (3.018 billion dollars), Singapore ( 2.358 billion dollars) and Malaysia (1.034 billion dollars).

Sectorally speaking, the power sector took the lead with 19.237 billion dollars, accounting for 44.79 percent of the total, followed by oil and gas (14.372 billion dollars), mining (2.829 billion dollars), manufacturing (2.749 billion dollars), hotels and tourism (1.585 billion dollars) and real estate (1.056 billion dollars).

Myanmar's new foreign investment law, promulgated in November 2012, allows foreigners to make full investment and to establish joint ventures with local citizens or related government departments or organizations on mutually-agreed ratio of investment.

MTN and Singapore-based MTH to build mobile towers

Myanmar Telecommunication Network (MTN) and Singapore-based Myanmar Towers Holdings (MTH) have signed MoU to construct communication towers.

The agreement was signed on Tuesday at the Park Royal Hotel in Yangon and the two companies plan to establish a joint venture to construct mobile towers and wireless communication services.

"We know that Myanmar has four communication operators now. Myanmar Posts and Telecommunication (MPT) was constructing the towers before but they can’t build them alone now. MTN has been organised as a public company and now we are cooperating with MTH for these services," said Tin Win Aung, Executive Director of MTH.

MTH is registered in Singapore and is founded by Provident Capital Pte. Ltd. that has been constructing communication towers and basic infrastructure in Singapore for a long time. MTH is first established itself in Myanmar in October 2012 with an initial investment of 1,000 billion Kyats.

Source: Eleven Weekly Media 

MIC allows more foreign companies to invest in garment sector in Myanmar

Myanmar Investment Commission has granted permission to companies from China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan to do business in local CMP garment industry with 100% foreign investments, according to official data.

A Hong Kong-based company and local B&N Garment Myanmar Company have been permitted to do their garment businesses in Hlaing Tharyar Industrial Zone (2) in Yangon Region. Taiwan-based companies such as Melody Global and Sunny Shoes Inc are allowed to do manufacturing of footwear and outdoor sports products in Bago Industrial Zone in Bago Region. And China-based SDI Manufacturing was allowed to do its garment business in Ngwe Pinlel Industrial Zone in Yangon.

As a joint-venture, Singapore-based Slita Pte Ltd has joined hands with Myanmar's Lita Myanmar Company and Myint Myat Htut Khaung International to do CMP garment manufacturing in Shwe Lin Pann Industrial Zone in Yangon, according to official information from Directorate of Investment and Company Administration.

Also permitted are China-based companies such as Shanghai Donglong Feather Manufacture Company, Jiangsu Solamoda Garments Group, and Hong Kong-based AMG Factory.

The country’s garment exports made record earnings with over $300 million in the period from January to March in the first quarter of this year, according to official data from Myanmar Garment Manufacturers Association (MGMA).

缅甸新开放4个口岸：内比都、大其力、妙瓦底、阁颂岛

泰缅文化协会清莱分会主席帕芥玛小姐日前表示，缅甸政府同意持外国护照可以通过以下6个口岸到该国旅游，其中3个边境口岸包括大其力、妙瓦底和阁颂岛，3个航空口岸包括内比都、仰光和曼德勒。 而妙瓦底口岸可能因水灾问题延后执行。泰国国家旅游局对中国景洪-孟腊旅游线进行考察，以推动把清莱发展成为泰缅旅游热线，并促进和发展缅甸旅游业，以及满足东盟经济共同体的需求。

之前，缅甸政府规定从8月6日开始同时开放上述3边境口岸，但目前获悉妙瓦底口岸可能要暂时延后，因为妙瓦底口岸正面临水灾，当地损失情况严重，所以要等到灾后复苏工作结束之后再执行开放政策。

来源 : 缅甸《金凤凰》

Myanmar gems to be sold duty free at Bangkok Expo

Myanmar Gems Entrepreneurs attending the 52th Bangkok Gems Expo to be held in Thailand from September 6 to 10 will enjoy a duty free policy on gems sales at the expo, according to the gem traders.
The Thai government normally collects 20 percent import tax on gems and jewellery, but the duty free policy will be in effect for 15 days before and after the Gems Expo. 

"Thailand sent an invitation letter concerning a duty free permit. But we will have to know whether the tax is collected or not when we arrive. Myanmar gems traders were very pleased to attend the gems expo held in Hong Kong. They didn’t collect the tax and granted the permission for carrying and selling of gems freely," said an official from Myanmar Gems Entrepreneurs Association.
Gems entrepreneurs from across South-East Asia, including Myanmar, will attend the Gems Expo and will get the approval for an import tax free permit from Tai Gem and Jewellery Trader Association.
The 52th Bangkok Gems Expo will run from September 6 to 10 displaying over 3,000 booths of gems and jewellery from across the region.
source: eleven media

Myanmar’s garment exports make record earnings

Myanmar’s garment exports made record earnings in the first quarter of this year, according to official data from Myanmar Garment Manufacturers Association (MGMA).

The exports have made over $300 million in the period from January to March, almost a double from the same period last year, according to the data.

"Generally most orders came during the first three months of a year averagely. This year we [manufacturers] have earned more than previous years. Our factory earned nearly US$ 200,000 a month these last few months. We got only around US$30,000 a month last year," said Dr. Khin Maung Aye, managing director of Letwyar Factory in Yangon's Hlaing Tharyar Industrial Zone.

The garment orders used to go down between April and June, according to industry sources. Japan and South Korea have made most orders from garment factories in the country. The US and European countries are also increasing garment orders after Myanmar was allowed into a trade preferences scheme by the European Union.

source: eleven media

Pun to Give Rivals a Run for Their Money

As founder of Myanmar’s only listed business and head of a commercial network spanning more than 30 companies, Serge Pun is more used to winning than losing.

That habit is well-attested to by the swanky surrounds of the family-run Pun Hlaing Country Club—a 660-acre golf and residential retreat complete with hospital and shopping mall—across the Hlaing River from the honking traffic and, in places, rain-sodden squalor of downtown Yangon.

However, in late June the Chinese-Myanmar entrepreneur found himself on the losing side after Norway’s Telenor and Qatar’s Ooredoo won two keenly contested mobile network licenses.

He was the local focal point of a three-pronged bid, along with Irish-owned telecoms company Digicel and billionaire speculator-cum-philanthropist George Soros. The pitch was thought to be among the frontrunners for the high-risk but likely lucrative mobile provider gigs, in a country where only between 4 percent and 9 percent of the population is connected to the network.

While congratulating the two winners, Mr. Pun suggested that the deep pockets of the oil- and gas-rich wealth funds backing both Telenor and Ooredoo might have decided the outcome.

“I’ve a feeling they bid a lot for the license fee, which ensured them pole position, but congratulations to them,” he said with a smile, speaking from an office decorated with reminders of the Cultural Revolution in China, when he spent around a decade in a hard-labor camp—an experience he described in retrospect as “a blessing.”

“It probably molded a lot of how I see things,” he recalled, pointing to a series of paintings that he said allegorize the destruction wrought by those 1960s upheavals.

But back to the present, and the future. With Myanmar still a telecoms black spot, Mr. Pun believes there will still be plenty of opportunities in the sector, which needs around US$45-50 billion in investment through to 2030, according to US-based global consulting firm McKinsey.

“We still intend to play a very significant role in the telco industry,” he said, citing the “huge number of tower sites, as many as 5,000,” where he believes the network providers can quickly erect towers.

And while there will certainly be rewards for high-stakes investors who can successfully navigate the risks inherent in Myanmar’s untapped telecoms market, this is also one sector in which that burned-out notion of “trickle-down” economics surely applies.

Mobile phones have changed lives and livelihoods in poor countries in Africa and South Asia, said Mr. Pun, who believes that the sector will also be critical to Myanmar’s future development prospects.

“Telecommunications play a totally essential part in economic development. This goes down to the very poor farmers as you will see in India and Bangladesh, where it helps farmers know prices and know the market,” he said.

But before the mobile network is improved and ahead of any pervasive economic take-off, the Myanmar government will have to enact a series of much-needed economic reforms—facilitating the creation of an independent central bank and a stock market, for example.

Mr. Pun pointed out that such legislative gaps mean that—hyperventilating headlines about Myanmar’s boom-times aside—the country’s economic reforms are really just starting.

“Before last November, and the foreign investment law, you hardly saw any economic or financial reform,” he said, coughing gingerly between staccato pulls on a cigar.

“That’s why, when these skeptics say that two years have gone by, and people are not seeing fruits of this reform, I feel that is distorted, as the reforms made so far are political and social.”

And those changes—such as freeing up of a long-stifled press, holding free and fair by-elections, seeing robust exchanges in a mostly elected (albeit military-shadowed) legislature—have already had an impact at all levels of society, fueling Mr. Pun’s optimism that, in time, the same will happen to the economy.

“We can now say anything we want, read anything we want—that’s evidence of a reform measure trickling down. If you are talking about labor law, it is trickling down: Workers have new rights and new protections,” he said—though at the time of writing, Myanmar’s newfound media freedoms were stalling amid a standoff between the Ministry of Information and the interim Press Council over a publishing bill that journalists feel is redolent of old military-era curbs, and activists protesting land grabs in high-profile cases such as the Chinese-run Letpadaung mine were being sent to jail.

As for the economy, while broadly optimistic about Myanmar’s economic future, Mr. Pun conceded that there are “bottlenecks” that for now will hinder any Asian Tiger-type takeoff.

Criticizing what he sees as the short-term profiteering mindset prevalent in Myanmar, he cautioned that speculation-driven land prices in the country are too high and admonished that people should not “try to make a profit on the land.”

That bottleneck, as Mr. Pun sees it, could undermine Myanmar’s potential, if the government does not rein in land prices. While he believes that 1 million manufacturing jobs could be created in Myanmar in the near future—“We’re talking about 1,000 factories with 1,000 jobs in each”—he worried that “it is not feasible for an industrialist to start a manufacturing plant under such prices.”

Land prices are also driving up the cost of scarce office and hotel space in Yangon, with the dearth of rooms threatening to hold up a possible tourist boom. The Ministry of Hotels and Tourism hopes to attract over 7 million visitors per annum by 2020, up from around 1 million at present.

Myanmar currently has fewer than 30,000 hotel rooms in the entire country, but Mr. Pun believes that new developments should in time offset that deficit, although he hopes it can be done without the destruction of Yangon’s famed old colonial buildings, many of which are now disused, mildewed relics of military-era neglect and mismanagement.

He said he hopes ground will be broken after the rainy season at a landmark new development in downtown Yangon, a project that he said will fuse tinted-glass progress with the vintage postcard aura that permeates Yangon’s downtown.

The now tatty-looking red-brick railway building will be the hub for a modern five-star hotel—what Mr. Pun hopes will be a seamless blend of the new and the old.

This story first appeared in the August 2013 print issue of The Irrawaddy magazine.

Source: The Irrawaddy

緬甸解禁 3台商申請投資

由經濟部投資業務處處長邱一徹帶領16家廠商23位代表組成的「2013緬甸、柬埔寨投資考察團」，前（19）日抵達緬甸仰光，邱一徹傳回消息指出，緬甸政府已經解除台商對緬直接貿易投資限制，目前已經有3家台商提出申請，等待核准當中。

委託外貿協會籌組的考察團，首站抵達緬甸建材批發市場，提供台商投資設廠所需要燈具、磁磚、鋼筋等；隨後參訪明哥拉同工業區，該工業區位於仰光市中心周邊，為一指標性工業區，早期由日本人協助規劃，是許多外商列為進駐之優選地點之一。

另外投資考察團亦參訪位於雪抱敢工業區的開發商台商頂超企業；在參訪過程中，參團台商針對關切的土地租用期限及價格、廠商興建成本、勞工薪資及福利、水電供應、道路及廢水處理設備等議題，與工業區開發業者交換意見。

同日緬甸台商座談會中邱一轍說明，緬甸政府經我方多次反應後，已同意取消過去不允許台灣對緬甸直接貿易及投資的限制，目前已有3家台商由台灣向緬方申請投資許可，正待緬方核准。

邱一轍也向出席台商釐清兩岸已簽署之服務貿易內容；並介紹我國對外投資發展、台商海外投資面臨問題、經濟部協助台商海外布局措施及結合海外台華商強化服務業輸出等。

投資考察團將持續參訪仰光地區工業區及廠商，參觀當地賣場及銷售通路，並拜會緬甸最大商會組織，會員廠商家數超過1萬家的緬甸商工總會，尋求台緬企業投資合作商機。

source: 工商時報 記者張佩芬／台北報導

貿協拓銷緬甸 11月設台貿中心

緬甸目前為各國極為重視的拓銷市場，為能快速協助廠商進入初開放的該市場，搶得先機，外貿協會11月4日在仰光的台貿中心將正式設立，以即時提供廠商開拓當地市場的資訊。今（19）日起三個緬甸考察或經貿訪問團也將會陸續出發。

外貿協會秘書長黃文榮指出，歐盟今年7月給予緬甸GSP待遇；美國自1989年終止GSP，樂觀估計於今年底可望恢復，約將會有五千項以上的產品列入。不過，由於生產技術及品管系統的落後，許多緬甸產品品質不佳，將形成出口障礙。

除此之外，緬甸經濟學家Hla Maung也指出，由於GSP通常規定產品全製程需完全在出口國生產，緬甸來料加工的成衣業可能不符合此規定。

但是緬甸因為擁有豐沛的自然資源、勞動人口及土地，極具發展潛力，因此貿協7月份與香港展覽公司YORKERS合辦首屆緬甸機電設備暨汽配展，參觀人數高達6,859人，商機媒合估計為2,270萬美元。同時也邀請宏碁及華碩等台灣精品廠商參展，辦理台灣精品記者會，希望在市場開放之初，迅速在緬甸消費市場中建立台灣品牌知名度，於該市場打下穩固基石。

本月19至24日，貿協接受經濟部投資業務處委託，辦理「2013緬甸、柬埔寨投資考察團」，將由投資業務處處長邱一徹率領19家廠商27位代表，包括電機電子、金屬製品、手工具、木製家具、燈具、冰品等，共同赴緬甸仰光及柬埔寨金邊進行考察訪問，盼協助台商瞭解緬甸投資環境並深入當地市場發掘商機。接下來9月將辦「緬甸及柬埔寨拓銷布局團」，透過實際一對一貿易洽談、拜會政府機關、商會及考察當地市場，挖掘並促成商機。

貿協仰光台貿中心開幕典禮，則將由貿協董事長王志剛親自前往主持，經濟部次長卓士昭也將帶領高層多功能赴緬甸經貿訪問團前往。

source: 工商時報 記者張佩芬／台北報導

緬甸信件經常丟失 欲引進日本郵政係統

國際在線專稿：據日本新聞網8月19日報道，日本總務省和日本郵政19日在緬甸與當地政府進行關于引進日本郵政係統的討論。

今年5月份，日本總務大臣和緬甸通信郵政電信大臣達成了關于向緬甸出口郵政係統的協議。目前緬甸當地的在郵政係統上的精確度較低，經常丟失信件或者分發遲緩。為此，緬甸政府決定導入日本的高精度自動分揀係統，同時日本也將在係統運營和開發人力資源等上協助緬甸。

Japanese airline to increase flight frequency to Myanmar's Yangon

A major Japanese airline -- All Nippon Airways (ANA) -- will increase its flight frequency between Tokyo and Yangon starting from Sept. 30, local media reported Saturday.

ANA will also increase the number of its flights between Tokyo' s Narita Airport and Yangon to seven per week from three, said the Myanma Freedom Daily.

To increase seat capacity, the airline will operate its flights by replacing B737-700ER aircraft with B767-300ER aircraft.

ANA was among the first airlines to launch direct flight service between Japan and Myanmar.

As there is increased interest among Japanese businessmen and market researchers in traveling to Myanmar following the country's series of reform, the resumption of regular ANA services in October last year has prompted Japanese entrepreneurs to step in Myanmar.

For the past 12 years, Japanese tourists had to travel to Myanmar via Bangkok or Singapore when the airline suspended its Yangon flight.

There are now eight domestic airlines in operation in Myanmar, among which the Myanmar Airways is state-owned, while the rest are private-run.

Foreign airlines that run flights to Myanmar remain at 22.

Besides the three existing international airports -- Yangon, Mandalay and Nay Pyi Taw, there are 30 regional airports in Myanmar

Foreign investment in Myanmar hits 42.95 bln USD

Contracted foreign investment in Myanmar from 32 countries and regions hit 42.95 billion U.S. dollars as of the end of July 2013 since 1988, according to the latest official figures.

Country-wise speaking, China led with 14.188 billion U.S. dollars, accounting for 33.04 percent of the total.

China was followed by Thailand (9.979 billion dollars), China' s Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (6.404 billion dollars), the United Kingdom (3.045 billion dollars), South Korea (3.018 billion dollars), Singapore (2.358 billion dollars) and Malaysia ( 1.034 billion dollars).

Sector-wise speaking, power sector led all sectors, with 19.237 billion dollars, accounting for 44.79 percent of the total.

It was followed by oil and gas (14.372 billion dollars), mining (2.829 billion dollars), manufacturing (2.749 billion dollars), hotels and tourist (1.585 billion dollars) and real estate (1.056 billion dollars).

Other sectors included livestock and fisheries, transport and communications, industrial estate, agriculture and construction.

Meanwhile, passed by the parliament, Myanmar promulgated a new foreign investment law in November 2012, replacing the over-two- decade-long 1988 similar law, in a bid to further attract foreign investment to the country in line with its reform strategy.

The new law allows foreigners to make full investment, joint venture operation between foreigner and local citizen or related government department or organization on mutually-agreed ratio of investment. 

Source: Xinhua

Myanmar credit card moves will time: Visa

Visa International, which entered Myanmar last year, expects that it will take about three to five years for the credit and debit card system to be fully established in the cash-based society.

Somboon Krobteeranon, manager for Myanmar and Thailand, said last week that one year was spent helping to lay the groundwork and educate its financial institution partners in the neighbouring country.

The company has eight commercial banks in Myanmar as local partners and licensed four of them to connect with Visa's payment system. Visa card and Visa debit card holders can make withdrawals from these four banks' ATMs.

"What we're doing for this year is transferring know-how and licensing the remaining four partners," he said. 

Visa and the four licensed bank partners have installed about 100 ATMs that foreigners can use to make withdrawals. Some merchants can accept Visa credit cards.

After helping local banks lay down the ATM and credit card acceptance infrastructure, Visa expects that within three to five years, local banks can issue Visa-branded credit cards and debit cards and credit cardholders can purchase goods from online channels. The number of merchants accepting credit cards will pass 5,000 in three to five years thanks to the Myanmar government's allowing Norway's Telenor and Qatar's Ooredoo to launch telecommunications services in Myanmar. That could strengthen the electronic payment network.

The number of ATMs and point of sale readers is small because the fundamental system in Myanmar is not in place yet.

Local banks cannot issue international branded credit or debit cards. Most cardholders have ATM and debit cards. The number of debit cards is in the tens of thousands, which is still far behind Thailand, where 70 per cent of the 40 million plastic cards are debit cards.

In the Thai market, Visa might lose some revenue from local switching, which will take effect next month. Following local switching, local transactions via debit cards will not be sent to international card networks such as Visa and MasterCard. Merchants will have lower costs and they can offer lower prices to attract debit cardholders.

However, switching in Thailand would not make much of a dent in Visa's revenue because payments through debit cards are smaller than credit cards, which will not be switching to the local system.

Payment by debit cards in Thailand and Southeast Asia is lower than 10 per cent, unlike the US and Western markets where about 60 per cent and 40 per cent prefer payment by debit cards.

Visa debit cardholders can still use their cards normally even though the country will apply the local switching system.

The international branded system remains essential for debit cardholders due to the safety and convenience for payments. However, Visa is interested in helping to develop the local switching system to ensure secure payments, he added.

IP laws ahead of WTO target

Improved intellectual property laws could be introduced in Myanmar as early as the start of next year, officials drafting the laws say, adding they will provide a more stable framework for investors well ahead of the World Trade Organisation’s latest deadline of 2021.

The proposed laws covering copyright, design, trademark and patents would replace legislation that dates to the colonial period and fill a legal void, said U Thein Aung, an IP consultant assisting with the drafting.

The legislation is slated to include a number of flexibilities, including provisions to override patent rights in pharmaceutical production through a compulsory licensing process administered by the Ministry of Health.

Work on the intellectual property laws began about 10 years ago, U Thein Aung said, though it has faced significant opposition from certain segments of the population, who say cracking down on counterfeits would cause some domestic prices to increase. “Some say that we need goods with the cheapest prices, good technology at the cheapest prices, so we don’t need to enact the laws,” U Thein Aung said.

However, he said international investors were keen to do business in places with strong intellectual property rights.

“For our country, we need to enact a new IP law because we want to welcome foreign investment.”

Myanmar and other least developed countries recently received an extension from the World Trade Organisation requirements to comply with the international standard agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). The deadline was extended to 2021 in June from the previous date of July 1, 2013.

According to Peter Fowler, US regional intellectual property attaché for Southeast Asia, moving forward with the legislation several years before the WTO deadline was a domestic decision made by Myanmar, and therefore this particular timeframe is not something the US does or does not support. He added, however, that the US urged Myanmar to “move forthrightly in enacting IPR legislation which meets the needs of a country in the 21st century” and take the necessary steps to ensure measures are effective.

U Thein Aung said Myanmar’s patent law will include provisions allowing for the compulsory licensing of pharmaceutical products to an entity other than the patent holder if the Ministry of Health deems it important for the country’s sake. The practice is allowed under international treaties but has proven controversial in some cases.

Sivaramjani Thambisetty, lecturer in IP law at the London School of Economics, said that compulsory licensing measures are often perceived as a threat to large pharmaceutical companies largely because research and development costs are extremely high – with estimates ranging between US$800 million and $4 billion per drug – and only a small proportion of products eventually turn a profit.

“There is therefore enormous pressure on the successful drugs to be profitably – even excessively – priced in order to subsidise all the other research avenues that failed, and also to keep this sector a profit-making one,” she said.

Some firms claim they are unlikely to enter countries that rely on compulsory licensing, Ms Thambisetty said, adding the debate was more complex as overall only a small portion of pharmaceutical research activities were directed specifically at the disease burden of poorer countries.

However, she said compulsory licensing was “an important tool” allowing developing countries like Myanmar to respond to public health needs, though the real test lies in how the rules around compulsory licensing are formulated and used.

Paul Cawthorne, Asia access campaign coordinator for Médecins Sans Frontières, said that since Myanmar is pushing forward with amending and rewriting its patent law, it was also being encouraged, with support from the World Health Organization and UN agencies, to ensure that TRIPS flexibilities, including the right to use compulsory licensing, are included as a safeguard.

Land Prices Soar in Pegu Division With News of Major Airport Project

RANGOON — Land prices have skyrocketed in Pegu Division, northeast of Rangoon, following the recent awarding of a contract to build a major new international airport there.

After an announcement last weekend that South Korea’s Incheon International Airport Corp. had been selected to build the Hanthawaddy International Airport, which is expected to be Burma’s biggest international airport, the price of land near the town of Pegu rose overnight.

“Within a week of the announcement of the airport project, the buying and selling of land here has become brisk,” a real estate agent in Pegu’s Shin Saw Pu Quarter told The Irrawaddy. “Despite the soaring prices, a lot of people are ready to buy land here.”

Before the announcement, an acre of farmland near Pegu sold for about 500,000 kyats (US$510,000). Now, one acre is going for between 20 million and 50 million kyats, while plots near the airport project area—which currently comprises an industrial zone, an agricultural zone and some orchards—are selling for about 80 million kyats per acre.

The land plots are being eyed by businesspeople seeking to invest near the airport or those in the estate industry.

“Before, only farmers from Nyaung Yin villages owned the farmland surrounding the airport project area,” said Myint Soe, owner of the Pegu-based Zarchi Real Estate. “With news of the project, giants from the real estate industry are offering high prices to buy the land from farmers, and now they are selling the land back for lucrative prices.”

“A plot from Phaya Gyi, which is near Pegu, with the length and width being 200 and 100 feet, respectively, was sold recently at the price of 470 million kyats,” he added. “The price of plots beside Phaya Gyi Street are above 1.8 billion kyats now. That is all because of the airport project. Before it wasn’t like this.”

The Hanthawaddy project is expected to cover 9,000 acres, and the government is reportedly relocating residents in the area to housing in other locations.

Win Swe Tun, deputy director general of Burma’s Department of Civil Aviation (DCA), told The Irrawaddy that negotiations were still under way but he believed Incheon International Airport Corp. would sign a contract by the end of the month.

The new transport hub is expected to handle 12 million passengers annually after it is finished in 2018, according to South Korea’s transport ministry.

Thailand, China lead Yangon's tourism market

Thailand and China are the main source of Yangon's tourism market, according to a recently released report from the Jones Lang LaSalle's Hotels & Hospitality Group.

"Yangon's two largest and mature source markets for the past few years have been neighbouring Thailand and China given their close proximity and long-standing economic co-operation. In 2012, visitors from Thailand and China comprised of 15.9% and 11.9% of total visitor arrivals, respectively. Growth from these markets, particularly from China has been lower in 2012 as they are staring out from much larger bases and some other source markets have grown more strongly," said Jones Lang LaSalle's Hotels & Hospitality Group in its Myanmar Hotel and Tourism Report: Spotlight on Yangon publication.

"China has long established economic links with Myanmar along its border with road infrastructure connecting to mineral deposits and other natural resources. Due to their existing foothold in Myanmar, it is arguable corporations from China have less need to visit Yangon frequently to form business relations or to research the market relative to other, newer entrant countries," noted the report.

Yangon International Airport has received over 235,000 Asian visitors from January to July this year, compared to only 165,000 visitors around the same time last year.

source: eleven media

Myanmar approves manufacturing and distribution of Nissan cars

Myanmar Investment Commission has approved the manufacturing and distribution of Nissan cars in Myanmar by Tan Chong Motor (Myanmar) Co Ltd on August 15, according to a report from the Ministry of National Planning and Economic Development.

Malaysia-based Tan Chong Motor Holdings Bhd (TCMH), the business partner of Japan's Nissan Motor, has engaged in discussion with Myanmar authorities since last year to manufacture and distribute Nissan cars and spare parts in Myanmar.

TCMH Group's subsidiary ETCM (MM) Pte Ltd (Malaysia), registered as Tan Chong Motor (Myanmar) Ltd, is now to set up an automobile assembly plant in Bago Region.

Tan Chong Motor (Myanmar) will conduct the business as wholly-owned and a hundred percent foreign investment, said the ministry's report.

Meanwhile, Malaysia-based APM Automotive Indochina was also approved by the Investment Commission on August 15 to manufacture and distribute car spare parts.

As a hundred percent foreign investment, APM Auto Components Myanmar Co Ltd was allowed to build a manufacturing plant in Bago Region.

Other international auto-makers are also planning to open car sale centres and car showrooms in Myanmar by themselves or by their representative companies.

Qatari firm vows ‘affordable’ mobile access for Myanmar

Qatari telecoms giant Ooredoo on Friday pledged to introduce "affordable" phone services to Myanmar next year as it pumps $15 billion into one of the world's few remaining frontier mobile markets.

The firm, which in June along with Norway's Telenor won bids to provide mobile coverage to a nation where less than 10 percent of the population has telephone access, should be formally awarded its 15-year 3G licence by the end of this year.

It will then start to roll out its mobile services -- including money transfers and weather data for farmers -- within six months, a company executive told reporters in Yangon.

"People can use Ooredoo's services next year... we need to build quickly, not only in cities but also in rural areas," Ross Cormack said.

Few in Myanmar can currently afford mobile phones and SIM card fees, which in the past cost about $200, although the government is now trying to make prices more affordable.

Asked how calls will be priced -- in a country where about a quarter of the population live below the national poverty line -- Cormack said: "I can't say exactly but you will find it attractive and affordable."

In a statement in July Myanmar's government said Ooredoo had "committed" to selling SIM cards for about $1.5 and to charging roughly four cents for off-peak calls.

"We will deliver SIM cards and all the services at every road-side store and to villages," Cormack said, adding up to 97 percent of Myanmar's 60 million people will have access to his company's services within five years.

Mobile coverage in the former junta-ruled nation is extremely limited, with less than 10 percent of the population enjoying access to a telephone.

The company, formerly known as QTel, will invest in selling its services at tens of thousands of outlets across the country, it said, with a focus on add-ons including mobile money transfers and providing market prices, weather updates and equipment rental costs to help farmers in remote areas.

Valid for 15 years, the licences are the first to be awarded by the formerly junta-ruled nation, and will see the two foreign firms enter a market once monopolised by a pair of state companies.

Nok hypes third route to Myanmar

BANGKOK POST

Bangkok-Yangon has become the third confirmed Myanmar-bound route that Nok Air will launch as it gears towards reviving its international service, which was suspended in 2008 as part of a business downsizing.

Nok Air executives on Thursday said the budget airline is due to commence regular jet service on the route from Nov 1, with four flights a week on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday before adding a second flight on each of those days on Dec 1.

Furthermore, it will go double daily from next Jan 1 as it consolidates its position on the route, to be served by Boeing 737-800 single-aisle jets.

Demand will be spurred by the 27th SEA Games in Nay Pyi Taw this December and Myanmar's assumption of the Asean chairmanship next year.

Myanmar, seen as a fast-emerging market, is featuring prominently on Nok Air's revived international flights, eclipsing southern China on its radar screen as enthusiasm for the latter market has waned over the past year.

Nok Air recently announced two other Myanmar-bound routes - daily flights from Mae Sot to Mawlamyine from Sept 1 and Mae Sot to Yangon from Oct 1 - to be served by Saab 340B turboprops with 34 seats chartered from Siam General Aviation Co.

For the Bangkok-Yangon service to operate out of its Don Mueang airport base, the airline is offering a promotional net ticket price starting from 1,590 baht one-way.

Budget carrier Thai AirAsia has offered Bangkok-Yangon service out of Don Mueang for nearly a year, while full-service carriers Bangkok Airways and Thai Airways International fly out of Suvarnabhumi airport.

Chief executive Patee Sarasin said Nok Air is keen to expand its Myanmar network by connecting to smaller cities in that country rather than pursuing trunk routes.

This article first appeared in the Bangkok Post on August 16, 2013.

Tata targets building materials, machines

India-based Tata International will export heavy construction equipment to Myanmar at the start of September, said the company’s country head for Myanmar, Sunil Seth.

Tata International, a trading arm of the Tata Group, has been exporting products to Myanmar for seven months, Mr Seth said on August 13. While it has previously focused on products such as metals, minerals, leather and agricultural products, it is now filling orders for construction equipment, which it sees as a growth market.

“We’re expecting that the demand [for construction machinery] in the future will be very positive because plenty of infrastructure development has to take place in Myanmar,” he said, noting the company anticipates particularly high demand for basic building materials such as steel and ready-mixed concrete (RMC).

The equipment to be imported includes cement batching machinery for RMC, line pumps, boom pumps and transit mixers.

Steel King was the first local company to buy concrete batching plants from Tata. “We’ve bought the ready-mixed concrete batching machinery for US$1.2 million and it will arrive in Yangon in a month,” Steel King director U Kyaw Soe said.

Steel King is building an RMC manufacturing factory at the Thaketa Industrial Zone, which is expected to be completed within three months. U Kyaw Soe said being able to produce RMC will allow the company to become a “one-stop service for the construction industry”.