2020 January 2

Placed in the driving seat at the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Economic Relations by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, U Thaung Tun has been tasked with turning around the decline in foreign investment in order to halt Myanmar’s economic slowdown. This daunting task has been made even harder now that the country’s international image is in ruins due to the Rakhine crisis.

As the National League for Democracy (NLD)-led government’s investment tsar, the ex-national security adviser has toured Asia and Europe, beating the drum for his country’s economy and striving to reassure foreign investors that Myanmar is becoming a more favorable, friendly and predictable investment environment and promising them a fair and level playing field.

Organizing investment forums across the country, he has sought to soften investors’ sentiment toward Rakhine State, saying, “Instead of blaming and shaming, let’s work together”, and stressing the need for foreign investors to work with the Myanmar government to create sustainable development in the state.

The Myanmar government announced in August that approved FDI into the country for April-September stood at US$4.1 billion, a nearly 70-percent increase over the same period in 2018. Myanmar also climbed six places to 165th in the World Bank’s 2020 ease of doing business ranking. The gain was attributed to the creation of an easier environment in which to start a business, and the implementation of greater protections for minority investors, among other improvements.