The US will promote doing business in Myanmar: a US business delegation will visit Myanmar next week to seek investment opportunities (US Ambassador to Myanmar)

US business delegations will visit Myanmar next week to seek investment opportunities that will also promote the country’s economic growth, Scot Marciel, the newly arrived US ambassador, announced yesterday.

Speaking to domestic media, MrMarciel said the US Agency for International Development (USAID) would also come to Myanmar in a demonstration of support for the new government.

“I am very pleased the administrator of US Agency for International Development Gayle Smith … will be visiting here. She is arriving this weekend and going up to NayPyi Taw for talks with the government to hear first-hand from the government about its priorities and where we can be helpful,” the ambassador said.

“A large part of her trip is to hear from the government what the needs are, what the priorities are. That will help us not only immediately, but in the future to determine how best to use our assistance.”

Ms Smith, who became the head of USAID last December, is also a special assistant to the president and senior director at the National Security Council. This is her first visit to Myanmar.

While the US eased sanctions after a quasi-civilian government led by former general U TheinSein took office in 2011, restrictions remain in place against individuals and companies under the US Treasury Department’s Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list.

Despite the removal of some people from the blacklist – including Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce chair U Win Aung – many so-called cronies remain on it, making it harder for US companies to find business partners in Myanmar.

MrMarciel said the US government is reviewing the remaining economic sanctions.

“We are trying to create incentives for all of the players here to contribute to the reform. That’s still the approach of our sanctions. We are reviewing this. We are also consulting with the current government so that we have a good idea of what they think would be most useful. We have not made any specific decisions on that yet, but we are reviewing it,” he said.

Individuals and companies on the SDN list can be removed by following certain procedures that would require convincing the US Treasury Department that their businesses are contributing to the political reform of Myanmar, the ambassador added.

MrMarciel said the US would continue its two-way approach to the civilian authority of Myanmar as well as its military establishment and that he had conveyed this message to President U HtinKyaw and Senior General Min AungHlaing.

“In terms of going forward, it will really depend a lot on what happens here,” MrMarciel said.

A positive contribution of the military to the country’s democratic and political reform will speed up the US response, he added.

“To the extent that the country is able to move forward in a positive way and the military is able to contribute positively, that certainly makes it easier for us to do more with the military,” he said, noting that military-to-military ties were limited to the civil-military relationship, human rights and rule of law.

The US government would encourage US firms to invest and look for opportunities, he said, but certain reporting requirements would remain if requested by the new government.

“The reporting requirements, those exist particularly in certain sectors. We want to make sure that American investors here are not only making money, but contributing to the welfare and prosperity of this country. The reporting requirements are meant for them to show publicly how they are doing that, how they are investing in a healthy and positive way,” he said.

The US government is also working to encourage the development of Myanmar’s small and medium enterprises.

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