Myanmar encourages Vietnamese investment The Association of Vietnamese Investors in Myanmar (AVIM) should better perform its role in boosting Vietnamese investment in Myanmar, especially in agriculture, hospitality industry, banking and finance. Myanmar Parliament Speaker Thura U Shwe Mann made the proposal at a meeting with AVIM leaders in Hanoi on September 7.   The chief legislator, who in on an official visit to Vietnam, hailed AVIM’s recent effective operations, which he said have contributed to strengthening the multifaceted cooperation between the two countries.   Hoang Anh Gia Lai group is keen on real estate projects in Myanmar (Photo: Thu Huong) AVIM was established in 2010 under a Prime Minister instruction and initiated by the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam JSC (BIDV). The 76-member entity currently houses Vietnam’s big companies including the Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam), Vietnam Airlines, Hoang Anh Gia Lai JSC, Rubber Group, and Song Da Civil Engineering and Construction Corporation. Realizing the 2010 joint statement between Vietnam and Myanmar, the association has dispatched more than 200 delegations of 5,000 entrepreneurs to Myanmar to study and explore investment opportunity in the country. Fifty-six Vietnamese businesses have been licensed to operate in Myanmar. The Myanmar government has granted licenses to seven Vietnamese invested projects totalling more than US$600 million. Some typical projects are a US$440 million hotel-trade centre-office-apartment complex project by Hoang Anh Gia Lai Group, and a US$23 million pharmaceutical manufacturing plant project by Anh Sao Viet Pharmaceutical Corporation. AVIM Chairman Tran Bac Ha said the association expects to increase Vietnamese investment capital to Myanmar to US$1.5 billion in 2015, making Vietnam one of the top five foreign investors in the country. It strives to help raise two-way trade to US$650-700 million and the number of Vietnamese travellers to Myanmar to 35,000 by the time. To meet the targets, Ha proposed the parliament and government of Myanmar formulate an open legal framework, finalise preferential policies for foreign investors, promulgate agreements on investment protection and encouragement, and define the investment asset ownership of Vietnamese businesses in Myanmar. He voiced AVIM’s hope that Myanmar will speed up the licensing process for Vietnamese invested projects in the areas of garment making, agriculture, health care, energy, building material manufacturing, finance and banking. Acknowledging Ha’s proposals, Thura U Shwe Mann said Myanmar is carrying out the Renewal policy, with a focus on institutional reform and market opening to shore up economic development and improve people’s living conditions. In this process, he said Myanmar wants to learn about countries’ success in economic reform to perfect its legal corridor and streamline administrative procedures, in order to protect the interests and encourage foreign investment in the country.   He said he hopes AVIM will serve as a bridge to boost Vietnamese investment in Myanmar, so as to develop bilateral relations in a practical, effective and substantial manner. VOV