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CORRECTED: Myanmar seeks more investment from Japanese firms(Japan Economic Newswire Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) A Myanmar official in charge of foreign firms' investment on Thursday called on Japanese companies to invest more in the Southeast Asian country as the government is stepping up efforts to invite more foreign investments. "We encourage Japanese investors to come and invest in Myanmar more and more," Cho Cho Wynn, deputy director general of the Directorate of Investment and Company Administration, said at a seminar on her country hosted by the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, the core banking unit of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. The amount of Japan's investment in Myanmar ranks 10th, accounting for only 0.7% of the total foreign investment in the county, far behind the top three investors, China, Thailand and Hong Kong. Japanese companies tend to take more time in conducting feasibility and other studies than other countries' investors before making a final decision, the official said. But once they decide on their investment projects, that is always huge contribution to the Myanmar economy, she added. Myanmar emerged as the last untapped potential market in Southeast Asia after the country's military rulers gave way to a nominally civilian government in 2011, opening the resource-rich country to foreign investors. A fivefold growth in nominal gross domestic product over the last decade and the fifth-biggest population in Southeast Asia of over 60 million are attracting a number of companies from Asia, Europe and the United States. Companies are also encouraged by a new foreign investment law enacted by the Myanmar government in 2012 in an effort to clarify rules that foreign companies need to know when they look to invest in the country. "Myanmar is beginning to face a dramatic change now," Takashi Morimura, deputy president at BTMU, said in an opening speech at the seminar. Among recent plans unveiled by Japanese firms to enter the country, telecom company KDDI Corp. and trading house Sumitomo Corp. last month signed an agreement to jointly operate a mobile phone service in Myanmar with the state-run Myanmar Posts and Telecommunications. BTMU, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. and Mizuho Bank also last month applied to the Myanmar government for banking licenses following a government policy change allowing a limited number of foreign banks to operate in the country. Mirroring high interest in Myanmar among Japanese companies, a total of around 1,000 businesspeople from small to large firms attended the seminar which was held for three days through Thursday in Osaka, Nagoya and Tokyo. It was a record number of attendees for such a seminar, according to BTMU. (c) 2014 Kyodo News |