Thilawa Special Economic Zone (SEZ) received USD $ 1.6 billion investment from 18 countries among Myanmar’s Special Economic Zones

A total of 18 countries with the investment amount of about 1.6 billion USD are investing in Myanmar’s Special Economic Zones.

The official from Trade Development Division under the Ministry of Commerce said at a workshop on Implementation of Special Economic Zones on Thursday.

Myanmar’s SEZ program is still in its young stage and the country now has one operational SEZ, Thilawa, and it is currently resuming projects to develop SEZs in Dawei and Kyaukphyu.

The workshop aims to institute an effective structure to run and regulate SEZs by sharing the experiences of currently operational SEZ.

Country Director, IGC Myanmar, Ian Porter said “We hope that this will be the opportunity for Thilawa Special Economic Zone to share their experience and for us to share the experience we have been working with them to help them and hence efficiency affect to us of the Thilawa Special Economic Zone. And the other zones can benefit from that exchange of experiences and the thinking of what they can introduce to make sure that they also success economic zones.”

Thiliwa SEZ was initiated in 2011 and started operate in 2015. People are hoping that the good outcomes from Thilawa SEZ will bring the opportunities for the development of two remaining SEZs in the near future.

Director, Trade Development Division, Dr. Htein Lynn said “Developer will find out the zone if they afford. But for the investors, they will be willing to invest only if they got offered the nice opportunity for investment. As if they have to spend much amount of money, they will think whether they should invest or not. Investors will balance out the pro and cons of investing in one place.”

The workshop was organized by International Growth Centre (IGC) in cooperation with Myanmar Trade Promotion Organization. IGC also presented its second report on Special Economic Zones (SEZs) which dives deeper into the institutional aspects of SEZs.

IGC’s report is an attempt to inform Myanmar’s Policy maker of the available evidence on SEZs by using the experiences of SEZs in multiple countries to improve the regulation, ownership, development and operation of its operation.

(Myanmar International TV Channel: https://www.myanmaritv.com/news/sez-development-16-billion-usd-18-countries-invested-thilawa-sez )

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