NAY PYI TAW, November 6

U Thaung Tun, Union Minister for Investment and Foreign Economic Relations, held a virtual call with H.E. Mr. Ranieri Sabatucci, Ambassador of the European Union to the Republic of the Union of Myanmar today. Union Minister U Thaung Tun welcomed the new Ambassador to Myanmar and reaffirmed Myanmar’s strong commitment to working with the European Union and Member States to enhance European investment and to strengthen development cooperation.

While discussing ways and means of facilitating greater European investment into Myanmar, Union Minister restated the government’s commitment to providing a level playing field that would encourage a greater diversity of international standard, responsible investment, including through the use of open, transparent and competitive tender processes.

Union Minister went on to thank the European Union for several key development assistance partnerships, including budget support earmarked for the education and nutrition sectors – a priority modality as stated within the 2020 Myanmar Development Assistance Policy, the MyGovernance programme with its focus on building policy-making capacities and strengthening public sector institutions, and the ‘Myan Ku’ Fund, having disbursed over 5.4 billion MMK cash support payments to over 70,500 garment and footwear factory workers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ambassador Sabatucci thanked Union Minister U Thaung Tun for the meeting and expressed eagerness to see the European Union work more closely with Myanmar across a range of areas. The Ambassador also welcomed Myanmar’s support for ongoing development cooperation efforts, noting that EU taxpayers were keen to ensure their money was well spent and achieving positive outcomes for all Myanmar’s people.

During the exchange Union Minister U Thaung Tun provided a comprehensive briefing on socio-economic progress achieved throughout the past four years, noting in particular how Myanmar had managed to sustain high rates of economic growth while creating greater opportunities for Myanmar’s people, including in the agriculture, industry and services sectors.

Both sides were in firm agreement that sustaining Myanmar’s high rates of growth must not come at the expense of the environment and discussed the possibility of scaling up European investment in green energy.

Both sides agreed that there remained substantial opportunities for EU investors including in Myanmar’s energy, agriculture, manufacturing and infrastructure sectors, and expressed a strong willingness to work together to strengthening Europe-Myanmar ties going forward.