24 November 2020
***
Your Excellency, Ranieri Sabatucci, Ambassador of the European Union to Myanmar,
Mr. Giacomo Solari, Head of Cooperation and Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of Switzerland,
Ms. Lise Nordgaard, Chargé d'Affaires at the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Yangon, and
Mr. Stephen Thomsen, Head of the OECD's Investment and Sustainable Development Unit,
To all of you, a very warm welcome.
Welcome also to the International Chambers present, and to the media who’ve tuned in today.
It’s good to be with you all today!
Let
me begin by thanking all our friends – Norway, Switzerland, the EU, the
OECD, ILO, AustCham, EuroCham, MCRB, MID, MGMA, MIC, and the UMFCCI for
contributing to today’s event.
But
more importantly, I’d like to thank you all for the excellent results
achieved, together with us here at the Ministry of Investment and
Foreign Economic Relations, as part of this second Investment Policy
Review process.
Your
advice, your friendship, and words of support – sometimes frank but
always constructive – have proved invaluable throughout the years.
Let
me also take a moment to express my sincere appreciation to the staff
here at the Ministry, and at DICA in Yangon for your remarkable teamwork
– delivering difficult reforms, supporting business and private
enterprise, making it easier for investors to establish and expand
existing investments, and for promoting Myanmar as an attractive
investment destination.
You have done an outstanding job. This latest Investment Policy Review stands as a testament to your dedication and diligence.
Ladies and Gentlemen:
Responsible
investment represents a cornerstone of this government’s vision – a
vision of an economy and a society that works for everyone – that
benefits the MSME on a street corner in Mandalay just as much as the big
multinational up in the twin towers of Myanmar Plaza.
I
welcome this opportunity to be with you - not just to talk about what
we together have done to improve the investment enabling environment
here in Myanmar – and we’ve done a lot – but also to talk about what we
intend to do to sustain and improve this environment over the years to
come.
It was American Founding Father, investment pioneer, and polymath, Ben Franklin who once wrote:
“The best investment is in the tools of one’s own trade.”
He also stressed:
"An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest"
The
first Investment Promotion Review (IPR) launched back in 2014 – still
early in our democratic transition – provided us with such a tool. An
in-depth analysis accompanied by comprehensive policy recommendations
that have helped lay the foundations of a new investment regime, and
quality labor standards, and with it, a new era of quality investment
into Myanmar.
And this investment in knowledge continues to pay dividends to this day!
We’ve made important progress across a range of areas.
In
2016, we merged our investment laws while offering a simplified set of
regulations, providing a level playing field for both foreign and local
investors alike – boosting investor confidence, and making us more
competitive regionally and globally.
Environmental
protection standards, responsible business conduct, and corporate
social responsibility, respect for human rights, responsible sourcing
practices within supply chains, and decent work for fair wages – all are
now embedded within our national reform agenda thanks to the IPR
process.
In
June we ratified the ILO Minimum Age Convention setting a minimum age
for employment, keeping more kids in school while prohibiting hazardous
activities for those under 18 years of age.
This
development has been acknowledged as a positive step, particularly, in
the context of the current COVID-19 crisis, which threatens the rights,
safety, and development of a large number of children in our country.
We’re
also capitalizing on our substantial but untapped ‘gender dividend’ –
by supporting more women entrepreneurs to succeed in business, and by
promoting gender equality and non-discrimination within the workplace.
Myanmar
is actively committed to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by
2030. In this context, we are aware that women’s economic empowerment
will be critical. Not only for the achievement of gender equality but
also because it underpins the achievement of other goals.
But not only am I proud of what we have achieved to date – I’m also positive about the future.
Not just because foreign investment in our energy, manufacturing, and real-estate sector is growing, which it is.
Not
just because foreign investment across the hundreds of high-quality
projects approved since the first IPR are today providing hundreds of
thousands of quality jobs for men and women throughout all States and
Regions, which they are.
And
not just because investment reforms we’ve pursued have made the overall
investment approval process faster, more transparent, and more
efficient, which it has.
NOW IS THE BEST MOMENT TO INVEST
I
am optimistic because. If I had to choose a moment in my country’s
history to be born, a moment in which I felt I had the surest chance of
success – I would choose today. I would opt to be part of Generation Z!
Today
our nation is more prosperous than at any time in living memory. Our
democracy is stronger. Fewer of our people are experiencing poverty and
more of our children are in school. Our people are living longer,
happier, healthier lives than at any point in time.
And were an investor to ask – when do you think is the best time to invest here in Myanmar – I would say – today, right now!
The
World Bank has recognized Myanmar as amongst its top 20 reformers on
the Ease of Doing Business Index. The OECD calls the degree of statutory
liberalization we’ve achieved in just five years as being ‘almost
unprecedented’.
There
is no better time than today to expand your investment portfolio in
Myanmar. There is no better time to build a new business in Myanmar than
today.
Never
before has growth remained as consistently high – notwithstanding the
pandemic. Our schools and universities are stronger, ensuring a new
generation of Myanmar workers are prepared and ready to take on
21st-century challenges.
We
also know that a healthy workforce is a productive workforce. And I
know our health sector will recover from this pandemic stronger, and
better, and more capable than ever before.
With
this month’s signing of the Regional Comprehensive Economic
Partnership, we now have in place a world-class Free Trade Agreement
that has leveled the playing field, facilitating access to new markets,
lowering the cost of exports, reducing tariffs and customs duties, and
protecting IP.
Excellencies, Distinguished Guests, Ladies, and Gentlemen:
The
people of Myanmar have spoken, and in doing so, they have granted us a
clear mandate. They are counting on this government to deliver.
This
was the message they sent when millions of our countrymen and women
went to the polls on the morning of 8 November earlier this month.
Our
ability to deliver smarter, more sustainable, and more inclusive
growth, and to reduce inequality, will hinge on our ability to continue
the change and transformation begun just 5 short years ago – delivering
reforms that attract more investment from a wider variety of partners in
a wider variety of sectors – reforms that reduce barriers and promote
greater integration.
We’ll need to follow through on our commitment to connecting every household to the national grid by 2030. Which we will.
We
will do so by leapfrogging carbon-based energy strategies with a
continued commitment to green growth, including off-grid renewable
energy, and with the effective and consistent implementation of
environmental impact assessments - ensuring projects that fully comply
with environmental laws, regulations, and management plans.
And
we’ll need smart tax policies that attract quality, responsible
investment while deterring tax evasion – incentivizing companies to pay
their fair share for the roads and bridges, ports, and other public
infrastructure they use. We’ll also need an expansion of online tax
payment platforms, tax deductions for training expenses, and reforms to
property tax. So, we’ll do that too.
We
will need to build back better, and we must do so with a sense of
urgency. Other countries are not waiting around for us to catch up.
RESPONDING TO A CHANGING WORLD, COVID-19, AND MERRP
Excellencies, Distinguished Guests, Ladies, and Gentlemen:
If
we are to fulfill the promise we have made to Myanmar’s people – the
promise of a stronger, more inclusive, more prosperous nation, then we
must also pay attention to assumptions that underpinned previous
investment policy reform efforts.
COVID-19 is easily the most severe pandemic of the modern age and perhaps the most significant global event of our lifetimes.
Myanmar has, like so many others, faced economic downturns and hardship.
Myanmar
and the world have shifted in fundamental ways between the first and
second IPR – some changes were caused by COVID-19, others hastened by
it, others well underway before the pandemic struck.
As
the world begins to rebuild, and as we turn our heads toward the
future, we must take these shifts into account. This means reviewing
assumptions that underpinned our Myanmar Investment Promotion Plan and
making revisions where needed.
And,
just as our new Recovery Plan has been designed to help rebuild our
nation’s economy, FDI can sustain that recovery and advance it.
We
will need to make it easier to secure permits, easier to obtain
appropriate and lawful access to land via the Land Bank, greater
transparency in tendering and project selection via the Project Bank,
while ensuring prior, and informed consent of impacted communities and
the traditional land use rights are respected.
These are precisely the actions called for as part of our new Myanmar Economic Resilience and Recovery Plan (MERRP).
Excellencies, Distinguished Guests, Ladies, and Gentlemen:
We know that countries that open up to FDI create more jobs and opportunities than those that do not.
The
assistance and guidance made available to us via the second IPR will
help us continue to promote responsible investment into Myanmar – the
type that creates jobs, opens up new opportunities, sustains growth, and
spreads prosperity.
My
sincere gratitude to the team at the OECD. Your efforts will be met
with equally strong cooperation on our part. And the need to work
together – at a time when others are turning inward – could not be more
urgent.
Because this is not just about making money. FDI builds bridges between our peoples, our cultures, and our countries.
It advances all of us, together.
When we share the risk, we share the reward.
When we succeed, we all benefit.
And
as a testament to our shared success, we shall leave a legacy of modern
ports and pipelines, of schools and skyscrapers, and smart factories
and freeways so that when our children’s children reflect on which
moment in Myanmar’s history, they believe offers them the surest chance
of success – they too will agree that this decade was a defining moment
in our history!
Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.
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