Do you think Myanmar, one of the poorest countries in South East Asia, are fascinating to invest in? If this kind of question was asked in last decade, I'm sure the response was "no" doubtless. However, if today the same question come back again to the respondents who realize the progress of the isolated country, like me reading BangkokPost Online last night on this issue, It's clear they would say "yes" right away.
According to "Myanmar president to make landmark US visit: state TV", Then Sein, The former junta premier of Myanmar, is scheduled to pay a state visit to The United States in the near future, the first time since the US' invitation in 1966, in the wake of a series of lifting sanctions by global community especially the US on the reclusive state in response to its dramatically political transition. In addition, the leader was considered better due to the lift of house arrest of "the opposition icon Aung San Suu Kyi", "the Nobel Peace laureate". (¶ 7)
Despite the fact there are still abundance of ethnic minority conflict in the country. I think such problem, or even others, would be better after all of developments already take place in Myanmar. No country in the world has been prosperous without undergoing any local problem before. The thing the world community has to provide the ASEAN member is time. As I said, what the president is now doing is eliminating difficulties disrupting the national improvement from outside. It should be a perfect beginning for this poor country who stay alone for almost half century.
In my opinion, this country are on the appropriate track. I'm from Thailand, who is one of its neighboring countries that have a common goal in achieving the ASEAN community and rendering common prosperity among state members in this region. I fervently wish the "Thailand's friend" would solve all those problems both internally and externally and finally reach the better and better level of living.
Reference :
Myanmar president to make landmark US visit: state TV. (2013, May 13). BangkokPost Onlnine. Retrieved May 13, 2013 from http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/world/349810/myanmar-president-to-make-landmark-us-visit-state-tv
Reference :
Myanmar president to make landmark US visit: state TV. (2013, May 13). BangkokPost Onlnine. Retrieved May 13, 2013 from http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/world/349810/myanmar-president-to-make-landmark-us-visit-state-tv
I would say I've almost known nothing about Myanmar today, except some history lessons in school time and small earth quake news. But recently I've seen Myanmar spotted more often than before.
ReplyDeleteThe first thing comes up in my mind is the great waves of migration to Thailand. Might some of you notice that waiters or staffs we met at shopping centers or restaurants or even local shops can't speak Thai fluently. In other words, I can see more Myanmar workforce in Thailand. Do they take place Thai workforce? Or it is just the regular beginning of AEC? I'm not sure either.
I don't know much about Myanmar either. But, I know that they rich of natural resources such as natural gas. There are many Thailand's electricity generating companies have purchased in order to run their power plants.
DeleteI agree that there are a lot of Burmese workforce in Thailand. But, I think that because of Thai people are more selective to their preferred jobs than Burmese do. Therefore, we can see an influx of labor force in Thailand.
Myanmar need to improve their basic infrastructures before they open their country. One of the most important infrastructures is electricity.In many cities around their capital city, I have heard that they still have 6-7 times of Brownout incidents a day which many electric device can be broken by these incidents. many investors might not put their invest in these city because it makes their cost increased.
ReplyDeleteMoreover, Myanmar need to improve public health which many people need hospitals with new tools. I had heard the tragedy stories that many tourists who travel to Myanmar cannot be survive when they get serious injure or illness because many hospital in Myanmar did not have tools that they keep patients contiguously breathe even though the patients cannot breathe by themselves.
Rather improving their infrastructure before opening up to the world, do you think that opening up to the world might be the best way to rapidly improve the infrastructure?
DeleteIf major hotels want to open up, along with mineral extraction and the like, they will pour in money to provide the infrastructure tehy want. And if foreign banks, telecoms and the like are freely allowed in, they will eagerly contribute to the building of modern telecom networks, financial infrastructure and other powerful tools of development.
I think opening up is the best thing to do - as much as possible as quickly as possible. That's what I think Clayton would advise, and I think he's right. I hope that unhealthy nationalistic, and xenophobic, politics doesn't get in the way of sound economic policy for the Burmese people and nation.
I agree with you, but some infrastructure are very expensive such as power plant or power dam. The private businesses will not want to invent in these things because the democracy in Myanma is still not stable.
DeleteYour opening question immediately got my interest. Ten years ago, a friend of mine, the managing director of a large Thai entertainment group, decided to invest in Burma. After trying for about one year, they decided to give up and pulled out.
ReplyDeleteThey are now back in a big way, pouring their money in, and unless there is some awful return to the past, they won't be pulling out.
With their natural resources and eager foreign investment, they should develop very quickly, unless too many of those obstacles we've been looking at get in the way of eradicating the poverty that afflicts the country.
Oh dear, I must get into the habit of calling it Myanmar, not Burma.
DeleteThat's fine
Delete