The two Ambassadors from Japan and United States visited Thilawa Special Economic Zone (SEZ) to understand opportunities for US investors to invest in Thilawa SEZ

Japanese and US ambassadors met on Thursday and visited Thilawa SEZ, Special Economic Zone, south of Yangon between Thanlyin and Kyauktan Townships. 

The 2 ambassadors toured around places including Myanmar Japan Thilawa Development Ltd., MJTD and One Stop Service Centre. Thilawa SEZ is a project with the collaboration work of Myanmar Japan Thilawa Development Ltd., Thilawa SEZ Management Committee, Government of Japan through Japan International Cooperation Agency and the Yangon Region Government. With over a 3-year experience of commercial operation, 97 investors from 17 countries have been approved for investment permit so far.

Ambassador, Embassy of Japan in Myanmar, H.E. Ichiro Maruyama said “Some of the challenges of the SEZ are infrastructure and transportation. Another thing is municipal law which can’t cover certain sectors yet. We are now making discussion with the government to help tackle with those challenges. We can see that a lot of companies show interest to invest in Myanmar. The government of Japan is always ready to cooperate with the government of Myanmar to address any challenges.”

The Japanese Ambassador added that Thilawa SEZ always welcomes the investors from the United States of America. Japan and the United States of America have the same goal concerning Myanmar that is economic development of Myanmar - economic development can bring job opportunities to the Myanmar citizens.

Ambassador, Embassy of United States of America in Myanmar, H.E. Scot Marciel said “One of my jobs is to understand as well as I can and all the developments that are happening in your country including the economy where there are economic opportunities. So, that’s of the reason I’m here. The second one is we’re always looking at places where U.S. companies might be interested in investing. So, we wanted to understand Thilawa a little bit better. And, third it is an opportunity to highlight both - long standing global partnership, was Japan, as well as our new partnership was Myanmar.”

Zone A of Thilawa SEZ has now been operating - Phase 1 of Zone B is still in operation with massive amount of investors with Phase 2 being initiated and plans are underway for Phase 3.

(Myanmar International TV Channel: http://www.myanmarinternationaltv.com/news/economic-opportunities-japanese-us-ambassadors-visit-thilawa-sez )

​