Acumen Magazine January 2014

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Editors Note
Happy New Year to all our readers and customers! We have come to the end of 2013 and now we are in a new year that will be busier for Myanmar as it takes hold of the ASEAN chairmanship and also prepares for the following year's national election. 2015 will be even more exiting as Myanmar will most probably be witnessing dramatic changes. It will hold a highly-anticipated national election and prepares to enter the ASEAN Economic Community as well. Many of us wish for Myanmar to move forward fast in the right direction with the ultimate sincerity of all stakeholders in the political arena. We hope the meeting of the president, the Hluttaw, the military and the opposition parties will take place soon and produce positive results. Here the sincerity of each person becomes crucially important for the fate of 60 million people, the majority of them still living in poverty. One message we would like to convey is that we should not be overly optimistic at the cost of neglecting the reality. Everyone needs to be realistic and careful in making assessments of the current political situation in Myanmar. Due to its importance and urgency, we have chosen a piece on the ASEAN chairmanship as our lead story for this edition in which the editor has also made some analysis. We have included a very valuable question and answer session with the current Danish ambassador to Thailand who has frankly and realistically assessed the political situation here. He said many people in rural areas have felt no tangible improvements from the ongoing reforms. The impact foreigners like myself can observe is mainly based on the changing image of Yangon, where we see office buildings, new car galleries and shopping centers. And we tend to believe so much is happening. We should be very careful not to assess the overall situation in the country on the basis of the development of the commercial center. Another story worth reading is about SMEs (small and medium enterprises) which constitute more than 90 per cent of the Myanmar economy. SMEs must be the engines of growth and job creation in Myanmar, said Professor Dr. Aung Tun Thet, economic advisor of president U Thein Sein. With a variety of categories, we hope this edition will be an enjoyable read for all our readers. Thank you! A
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Editorial Board
CEO / Chief Editor Dr. Htet Zan Linn Director Dr. Hein Thu Aung, Tin Tun Kyaw Executive Editor Phyo Wai Editors Hein Zaw, Khin Win, Khaing Minn Nyo Contributors Hein Zaw, Myitmakha, Dr.Tin Maung Kyi, Naing Thit, Jacob Andrew Clere, Anura Widana, Khaing Minn Nyo Cover Hatt Kawt Designers Aung Aung (AN Computer), Thaw Tar Oo Computer Operator Zin Wai Wai Shein Marketing Department January Khine Mon, Naw Keziah, Yadanar, Nan Mo Photographers Aung Kyaw Moe (New Image), Hein Thu Aung, Hein Zaw, Khaing Minn Nyo, Myitmakha, Shady Ramadan
Advisors
Prof. Dr. Aung Tun Thet (President's Economic Advisor) Prof. Maw Than (Rector (Ret), Yangon Institute of Economics Yangon) Soe Tint Aung (Special Consultant for Advocacy, PSI Myanmar) Dr. Tun Lwin (Consultant, Myanmar Climate Change Watch,Tun Lwin Foundation) Than Lwin (Deputy Governor (Ret), Central Bank of Myanmar) Tin Zan Kyaw (Principal, Device Business Management Academy) Grace Swe Zin Htaik (Media Advocacy Advisor, PSI Myanmar)
Publisher and Copyright Dr. Htet Zan Linn Printer
Office
No. 24/26, 4B-C, Race Course Condo, South Race Course Street, Tamwe Township, Yangon. Tel : (+959) 420033355 66 77 (Hot Line), (+959) 73045140, 49317457, 73143313, (+951) 8603886, 8603887 ~ ~ myanmarb2b@gmail.com ceo@myanmarb2bmagazine.com, management@myanmarb2bmagazine.com, editor@myanmarb2bmagazine.com, marketing@myanmarb2bmagazine.com,
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President is entitled to enjoy the salary approved by law. Anyone cannot bypass and reject the law. The legislature has the power to modify and reforms the law.
Voices
Despite being permitted the right to set up labour organizations, they have no authority to carry out the duties of other unions.
U Htay Oo Labour Activist
U Khin Aung Myint Speaker of the Amyotha Hluttaw
Working overtime is very complicated issue to handle rather than to solve it. Employees' income will not be enough without overtime fees. They have to work overtime.
The way of thinking by authority to solve the land confiscation issue is important. The authorities have to find out ways to help the victims of land confiscation with sympathy and empathy. The authorities have to have diplomatic approach instead of blaming and scolding them. It is necessary to solve the issues with sympathy and empathy of the authority. The way of thinking and solving basically should be for the majority of people.
A country can be ruled by power and order only for a certain period of time. It cannot be ruled for long. A country can be ruled only by law. People's representatives shall approve this law with the consent of the 60 million people in Myanmar.
U Yan Naing Htway Labour Activist
U Aung Thein Linn Member of parliament at Pyithu Hluttaw
Thura U Shwe Mann Speaker of the Pyithu Hluttaw
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Photo Feature
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News in Brief
7 Days in Myanmar by 30 prominent photographers
Prominent photographers from Belgium, France, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, the United Kingdom and Myanmar all numbering 30, travelled across Myanmar under a program titled 7 days in Myanmar. The aim was to create a book with the images of best places in order to promote Myanmar. The program is organised by
Singapore-based publisher Editions Didiler Millet in cooperation with Ignite Media, a local media organization. Editions Didiler Millet has finished similar projects in ASEAN countries. The press conference for 7 days Myanmar was held in Chatrium Hotel on 2 December. A Myanmar photographer who participated in the program said they were very pleased to create this book because
it has never done before in Myanmar. We went to interesting places in Myanmar, and we are proud of bringing all happiness and beauty of Myanmar as photos, said the photographer. We have learnt many things from senior professional photographers in 7 days. This would be a historic record in Myanmar, said the photographer Previously, we tried very hard for a program like this but was not able to do it because there is no media freedom in Myanmar. But now we see some and we are so pleased on it. It is welcomed. Those are very good conditions for us, said a senior journalist, Mr. Denis Gray. In 7 Days in Myanmar book, description of each photos and brief profiles would be interesting for readers and it was targeted to international market to be better known about Myanmar, according to its media release. Local and international companies provide some support to accomplish the projects and copyright by Editions Didier Millet Pte Ltd. A
Illegal timber export to China reaches $ 200 m
Illegal timber export to China alone has increased to US$ 200 million this year, according to joint general secretary of Myanmar Timber Merchants Association, U Bar Bar Cho. Mostly timber has been exported to China and the amount is $200 million, said U Bar Bar Cho.
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Illegal loggings of the timber have been happening in Kachin and Shan states near China-Myanmar border and Karen, Kayah and Shan State near ThaiMyanmar border. Most illegal loggings are from prohibited forest in Kachin State, U Bar Bar Cho said. Myanmar becomes one of fastest deforestation country, according to a report of UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme). The reason of deforestation includes illegal logging, illegal moveable cultivation, and usage of firewood. Myanmar is trying to export its timber to international market such as EU, US, and Japan and it needs some improvement and recommendation for export. At the same time, Myanmar is trying to obtain Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Certificate which recommend long term sustainable development. A
Indian companies eye of business to business relationship in Myanmar

Indian companies are interested to invest business to business in Myanmar in the areas including legal, finance, banking, pharmaceuticals, education, shipping, aviation, construction, real estate, agriculture, textiles, manufacturing, engineering, mines and minerals sectors. On 30 November ,forty Indian companies held a conference with its Myanmar counterparts and discussed in detail about the business opportunities at Chatrium Hotel on November 25. India companies are very keen to invest in Myanmar. They have technology. For example, Thailand gem market get growth depending on raw gemstone. They decorate it with their new technology to get better price. So, Myanmar needs
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new technology. They come here for B2B relationship. Especially, the government needs to improve their policy for foreign investors. They might be worry. In the previous example, the previous governments nationationalized some Indian companies. So, they worried about it. In this conference, some companies have completely finished B2B relationship. If the government improves the policy for foreign investors, more India companies would come and invest in Myanmar, U Maung Shwe, Mangaing Director said of Bandoola Group of companies and the organizer of the conference.
Myanmar is now in transition to democracy. We would like to participate in the transition. To cooperate in sectors, especially in banking, agriculture, mines, shipping sector, they are now in discussion. We have technology and we will bring it here for benefits of both sides. Kalandan Project, India-Myanmar-Thai trilateral high way would greatly benefit the countries. To have more foreign investments in Myanmar, I think Myanmar needs to learn the policy practiced by foreign countries, said Shaileshy Vaidya, President of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry. A
The first visa service, Thai steps in Myanmar

Thailand Privilege Card Company Limited (TPC), has entered Myanmar market to extend its business. The company launching ceremony was held at Traders Hotel on November 26. Thailand Elite Card is Thai governments project aimed to attract top-tier foreigners from around the world to invest, conduct business and travel in Thailand with facilitative services and privileges as well as high-end recreation services for members. The Card cost 2 million bath and 20 years visa to Thailand several times. After Myanmar practices democracy and open-door economy, Myanmar business investors are looking for international business opportunities. And Thailand becomes one of their interesting countries. The privileges of Thailand Elite Card networking with Myanmar business colleagues will help save their time, energy and other resources, and to ensure that their successful business operation will also be a pleasant mission. said Mr. Pisanu Suvanajata, Thai ambassador to Myanmar. TPC President, Mr. Apisit Chuenchompoo said Myanmar is the first country that Thailand Elite Card holds our road show because of a large number of potential businessmen and investors and the
Japanese investment in Myanmar depends on implementation in Thilawa SEZ

Although the trading between Japan and Myanmar is getting higher, the challenges remain bigger in investment and procedure. Japanese investment depends on the impact of implementation in Thilawa Special Economic Zone in 2015, according to Yoshihiko Isozaki, Japans Vice Minister for Economy, Trade and Industry, during the event of commencement ceremony of first phase. In this year, Japanese leaders mostly came to Myanmar. Japanese investors are very interested to extend the business together. Myanmar Foreign Investment Law is one of their interesting things. But, they are in the middle way
Myanmar governments support with the aim to foster economic growth and to leapfrog in the countrys development process. We offer advisory service, tourism, and five-star recreation for our members convenience and satisfaction as the guests of Thailand. The Thailand Elite Card members will be facilitated and will receive various privileges from the Thai government, particularly the right to reside in Thailand as its citizens. That is throughout a 20-year membership term, they can stay for one year per visit without any transit to other country. That would be great benefit for the members. Currently, there are 1,540 foreign members. 150 Myanmar businessmen are cordially invited for card membership. Thailand is one of the countries interested in ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) 2015. A
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to go or backward. The procedure would reduce their worry. Impact of Thilawa Special Economic Zone is the most important determinant for more investment from Japan. Japanese government will help the development of infrastructure in the project, said the vice minister of Japan. He added that Japan wants to implement the economic development of two countries and will help for its development. The class A area is 400 hectares of Thilawa SEZ. The project company will be finished it in summer of 2015. The SEZ is 20 kilometers from Yangon and so it is a strength of manufacturing and gain good economic impact. I have heard that the two countries will implement together for electricity, water and construction, said Mr. Yoshihiko Isozaki. The negotiation for the project started in 2012 and implemented in 2013 and the cooperation of two countries has reached in high level, according to the meeting. The World Bank report named Doing Business showed that Myanmar is one of the most difficult countries for foreign investment and it takes place number 182 of 189 countries in the world. A nese investors to invest in Myanmar animal husbandry sector. The federation competed in 43 tenders of animal husbandry sector including farms and factory under the administration of Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries and plan to invest, according to Daw Hla Hla Thein, chairman of the Broiler Association. Just today, we talked with Japanese delegation. They are interested in high price product, said Daw Hla Hla Thein. Marubeni Corporation is in the top position of Japanese livestock sector. It also involves in trades and develops businesses in the fields of chicken farms, animal food, high price products, readymade food stuff as chicken ball and fried chicken and also raw ingredients for food, food distribution, food products business in developing countries, beverages, and marine products. Thailand based company, CP is currently taking place in the market of
Petronas aims to become largest investor

in energy sector
Japans largest corporation prepares to invest in animal husbandry sector

Japans Marubeni Corporation has been preparing to invest in animal husbandry sector, according to Myamar merchants of animal husbandry sector. As the largest trade delegation from Japan, Keidanren Federation led by Mr. Katsumata Nobuo led 60 Japanese investors which visited Myanmar on November 19. The visit showed the interest of Japa16 ACUMEN
ready-made food such as chicken. After stepping into Myanmar by Marubeni Corporation, the competition between the two companies: Thai based company and Japan based company would be strong in ready-made food market, according to an appraisal of local investor from animal husbandry sector. A
Malaysia Petronas Company hopes large investment in energy sector in Myanmar as the largest foreign investor. We are the largest foreign investors in Canada and Uzbekistan and also hope in Myanmar. We have plan to employ many Myanmar local employees. Ahmad Lutpi Haron, General Manager of Petronas. The company is in rank of number 6 of best profit and income in the world and earned US$94 billion last year, according to the General Manager. The company has been investing in Myanmar since 1997 and currently operating Yetagun Project in Moattama Offshore in cooperation with other foreign companies. They have also plan to extend the investment in oil distribution in Myanmar and currently distributing 41.6 percent of oil to Malaysia market. The company has won 2 onshore blocks on October 10. For next tenders, their company will apply for tender competition to be large energy investment in Myanmar, according to the General Manager of the company. A
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January 2014
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The First Time

Myanmar officially took over the position of 2014 ASEAN Chairman at the 23rd ASEAN Summit held in Brunei on 10 October 2013. The Chairman theme was also declared to be Moving Forward in Unity to a Peaceful and Prosperous Community. Myanmar was internally and internationally congratulated for the role it assumed. UN Leader Ban Ki-moon, who attended the 23rd ASEAN Summit commented, that the ASEAN Chairmanship, will be very important milestone for the future of Myanmar. For Myanmar, that has entered the ASEAN organization in 1997, 2014 is really monumental. Though Myanmar had the chance to be an alternate Chairman in 2006, due to the economic and political sanctions imposed by the Americans and Europeans on the military regime, Myanmar missed the chance and only now for the first time is able to take that. Myanmar became a member 17 years ago and ASEAN was formed 47 years ago. It is a momentous period of transformation for the ASEAN Community. Thus Myanmar as an alternate Chairman of 2014 has a huge responsibility to format the pre-2015 year. There may be the question, what is the benefit of being a Chairman? In reality, it can be said there will be more duty than benefit. The Chairman has the duties of holding ASEAN meetings formating its progress solving the problems. Within the year, more than 1,000 meetings, including the two ASEAN summits have to be held. Of those over 1,000 meetings, the host government has an obligation for holding about 300-400 meetings. According to a spokesperson of the ASEAN Department of the Myanmar Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Myanmar is to hold from 300 to 600 meetings. This is the number of meetings, the government will sponsor, it does not include those that will be sponsored by civilian organizations. If we try hard to look for the benefits, as it is an occasion where world leaders including those from ASEAN countries will meet,
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there is the opportunity to be in the international focus and present Myanmar to the international leaders. In that aspect, the ASEAN chairmanship can be said to expect more challenges than opportunities. Myanmar faces a lot of challenges to be able to hold the meetings successfully in 2014 and to be a perfect host to international leaders. Especially the current question by most is if Myanmar could present a good image. Within the two years transformation period that the world has accepted, weak points and gaps have been pointed out. Concerning the role of Myanmar as the ASEAN Chairman, the US Foreign Secretary John Kerry has commented that I think what is happening in Myanmar is very exciting but it is incomplete. On Myanmar democratization he has also said, Our hope is that the democracy will continue to evolve. As an old country in the dark age for half a century under the military reign there are many weak points and there is
much doubt if Myanmar could successfully perform under its heavy burden as ASEAN Chairman.The deprivations in infrastructure such as transportation, electricity and internet are major challenges for Myanmar in 2014. In a Foreign Policy magazines article entitled As New ASEAN Chair, Myanmar Braves for Year of 1,000 meetings, author Catherine A, Traywick, has questioned, concerning Myanmars ASEAN Chairman role. But can Myanmar, with its notoriously poor infrastructure, handle the foot traffic? Even after two years of transformation as the 2014 Chairman like all sectors, the infrastructure sector is still har-um-scar-um. The need of hotel rooms, frequent blackouts, slow internet reception, Yangon traffic jams are the problems Myanmar is still facing. But the concerned administrations would deal with those transparent matters, though there may be a little nuisance, there are not likely to be a big problem to the ASEAN and international leaders. For Myanmar the most important matters it
Myanmar officially took over the position of 2014 ASEAN Chairman at the 23rd ASEAN Summit held in Brunei on 10 October 2013.
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would have to deal carefully with are the South China Sea affair and the Myanmar internal conflicts in stalemate.
The Fence problem

The South China Sea affair that is an off-shoot of various disputes is a matter to be dealt with by the 2014 ASEAN Chairman. This, which is a mega problem within Vietnam, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and China will be a dilemma, some observers have noted, for Myanmar. With the ASEAN family member nations at one side and a long-term friendly neighbouring country on the other side Myanmar faces a very brittle condition that needs considerate handling. Some analysts presume that China with good government transaction and economic cooperation could pressure Myanmar. These conclusions are not baseless. In 2012, when Cambodia acted as the ASEAN Chairman such a situation did occur. Because at the closing ceremony of the 45th ASEAN foreign ministers meet-
Myanmar faces a lot of challenges to be able to hold the meetings successfully in 2014 and to be a perfect host to international leaders. Especially the current question by most is if Myanmar could present a good image.
ing, a joint statement on the South China Sea dispute was not possible there were accusations that there had been Chinese pressure on Cambodia. The Philippines strongly condemned the outcome of that meeting, which was the first that had ended without a joint statement in 45 years of ASEAN history. Relevant to the non-joint statement, Benigno Aquino III commented that Our position has always been that a multilateral problem does not lend itself to solution on bilateral basis (The New York Times). He continued to state that Multilateral problems should have a multilateral solution. It can be said that Cambodia is a close ally of China and has had much investment and aid from it. In July 2013, Chinese president Xi Jinping sent a felicitation to Cambodias King Norodom Sihamoni, commemorating the 55th anniversary of the two countries diplomatic relation. Carlyle Thayar, a specialist on ASEAN affairs at the university commented on Chinas breach of conduct as
An Experts talk show on ASEAN and Myanmar at UMFCCI.

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What is this indicates is that China has managed to break that insulation and influence one particular country. Thats going to affect any issues that begin to touch on China. But it cannot be definitely said that there would not be a similar Chinese approach to the 2014 Chairman. Quite a lot are worried about that matter. That has also been the main agenda in the ASEAN talks held in Yangon. China, which is in dispute is not just the South China Sea but in matters relevant to marine boundary issues at the east of China is a country hotest in sovereignty and ownership issues. Due to the recently proclaimed new East China Sea air defense zone, Japan, America and South Korea have issued a protest. As for the South China Sea dispute, China has agreed to a code of conduct (COC) since mid September 2013, it can be expected to follow that agreement in 2014 and for Thailand to act as liaison. Currently though China is not popular with the Myanmar citizens, the governmental officials and most analysts are urging Myanmar to be fair between China and ASEAN without taking sides. U Aung Htoo, the deputy director general of the Asean Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said that, We cant go against China. We will have to use active diplomacy. He continued to state that in dealing with that matter. Myanmar will find a solution by getting in touch with various countries like Brunei. Currently tension has lessened in the South China Sea front and time will be needed for the COC formalization, things seem positive for the 2014 Chairman.
U.S and Singapore Navy Ships transit South China Sea information / Official U.S Navy Page / Flickr
Currently though China is not popular with the Myanmar citizens, the governmental officials and most analysts are urging Myanmar to be fair between China and ASEAN without taking sides.
The Interior Problem

Another challenge for the 2014 ASEAN Chairmanship is the internal conflicts. Up til now, the peace negotiation with the ethnic armed organizations has not been concluded and conflicts that have a religious tint cannot be safely assumed to have ended. If ethnic and religious conflicts continue in Myanmar, the ASEAN
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community will put the blame on Myanmar and it will be internationally dishonourable and condemnable thing for Myanmar. The conflict that started half a century ago between the government and ethnic forces is still at the negotiating stage. Though there were peace initiatives during the previous military regime there
have been no substantial results. During U Thein Seins government, though there were ceasefire agreements with 14 armed organizations from 2011 there have been reciprocal shootings and it is still at the negotiating stage with the Kachin Independence Army (KIA). Though much hope was placed on the Liasa conference that was held at the end of October, it
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ended up with disagreements. On his radio speech to the public on 17 December, U Thein Sein said that he had hopes for the progress of peace talks to be held at the Paan conference in December. At the discussion held on 30 November at the Yangon University Diamond Jubilee hall under the title. The role of public based organization in building a stable
nation in 2011 the president said, As we are at the final stage where we progress to the important step of formulating rules and regulations for political discussions and start negotiations. I believe we could achieve success in building internal peace step by step. As some ethnic leaders (including General Goun Maw, the KIA vice-chief of staff) recently
visited Yangon and leaders from 11 political parties and ethnic organizations met, there are signs that trust has developed and if things go on as so, though there may not be total agreement at the Paan Conference it may reach a satisfactory stage in 2014. Some observers view the 2014 peace process positively. The National Democratic Force (NDF) chairman
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U Khin Maung Swe said, Neither the arms organizations nor the government have any intention of abandoning this peace. I think we are at the stage of maintaining it, building trust and carrying on to discuss whatever we could. But in the previous two years, though both sides had declared a ceasefire, the battle continued instigating condemnation. Up to now, some are frustrated at the pace of peace process. The conflicts in Rakhine also need to be included in Myanmar internal problems. The conflict that assumed a religious tint started in 2012 in June in Kyauknimaw village of Rakhine State and within a year spread to Meikhtila and Kanbalu in central Myanmar. Riots occured three times in the Rakhine State and more than 200 people died while about 150,000 were rendered homeless. Due to that turmoil, distrust grew between two societies living together for many years. That turmoil is a hindrance in building democracy in Myanmar and has set afoot accusation of breach of human rights, internationally. Internationally, it is expected that Myanmar can handle this matter properly. Phil Robertson, Deputy Asia Director at New York-based Human Rights Watch, has said, relevant to Myanmar human right situation as, Sadly, respect for human rights has never been an important qualification for being ASEAN chair. In Myanmar up to now religious attacks are still being spread over the facebook. One worrysome thing is that there is criticism that there is instigating from behind the scene and pre-plans in this commotion. For example, coincidentally a riot erupted while President U Thein Sein was on a visit to Rakhine last October. So, it is important that such an incident does not occur again when ASEAN leaders and international leaders are on their visit. That is why administrators need to deal seriously with the matter according to the law and people need to be careful not to be misled by false instigations. Myanmar, which has become to be intimate with the world and is assuming the honourable duty as the Chairman of ASEAN is in earnest to fulfill the ASEAN and relevant duties that falls on its shoulder. The world is excited to see what kind of image Myanmar will present this year when international leaders will be coming in and out of the country. Taking the role of the ASEAN Chairman for the transformation and in the period in advance to the 2015 AEC, the challenge is great for Myanmar which has little experience. If Myanmar could perform its duty calmly in 2014, the world would note Myanmars achievement. And to be able to perform its duty calmly and successfully as said afore, Maynmar needs to be able to produce the correct answer to the set of questions-that is the South China Sea affair and interior conflict. A
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Up til now, the peace negotiation with the ethnic armed organizations has not been concluded

If ethnic and religious conflicts continue in Myanmar, the ASEAN Community will put the blame on Myanmar/Messenger
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Feature
New Technologies For SMEs brought together a media tycoon, an online payments pioneer, a social media guru and a mobile banking expert. The discussion pact Oredoo and Telenors mobile networks will have on businesses in Myanmar. This is something Rita Nguyen, the founder of Myanmar social networkIt is tempting to think of mobile phone networks as being primarily about telephoning, but this is like saying gasoline only helps automobiles. A high-speed mobile network in Myanmar will change the business dynamic dramatically. Mobile banking is one of the more obvious uses, but consider, for instance, using a smartphones GPS capabilities to improve crop yields in Shan State. Crazy? No, not really. Accurate GPS data combined with topographical information can be used quite effectively by a farmer who knows a bit about hydrology. This is just one example among hundreds of potentially profitable new business avenues made possible by high-speed mobile. U Thaung Su Nyein said of his return to Myanmar 13 years ago. When I tried to start my first publication Internet Journal I had to use a different name because internet was still censored at that time. More than just treading a fine line in the former era of censorship and restrictions, his was a bold business move. Thaung Su Nyein said, At that time, Myanmar had only 11 registered internet users. Yes, eleven. This intrepid businessman anticipated the future of his industry, rather than merely trying to copy the success of another. A dozen years later, Thaung Su Nyein has founded several publications, among them his flagship paper, 7 Day News.
From left to right: Thaung Su Nyein, Nay Aung and Rita Nguyen. Photo credit: Shady Ramadan
was moderated by Erwin Sikma, Managing Director of Asia Classifieds at Rocket Internet. The panel speakers explored an array of topics, but ultimately the big issue driving the days discussion was the iming app Squar, estimates will begin having a massive impact within half a year. People need to be prepared for Myanmar to have the same kinds of highspeed mobile connections that were used to seeing in Europe and North America.
From Left to right : Daw Win Win Tint, Daw Win Ei Khine, Prof.Tun Aung, U Zaw Myo Hlaing.
Rita Nguyen, founder of Squar, pointed out the tenacity of the young Myanmar internet generation.
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From left to right: Daw Win Win Tint, Daw Win Ei Khine, Prof. Tun Aung, U Zaw Myo Hlaing, Daw Swe Zin Thet, and Vicky Bowman.
Working towards a brighter future

Myanmars labour force is among the cheapest in the world, but does that mean it lacks value? The SME Forums final panel discussion focused on skills development: Human Resources Management: From Local Efficiency to International Expectations. Speakers discussed the critical skills deficit faced by local companies who struggle to retain highly skilled staff in the face of formidable international competitors who offer potentially more attrac-
tive career paths with compensation to match. This discussion was moderated by Vicky Bowman, Director of the Myanmar Centre For Responsible Business (MCRB). MCRB has been at the forefront of advocating for ethical business practices in Myanmar. Advocating for responsible business is not new, but doing it in an intelligent manner that highlights the potential to be both responsible and profitable is particularly interesting. Unilever, for instance, has been promoting sanitary behavior in association with its products, encouraging healthier communities at the
same time that it generates new markets for its products. One discussion topic focused on reducing supervisor/staff conflicts via more open staff dialogue. This can be an effective approach in reducing staff turnover. Panel speakers included Professor Tun Aung from the Yangon Institute of Economics; Daw Win Win Tint, Managing Director of City Mart; U Zaw Myo Hlaing, Country Director for Unilever; Daw Win Ei Khine, Director of Maple Trading Co.; and Swe Zin Thet, Human Resources Director with DKSH Myanmar.
The panel discussion Financing SME Competitiveness was facilitated by Thomas Foerch, the Project Manager for GIZs (the German development agency) local financial systems development initiative. This photo shows speakers Nicholas Lazos, Investment Director of Insitor Management on the left and U Zaw Lin Aung, Deputy Director of United Amara Bank on the right. Many of the avenues for discussion were stymied due to a local regulatory environment which precludes financial innovation. Foreign investors want to invest in Myanmar and local banks want to be able to offer more financial products and services, but the memory of the 2003 banking crisis has made regulators wary to loosen tight banking restrictions. Other speakers on this panel included U Ye Thu Aung, Managing Director of Vivo Group; David Kleiman, IFC consultant; and Anne Kroijer, finance consultant at Building Markets.
SME Development Center Director, Daw Aye Aye Win (bottom left photo) delivered the days opening remarks. Two discussions were in English with simultaneous translation to Myanmar, as demonstrated by the men with earphones in the photo. Photos: Shady Ramadan and Suu Mon Aung
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Feature
Prof. Dr. Aung Tun Thet : Photo Shady Ramadan
Free trade is coming

Professor Aung Tun Thet, economic adviser to President U Thein Sein, is a surprisingly powerful speaker and a progressive dynamo. This man might be in his 70s, but hes savvy with a smartphone, current with his facts and incisive in his viewpoints. He also deftly balances his speeches between powerfully enunciated statements and humorously light-hearted commentary. His closing speech at the SME Forum delighted the audience and was an elegant finish to the day.
SMEs is critical in terms of national income, but equally as importantly, in terms of the quality of growth. Creating a facilitating environment for SMEs means supporting a more inclusive and equitable form of growth.
SME Facts
Building Markets is an international NGO operating in Myanmar since November 2012. Since that time, an immensely large database has been compiled more than 1,000 faceto-face interviews with locally owned businesses in Yangon. Here are some interesting highlights from this trove of data: The 54 percent of local SMEs indicate they would be interested in formal loans to expand their business, if loan terms were more flexible/ favorable. 81 pc have a bank account 15 pc have received a formal bank loan 73 pc access the internet daily 79 pc of companies report at least one woman in a management position 80 pc of businesses report ability to speak conversational English 8 pc report the ability to speak conversational Mandarin
Be prepared
Perhaps the most important message Prof. Aung Tun Thet impressed upon the audience was to be prepared for the ASEAN Economic Community in 2015. Tariffs for many goods will drop to zero. Free trade will be matched with fewer restrictions on skilled labour and fewer restrictions on capital. These are big changes and Myanmars SMEs should be prepared for new difficulties but also for new business-to-business possibilities. As an example, he cited the opportunity to form regional clusters based on industry sectors. Also, the opportunity to benefit from technological skills spill-overs that are certain to result from foreign competitors moving in. Ultimately, the message of his speech was not to protect ones business, but to promote ones business. Do not be pessimistic and do not focus on the challenges when the opportunities are so many. A
Engines of growth
SMEs must be the engines of growth and job creation in Myanmar. This was a point one could not miss from the professors speech. Sustainable growth cannot happen without SMEs. Over 99 percent of registered companies in Myanmar are SMEs. This is not an accident, it is a consequence. A consequence of the restrictive economic policies of the Ne Win era that shackled the creativity and entrepreneurial ambitions of a nation. However, a nation once stymied in its growth is rising quickly and the development and growth of Myanmars
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The cost of using Agro-Annua.pmd
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Decline in farming profits

The cost of chemicals is an important matter as it determines the profit for farming. A recent survey in the Delta region conducted by the Livelihoods and Food Security Trust Fund (LIFT) has reported an increase in yield after inorganic fertilizer application but has substantially added to the cost. With the use of chemicals banned in other countries (that are more toxic and longer residual effect on soil and water), it is inevitable that pests develop highlevel of resistance to the same chemical. Under this scenario, the farmer is compelled to use more stronger chemicals continuously and in high doses to kill pests that have developed resistance to chemicals. Such cases have already been reported in several countries, where it is inevitable that the production cost becomes higher. At this point, it is worth to mention about the Brazilian coffee farmers who after using chemicals for sometimes have found that the cost is prohibitive to support continued application of this input. In fact, the profit margin to coffee cultivation is determined by the cost of chemicals that many farmers, the poor ones in particular, cannot afford due to the higher prices. Farmers are not in a position to curtail the use of chemicals either as the natural control that existed before has virtually been zero. This has been a result of continued use of chemicals for longer periods that have caused an extinction of almost all predators and parasites feed on pests. There are four reasons the continued use of chemicals is likely to affect their profit margins and sustainability of farming as a business. First, the over-use and misuse of chemicals arising from their inability to read instructions printed in another language may cost the farmer more. They may use higher doses, time of spraying and methods of application may be different from recommendations that may not bring about effective control of pests, diseases and weeds. In some cases such as weedicides, farmer may
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select an inappropriate chemical that may not bring about any control at all but the cost adds to farming expenditure. Second, the use of more toxic chemicals may kill all natural predators that force the farmer to use high toxic (and more stronger) chemicals which costs more. The combined impact of the current practices if continued for several years, will result in a higher cost that might prove farming to be less profitable. Similar experiences have already been recorded in other Asian countries such as Indonesia and Sri Lanka.
Chemicals kill predators, paralyzing the capacity of eco-system to operate its own natural system of control. As more chemicals are used over a long time, there is a point at which the natural balance is completely destroyed.
Third, there is now a world-wide trend in the consumption of organic food compared to commodities produced under artificial fertilizer and chemicals. About 10-15 years ago, the demand for organic food items was in more affluent countries. However, this trend is now visible even in developing countries. The consumers
the world over are more and more demanding organically produced items. Studies indicate that the consumer is willing to offer a premium price for organic food items. The use of chemicals by Myanmar farmers may harm the reputation of items they produce of being toxic. Few countries in Asia have had their products refused in consumers due to the heavy use of chemicals. One case in point is Sri Lanka where several shipments of gherkins have been discarded by overseas buyer due to the high pesticide content in the product. Eventually, growing of gherkins had to be abandoned as there was no overseas market for this crop produced by Sri Lanka farmers. The fourth reason is that it is impor-
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tant to remember that the chemicals kill not only harmful insects and pathogens but also the beneficial creatures in the ecosystem. The use of powerful chemicals (banned in other countries due to phytotoxicity and residual effect) is a good example that can do more damage to the eco-system which also adds to farming costs. Chemicals kill predators, paralyzing the capacity of eco-system to operate its own natural system of control. As more chemicals are used over a long time, there is a point at which the natural balance is completely destroyed. At this point, it is virtually not possible to continue cultivation without the use of chemicals, a fact that escalates production costs. The Myanmar farmers should be alert to this
situation that is inevitable given the current trend of farming practices.
Reduction in fish and aquatic creatures

Myanmar has a rich-paddy culture that provides a bumper harvest of fish and aquatic creatures such as crabs, prawns, snails and other edible insects, both for home consumption as well as for sale to generate much needed cash. Thousands of people in regions such as Ayeyarwady, Tanintharyi, etc. depend on fish and aquatic catch for their livelihoods as well as to generate revenue to the country by way of exports. The LIFT baseline survey indicates that 25 per cent of all households in the Delta region de-
pend on fishing for their livelihoods. With regard to the poorest households, as many as 26 per cent depend entirely on the sale of fish, prawns, crabs, etc. for their livelihoods. It has been proved that many agro-chemicals have a profound impact on aquatic life. The focus group discussions conducted in the framework of the LIFT study referred to above have clearly shown a decline in the catch by small fishers. The small-fishermen interviewed recently by the author in Ayeyarwady region corroborates the above findings where it was observed a decline in the production of fish and aquatic creatures (shells, snails, crabs, prawns, etc.) due to the use of artificial fertilizer and pesticides on large tracts of
25 per cent of all households in the Delta region depend on fishing for their livelihoods
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paddy. Paddy farmers confirmed that the use of agro-pesticides as a main reason that has contributed to the decline in fish and other creatures harvested from paddy fields in Ayeyarwady region. It is important to realise that one of the main livelihood sources for people in this region is the sale of fish, crabs, snails, prawns, and other creatures. The LIFT survey has revealed that 71 per cent of households have not done farming in the past 12 months whose main livelihood is fishing and wage labour. The reduction in catch inevitably affects the livelihoods of landless people who work mainly as hired labourers for paddy land owners. The majority is landless labourers who are about 70 per cent of the households in districts such as Maubin and Pyapon whose main income and nutrition source is the sale of fish and creatures harvested from paddy lands. The decline in the catch therefore affects a larger population than the little short-term benefits chemicals may bring about to land owners. Field studies reveal that an agricultural worker (including women) can earn about Ks 1,000 per day by selling fish and crabs at present. This is earned after finishing days work. The catch is a good source of family nutrition too. As seen in the above photograph, many women are engaged in fishing and catching crabs and other creatures in paddy fields. The decline in aquatic creatures is likely to impact on women which is a huge concern. It is therefore to be highlighted that a decline in the harvest of fish and creatures will have a severe impact on the livelihoods of poor households, as this is the group who are engaged in fishing. Interviews with paddy farmers conducted by the author in the Delta region confirmed the decline in fish and other aquatic catch over the years. The farmers clearly associate the decline to the use of agro-chemicals, especially pesticides, on their paddy fields. The LIFT study has shown that the paddy farmers in the Delta region who are using agro-chemicals are greater in the summer season compared
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to the rainy season. The table below compares the use of chemical inputs by season. Table : Paddy Farmers in Delta Region Using Agro-chemicals by Season (Per cent Farmers Using) AgroType Summer chemical Rain Season Inorganic 93 63 fertilizer Insecticides 64 31 Fungicides 25 11 Herbicides 25 13
Source: LIFT Baseline Report (June, 2012)
As revealed by above data, the majority of Delta farmers use agro-chemicals. Although there is a possibility to wash down summer chemicals in the subsequent rainy season, there is also possibility that some chemicals especially those containing heavy metals remain in the soil bound to clay particles. The bound chemicals sink to the bottom of the paddy field and thus not affected by the natural flushdown. It is to be highlighted that there are no studies in the context of Myanmar to show the proportion of chemical fertilizer absorbed and the portion lost in the flood, contribution of chemicals in overall production cost and the type of aquatic creatures that are more susceptible to chemicals. It is only through results of studies that may prove whether or not the practice of fertilizer application is profitable in the long-run. In any case, the flooding brings in loads of nutrients that question the need for continued application of chemical fertilizer in paddy farming in the Delta region.
tries. If the ground water is polluted due to the leaching down of active ingredients in chemicals, it is impossible to flush it away which is a serious issue reported in drier parts of other Asian countries.
Water pollution
Another problem that may result from the continued use of chemicals is the pollution of fresh water especially in the dry zone. The authorities and farmers in Myanmar should alert to the possible risk of fresh water becoming polluted as a result of continued use of chemicals, some of which already banned in other coun-
Impact on honey bees

Studies have revealed that pesticides are toxic to honey bees too. There is evidence that honey bee population and the production of honey itself are affected as a result of continued use of chemicals. The loss of honey bees can have a profound impact on crop yield where this insect is
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one of the main livelihood sources for people in this region is the sale of fish, crabs, snails, prawns, and other creatures.
the main agent of pollination. The decline in the production of honey itself is yet another direct consequence the export of which brings in volumes of foreign exchange into the country at present. and Myanmar farmers should be able to capitalise from the future scenario by minimizing, or with zero usage of agro-chemicals in wet paddy production. Globally, only a few countries are able to produce organic food stuff including paddy, a situation that Myanmar should capitalise on. puts such as agro-chemicals. Experiments have revealed that sustained yield is quite possible with organic farming methods. The other benefits such as those outlined above accrued to organic farming are dividends. The healthy population and the ability of the eco-system to support the livelihoods of a larger segment of the population are critical issues for consideration in the context of Myanmars future agriculture. In this connection, wherever possible, Myanmar farmer should utilize organic methods and materials which are available almost freely. A
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Organic food stuff

Myanmar has a future goal to export rice. It is important to win overseas market by being able to produce organic rice for which there is a growing demand. Given the current trend for organic agricultural stuff, it is quite possible that overseas consumers may look for organic rice
Profitability of low-external input agriculture

There is now greater evidence base on the long-term profitability of organic farming compared to agriculture relied on the use of high volume of purchased in-
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Rough Lives Among.pmd
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A plump man who is brown as berries is busy with his work among the machines fixed round saws in a cutting workshop in Mandalay. The cutter called Ko Win Naing cuts about 50 raw jade stones into rather large pieces a day and most of the stones he cuts daily come from Saitaung in Kachin State. It is said as value of a jade stone depends on the man of cutting, cutting and shaping of raw jade stones is an important process in the jade industry and the price of a jade stone is often high depending on its cutter. There are many cutting workshops in Mandalay, which is the second largest city, heart of jade business in Myanmar and he works in one of those cutting workshops there. He earns K10,000 a day as a cutter in the cutting workshop in which he work that have ten labors like him and sometimes he gets about K5,000 of tip money that some customers who come to their workshop to make them cut raw jade stones into pieces give. When asked whether he has the plan to run an own cutting workshop because he has six years of cutting experience, he replied that he intends to just go into dealing in jade stones as a broker instead of competing against his owner or benefactor for jade cutting business. It is learnt that there is a jade trading center dotted with sellers and buyers before dawn breaks in Chanayethazan Township of Mandalay, heart of central Myanmar and there are some 50,000 counting on this jade trading center. Hundreds of people can be observed haggling over prices and quality of jade stones in this jade trading center and there are around 1,000 tables put around the center," said U Sein Win, chairman of Gems and Jade Altruists Association (GJAA) of Mandalay. It is known that around the jade trading center, there are many cutting machines owned by companies established by Chinese businessmen from Sino and
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those who are cutting raw jade stones with round saws are local resident. Dream of local residents is to be a laopan (the wealthy man), but to become a successful man in the jade world depends on not only destiny but also experience, says U Than Swe, a veteran who has had more than thirty years of jade cutting experience in Mandalay. Ko Win Naing working in the cutting workshop has the aim to go into jade trading leaving his career as a cutter one day and he therefore learns from the jade trading center his outmost staying in the house of his uncle in Mandalay so that he can acquire professional expertise in dealing in gem. Jade trading is divided into several categories such as Khe Line (rather large stones), Ahpwint Line (the shaped jade pieces for silver or gold jewellery), Chatpyar Line (slices), Ahtit Line (both small and large stones with quality) and Letkauk Line (rings) in the jade trading center. There are many people including laopans and brokers haggling over quality and prices of jade stones in the jade trading center where about 50,000 can earn daily and different people may have different dreams. It is heard that dealing in jade breaks at about ten o'clock in the morning and resumes in the evening. The high-grade gem market being constructed around Sinywa-Myinmhu village in Amarapura township of Mandalay Region will be completed by early 2014, said the regional minister for forest and mining. The construction of the high-grade gem market around Sinywa-Myinmhu village will be complete by early 2014. It is now being built in the huge compound with 30 acres. More than 2,000 rooms are to be included in the new gem market. Dealers who have to move here from Mahar Aungmyay gem market will be given priority when selling rooms," said U Than Soe Myint, the regional minister for forest and mining of Mandalay Region.
Jade trading is divided into several categories such as Khe Line (rather large stones), Ahpwint Line (the shaped jade pieces for silver or gold jewellery), Chatpyar Line (slices), Ahtit Line (both small and large stones with quality) and Letkauk Line (rings) in the jade trading center.
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More than 1,000 rooms, each of which is 10' Sq ft will be sold for the street dealers in gem in two-year higher purchase. We've decided to do so that grassroots can make a living. Although over 1,000 rooms have been earmarked for selling to them, we have the plan to extend rooms if needed," the minister explained. So as to alleviate inconveniences of the street dealers in gem, grassroots in Mahar Aungmyay gem market in Mandalay when they move to the new gem market from the old one, the regional government has scheduled for room sale in installments, it is said. It is also reported that a new bus line will be launched after completion of the high-grade gem market for workers and dealers who will commute from Mandalay to this market and rooms will be sold to gem-vendors in two-year installment and besides, a security police force will be also assigned there since there are dealings in precious gems there. Besides, it is known that a qualified company with much experience of processing jade from Taiwan has been invited to run their business to enhance the skills of Myanmar people active in jade world because Myanmar is still weak in processing jade to export jewels and the Taiwan's company has also scheduled for the free-of-charged training course for the interested persons. Myanmar is still weak in processing jade to export jewels. That's why, our regional government and the gem experts from abroad have had a preliminary agreement as to what they open the gem course and we are waiting for the approval of the union government," the regional minister said. It is said that Myanmar's jade will be scheduled for sale at home and abroad as value added commodities after being carved and turned into jade jewels without selling raw materials any more when the construction of the high-grade gem market is complete. It's too early to make a clear comACUMEN 41
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ment on rooms. I have the plan to buy rooms and for the time being it is still convenient for me to deal in gem in Mahar Aungmyay gem market," said Ko Kyaw from Mahar Aungmyay gem market. Most of the jade dealers are looking forward to the completion of this new gem market, said Ko Win U, a gem dealer of Mandalay. Jade is a source earning much foreign income for Myanmar and it is a gem that sells like hot cakes in annual gem emporium in Myanmar. It is learnt that there are many jade mines in Hpakhant, Lon Hkin, Kamine and Putao, townships and the major jade mines are roughly enclosed east and west by the Uyu and Chindwin rivers and moreover, a jade land has been found along the Hukong Valley. It is said that a jade land is called Hmaw" and there are about seven jade hmaws; Hpakhant hmaw, Tamakhan hmaw, Hkamti hmaw, Mawhan hmaw, Mawlu hmaw, Puta hmaw and Indawgyi hmaw in Myanmar, which is noted for its popular jade stones among the countries that have jade mines in the world. Half of high-end raw jade stones in the jade market of Myanmar are illegally sent to China and accordingly Myanmar has lost thousands of dollars in taxes that are able to be used for rebuilding the country under military rule nearly for half century because of such jade smuggling across the frontier. The government's official figures have confirmed loss of thousands of dollar in taxes and as more than 43 kg million of jade were produced during FY 2011-2012 in Myanmar, that amount would have brought in US$4.3 billion if one kilogram of jade sold for just US$100 at that time but it is stated in the government's official figures that foreign import exchange from jade trading was only US$34 million during that period. It is found that the representatives of the Chinese companies that own the largest jade-mining companies among others
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A jade land is called Hmaw" and there are about seven jade hmaws in Myanmar
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in Hpakhant in Kachin State run the jademining activities although it is said that foreign companies are not granted permit to operate jade-mining in Myanmar. It is also learnt that the other jade mines
There are so many cutters who are already poor around the jade trading center and although this law can make those poor cutters suffer deeply more hardships, it can bring prosperity to the wealthy more and more
are under the control of UME (Union of Myanmar Economic Holding Limited) and businessmen who have cooperated with the military government in doing business. Many raw jade stones, jade ornaments and crystals have been sold by auction this year in comparison with those the previous years although jade ornaments were banned to export through the frontier last year, according to jade traders. Myanmar's raw jade stones are processed in Hong Kong and jade products that are on sale in Hong Kong come from Myanmar. They fetch good prices there," said a jade trader in Yangon. In addition, the Chinese traders pur-
chase many sorts of jade stones from Myanmar to process them and sell them to other buyers, he added. It is learnt that the law concerning cutting and shaping gem has been passed by Mandalay Region Hluttaw on 8 November. Jade dealers in Mandalay criticize this law saying that there are many weaknesses in this law that can jeopardize dreams of jade dealers in Myanmar. U Sein Win, chairman of Gem Social Work Association of Mandalay, said that the gem law passed by the Mandalay Region Government would push jade dealers into going into smuggling as in the former times. This law does not become a legal aid system that can support the interest of all living by doing jade industry. I think it pushes people in the jade world into miseries. We don't protest against tax system but it shouldn't be burden for those who should not be forced to pay tax," he said. There are so many cutters who are already poor around the jade trading center and although this law can make those poor cutters suffer deeply more hardships, it can bring prosperity to the wealthy more and more, say most of the jade dealers in Mandalay. Given that a cutter can be arrested and charged with this law if he cannot prove that he has paid tax the raw jade stone he is cutting, this law can affect the lives of cutters, jade dealers sources say. What a nonsensical law! If a jade stone is cut, there is no longer mark curved on it left. How do they decide to confirm whether tax has been paid for such a stone? As if they made us deal in jade stones in the black market as in the days of Myanmar Socialist Program Party," said U Sein Win. Many young people currently go into jade industry in the hope of that jade business can change their lives as some people say that one is more likely to be rich if one is devoted to jade industry rather than hoping a lottery. A
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Many businessmen in mid forties are busy with export documents at the office of UMFCCI (The Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce & Industry) in Yangon last month. About 300 to 500 business people are alive with their daily activities on matters related to associations, export and import in each of 25 business groups of UMFCCI from 9 am to 5 pm. In the recent days, they have been discussing with one another on how they will be able to grasp the opportunity as Myanmar exporters have not applied Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) the EU has relaxed for exports of commodity to the Western countries including the EU not only in terms of the quality of goods but also for raw materials and capital. The US Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) is a program designed to promote economic growth in the developing world by providing preferential duty-free entry for up to 5,000 products when imported from one of 126 designated beneficiary countries and territories. It is reported that GSP preferences were withdrawn for Myanmar in 1997 on account of serious violations of the principles of the International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention on forced labour applying economic sanctions against Myanmar. Having realised the progress of reforms in Myanmar, the European Commission proposed on 12 September 2012 a motion that European Community should give Myanmar exemption from paying import license fees [up to 0 percent] on import into it and the EU parliament and the EU council have lifted them except for arms and ammunition trading on 12 June 2013. Although the European Union has given GSP status to Myanmar, we are not able to take this opportunity up to now, said U Moe Myint Kyaw, about over 40, general secretary of UMFCCI and also the one who is doing export and import. He said that Myanmar should make attempts to export garments, fisheries and farm products stated in Myanmar Exporting Strategy (MES) as top priority to European countries as fast as possible making good use of GSP privilege. Myanmar officials have been drawing up Myanmar Exporting Strategy (MES) with the assistance of experts from International Trade Center (ITC) based in Geneva of Switzerland taking five years to complete this strategy and Myanmar should launch exporting its products as prioritized during the interval, he said.
exporting Myanmars fishery products to foreign countries during FY 2011-2012, 53 percent of those products were sent to China, 27 percent of them were delivered to Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait and 11 percent were freighted to Southeast Asia countries.
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Myanmar can produce the major products in no time so that they meet quality standards set by the EU. Thats why the government is to bolster production sector such as relaxation of policy and giving necessary assistance to generate factories to do so. The government should amend or revoke rules and regulations that retard the progress or speed of production, said U Moe Myint Kyaw. Garment industry in which foreign businessmen invested in Myanmar has earned US$915 million from exporting clothes to overseas countries, $265 million of which are more than foreign exchange import that fishery products have earned, according to the export lists of Myanmar Garment Entrepreneurs Association. There are nearly 300 foreign-investment garment factories including 50 by South Korea and all factories are ready
for exporting. In fishery products sector, prawn from Thailand enters Myanmar because fishery products cannot fulfill domestic consumption for want of raw materials, according to the announcement of Myanmar Fishery Products Processor & Exporters Association. As there are 14 fishery product factories entitled to enjoy GSP privilege to export fishery products in Myanmar, they can purchase raw fishery materials from some countries that are unable to turn them into products because of labour shortage to make products so as to deliver them to the European countries, say the businessmen at every MES meeting in Yangon. It is known that in exporting Myanmars fishery products to foreign countries during FY 2011-2012, 53 percent of those products were sent to China, 27 percent of them were delivered to Arab
countries such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait and 11 percent were freighted to Southeast Asia countries. Being the beneficiary of the new GSP, Myanmar has the opportunity to extend its exports into the European countries although it used not to export its products not only due to high tax but also due to economic sanctions against it. However, there are still some restrictions. Besides, quality standards also need to be taken into consideration in advance, said U Kyaw Soe Moe, an exporter of Yangon. If Myanmar buys fishery raw materials from other countries and change them into products in some factories that have had to close down for want of raw materials, it will make more 20 percent of profits in exporting them to the European countries thanks to GSP privilege, the business sources say. Some Southeast Asia countries that
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will renounce the GSP privilege soon are interested to invest in Myanmar, which benefits from the GSP to grasp this opportunity. Myanmar is at the moment ahead of the other countries thanks to the GSP privilege granted by the EU. Some neighbouring countries that have to give up this privilege are keen to invest in agro-industry to enjoy this opportunity, said U Chit Khine, chairperson of Myanmar Rice Federation. U Chit Khine, a gentleman who talks with a soft voice, advised that good paddy seeds should be planted with the assistance of modern techniques and milled using sophisticated machines to be able to upgrade agro-industry, one of the major production sectors. He advised that the government should provide financial assistance for
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those associated with agro-industry such as farmers and rice mill owners by disbursing long-term loans for them to bolster agricultural sector. Exporters need to take care of their products to meet quality standards if they want to export theirs to the US and the EU markets. It wont be convenient for them if they deliver the products with quality they send to Africa to the US and the UN, said U Aung Myint, a rice merchant. Myanmar merchants who are eager to export their products to international market need to study and follow international regularly processes covering global standards and quality control in exporting them, he said. Myanmar exporters have been entitled to enjoying GSP privileges related to exporting granted by the EU and to be
able to make good use of this opportunity as to which countries and what kinds of products are to be exported to, criteria need to be included in Myanmar Exporting Strategy, said Vice President U Nyan Tun at the first workshop on MES. Myanmar is moreover preparing for sending representatives to the neighbouring countries and the Western and the EU countries as business ambassadors who have never been assigned before so as to promote exports. U Myint Lwin, deputy general manager of International Trade Promoting Branch of the Ministry of Commerce, said, Although Myanmar merchants export products to the European countries, there is still a small amount of exports. And the rich countries like the EU are very sensitive about quality standards. We need to follow the exporting process straight
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Myanmar merchants are more keen to export their products just to the neighbouring countries rather than sending them to the Western countries
when the implementation of MES is launched. It is known that as Myanmar needs financial assistance to implement Myanmar Exporting Strategy, which is still being drawn up, international organizations have the plan to provide financial aids for the government to support this strategy. To keep on developing the third phase design for Myanmar Exportation Strategy, experts from ITC (Information and Technology Center), officials from the ministries concerned and representatives from UMFCCI have discussed with one another in Yangon on 26 October 2013. When Myanmar exporters sent some kinds of fruits including mangoes to the EU countries as test exportation in early 2013, it was found that those fruits still needed to meet quality standards of the
EU community and there is no exporter who wants to freight fruit vegetable products to them at the moment, according to Myanmar Fruit Vegetable Producers and Exporters Association (MFVPEA). Freezers and freezer trucks are needed to put fruit vegetable products in a cold storage. There are not enough infrastructures here. We havent seen members of MFVPEA are preparing for exporting fruit vegetable products to the EU countries, said U Soe Than Min Din, secretary of MFVPEA. Myanmar merchants are more keen to export their products just to the neighbouring countries rather than sending them to the Western countries if there is not a considerable gap of the profits they can make between the Western and the neighbours as they will have to overcome difficulties such as quality standards,
high transportation charges and other restrictions in exporting products to the Western markets, said Daw Toe Nanda Tin of Myanmar Fishery Products Processor & Exporters Association. More than $25.5 billion have been appropriated for trade volume and there are over $13 billion of trade volume from 1 April to end of October in Myanmar. As during this period there are $5,980.233 million of exports and $7,147.921 million of imports, there is a trade deficit of more than US$1 billion. Despite the EUs GSP privilege, the GSP preferences were withdrawn for Myanmar from the start of 1 July 1989 as of today by the U S, which used to give the GSP privilege to Myanmar in January 1976. A
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B2B Talk
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Professor Dr Aung Tun Thet: Its the most important sector for the nation, for the region and for the whole world that is to be discussed and presented in this B2B talk. Its also the subject that everybody is aware of and understands. Its what we call SME. So the first thing Id like the audience to know is the economic basis of Myanmar. More than 99 percent of businesses are SME-s. The numbers in ten ASEAN countries are also the same. Even the number in highly developed Singapore is found to be about 90 percent. In the forum we held recently, all people from Europe talked about SME.They asked how they would assist and support SME-s in Myanmar when they make contacts with Myanmar. The persons who are going to take time and discuss it together with me today are DawNaing Naing Lay (Executive Director, Ni Lay Naing Com-
pany), U Tin Myo Han (Managing Director, Universal Technology Co., Ltd.) and Daw May Phyu Thwe (Director, Lucky Bird Co., Ltd.). In your allotted time today, Id like you, as individuals, to put up and discuss how you started your business and what your present situation is. First of all, Id like you to discuss, Daw Naing Naing Lay. Daw Naing Naing Lay: Ni Lay Naing Company was first established by my father, Dr Maung Maung Lay (Vice Chairman, UMFCCI ) in 1993. Its a kind of SME. Businesses like them were very few at that time. It began with about ten employees. At present, the number of employees exceeds a hundred. I studied in New York at a stretch and worked for the UN. In 2011, I took a months leave and came back to Myanmar. The economy was not open at that time. Then during the month of my return it got open. It was with a momentum. It was
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unbelievable, sir. It was really a shock for all. And the best shock too. I trusted the change and as I thought that I could participate in this development change and support it as one of the building blocks, I resigned from the UN the previous year. Im going to settle here. Ni Lay Naing Company registers quality medicines and distributes them here. Professor Dr Aung Tun Thet Thet: Its pleasing because theres something Dr Maung Maung Lay said and concluded in a talk. Theres a word formerly used in Myanmar sometimes. Even I used it recently. Some use it as brain drain. Educated people in Myanmar leave for other countries causing a brain drain. What I said the other day is brain circulation. They will return one day. Im glad they came back to their own country bringing with them the experience they gained there. Secondly, could you please tell me how you started the business, U Tin Myo Han? U Tin Myo Han: The beginning was during 2005-2006 when I was going to school. Hand phones came into use first. At that time, Myanmar is in a situation where it was very difficult for Myanmar nationals to use such phones. It was the time when typing was made in English or by using English words for Myanmar sounds in order to send a letter. Its Myanglish. At that time, we, together with our friends, began to develop Myanmar applications we used in sending messages to one another. We developed and tried them. While trying them, we learnt the market. Its just for fun at the beginning. While doing it for fun, we began to see it as a business. We began to think its not appropriate for us to ignore our customers. So we have produced mobile applications at a stretch since 2007. We have worked with mobile application unwaveringly until now. After that, what was a little pleasing was that the number of people using these phones multiplied a lot and we can have our hope now. But business is not always as smooth as it is thought. However as we have these chances from that mobile application later, we are experimenting to produce what will be beneficial to all in addition to enterprise solution on the other side of ours. Concerning with the volume of business, we have our headquarters in Yangon, branch office in Mandalay and our service point in Nay Pyi Taw. We are running the business with about 50 employees in the whole country. Professor Dr Aung Tun Thet: SME seems to be between S and M. But Daw Naing Naing Lay is a little close to M. Then how about Daw May PhyuThwe? Daw May Phyu Thwe: It was in 1999 that we started Lucky Bird, sir. My husband, Ko Tin Aung Khaing and I finished our studies with BE (Electronics ). As we graduated in 1998, we were also brain drain as you said. Will we work or
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Daw May Phyu Thwe
continue our studies abroad? As engineer youths, most of us go abroad, sir. What we two decided was to start a business in our own country. But we had no experience to start. We are not from the economic field. So in 1999, we started with the nameLucky Birdin Myanmar to provide service and IT accessories which are concerned with our skill. At the beginning we started our business gradually by buying computers from our community. As my husband installed them, I told the prices and the driver delivered them, the way we started was a real family type. At the beginning there were only three or four persons. Starting with my husband and me and appointing fitters, we have now more than a hundred employees. We have now offices and service centers in Yangon and Nay Pyi Taw. In 2007, we became a legal agent of notebooks, copiers, POS-s and printers from Toshiba, an international company. In about 2009, the door of economy was poised to open. As Myanmars economy was about to open, we upgraded Lucky Bird Group to enable the planners and the service providers to survive as IT solution providers. While running the business, we saw a few signs in about 2010 and we could expand the business by working with projects of geographical information
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and technological skills and GIS and remote sensing, sir. After expanding more and more, we established links with Gilat Sat Com, an international company, and started to work with Real Time Tracking System which can detect the positions of ships and vehicles. While running the business, we managed to work with wireless technology in the telecommunication field later. They gained momentum gradually in about 2011, sir. So in 2013, we got the right to act as the legitimate Myanmar agent of Graphic Solution Business of HP,a US Company. They are digital press, sir. What are currently in Myanmar are analogue press. HP is very interested in Myanmar market. They want to change analogue press into digital press. They came and made discussions with us and we got new authority to act as a Myanmar agent. At present, we are a company doing business, having links with an international company and nine brands, sir. Professor Dr Aung Tun Thet: By listening to the three, we can see they are not manufacturing. I think its also important. Its because when people talk about SME, they usually think there must be mills or factories. Now what is the same for the three is service. Not production. Id like the audience to realize that service is also SME. Businesses like trading, service and licensing will become very important in our country. When the doors are open, SME can be carried out without establishing factories. Then as the second part of the talk, what Id like you to discuss is to say a little about experience or difficulties you are really facing. Daw Naing Naing Lay: As it was said before, our current number one problem may be financing. Restrictions on financing of SME-s are too many, sir. It is to say many SME-s are run on the savings of families, relatives and friends. So though we are willing to expand, finance doesnt follow us. Difficulties are many. Banking also offers only collateral loans and they even dont offer full loans. Collateral loans are only about 40 to 45 percent and interest rates are also high, sir. So Return On Investment (ROI) is not very good and we,SME-s cannot stand on it. Another point is HR. Skilled labour is very scarce. It doesnt mean that young people are not bright. Myanmars are very bright but there isnt proper training, sir. We have no time to train them either. We also have to rush and we cant stop and take time to give them training. We can train them only while doing something else. So we need vocational trainings. We mainly need trainings not only on knowhow but also on business ethics. What is professionalism? In what way must we have integrity? They are similar to the core competencies of the UN. I hope core values will improve a lot if such training courses are conducted.
Professor Dr Aung Tun Thet: You have two things, Daw Naing Naing Lay. Business and extension. In business, I think SME-s should move from S to M and then head for L at last. You must have an ambition. We cannot remain only in small and medium. We must expand. When we expand, financial problem is a major problem. How about U Tin Myo Han? U Tin Myo Han: What we are encountering now is market. It is because people in the market are very unfamiliar with software. They have no market awareness. When a product is sold, it can be touched and held. Its hardware. People think its worth giving a price. Software is not such a thing. It can neither be touched nor held. It can only be seen. Only when it is applied and the benefit is reaped, will the value in it be realized. On the side of IT, the situation of hardware market is totally excellent. But we had to fight hard in the part of software. Especially in the part of mobile application, local software pieces are very few. When our business started, there were only four or five developers. In about 2007 and 2008 it can be said there was a boom. There were not many rivals. At that time, if someone didnt buy it, he or she had not many other choices to use. Later in 2010-11, mobile trends began to change a little globally. They became open sources. They became free. When its market type changed, it made an impact on us. What was worse was that this market didnt have many ethics. While competing on phone shops, it became something like instilling mindset into customers that all these things are available totally free of charge. Our retail market totally disappeared.In addition, things like cracks came out. When such things came out, the retail market totally disappeared. Then we could not stand with retail market in any way. So we had to change trends. We produced free applications only. But as we collected our revenue from other sides, we were running as a mobile advertisement. We have to get on that path. It is the market problem. Another problem is HR. We have qualified staff. Although we are IT, we cannot stand with only one developer. Regarding marketing and management to support him, I must say frankly that the people we recruited are required to give training from the beginning again. People are not permanent in the long term. Its very hard to work. The size of the company we have planned will be run really well only with at least 80 employees. I cannot consider extension well as I am always busy with the work of maintaining the number of people we have. Things are happening in this way. Its the part of HR. The next part is that our business is software and the public is very unfamiliar with it. We need a lot of things to do to educate customers on their background knowledge. Only when they are familiar with these things, will there be many chances for us. If not, things will appear and disappear in their waves
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again and again and we wont be able to move forward from that cycle. Its whats happening now. Professor Dr Aung Tun Thet: After the two of you have said, I think the same problem is HR. The number one problem present entrepreneurs are facing is HR. There are plenty of graduates on one side. Plenty of supply. On the other side is also plenty of demand. There are many who are in need. But they do not match. When they do not match, some say they are graduates but they dont get jobs. Thats what one side says. The entrepreneurs tell me they want to employ people but there are no qualified persons.Its the thing we need to face. Another thing is doing business includes not only SME but also others. People dont understand things such as ethics and value well when business is talked about. Are such things necessary when we do business? Doing business is making profit. Dont talk about value. Integrity is nothing and trust is not necessary. We have a big problem with that awareness. I think the audience will realize these things very much. We target not only the participants in this talk but also others. Then another thing is the promotion of this awareness reason we talked about earlier. People are being made aware of it. Pharmacy is made in the same way and application and hardware are also the same. Those who teach marketing say there are 4 P-s. When product is said, it includes service. The next is the problem of price. These things must be faced in every business. Its not only SME. Next is place. Where will ones shop be placed? Where will applications be placed? Where will sales center be placed? Then what we sometimes dont give special consideration is the matter of promotion. We think advertisements are promotion. In fact, its awareness reason as we said earlier. People can use them. They must use them. There is ethics. They are not free of charge. These are the things we need to consider. Then what problems are you also facing, Daw May Phyu Thwe? Daw May Phyu Thwe: We, SME-s are encouraged a lot as the State level formed Small and Medium Enterprise Development Committee and the President himself is giving leadership, sir. But theres one thing we are not satisfied with. The processes are good. Many intellectuals and technicians discuss a lot. The processes are really worth doing too. The requirements are things such as technology, finance, HR, etc. All the detailed requirements mentioned are also true, sir. But its at the operation level where things are actually done first. The responsible persons adopt policies. Its true. What they say are also true. But
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the way things are performed is found to be slow. Maybe Im anxious as Im still a young person. Its what I see as an entrepreneur, sir. Regarding the slowness, the State has a lot of guests at its level. The guest also come to our SME level. When they come, they go to Nay Pyi Taw, see responsible persons and put up proposals they want to do. They put up their plans, sir. Everything is fine when they meet and speak at the meeting. Most of them are fine as they are the plans internationally talked about. They want them to be win-win. It must be beneficial for them when they come and make investments. It must be beneficial for the nation too. The local partners also negotiate with both sides. Their plans are also fine. But Things are fine and everything said is OK when people meet. As we are Myanmars, all are friendly as usual, sir. But, its feedback, sir. Then, they actually put up their proposals. They actually start their work as next steps. And the time comes to work practically. Then everything stops at that stage. That is what I generally say about all at a level. I put up my proposals and want to start working at that level. The persons who we really met at the level where the way to do things were explained say different things again. At that time they say where things will be put up next and where again next. In this way things fall again on the investors. The investors say We are going to do it actually. Look at our track record. Will you see our website or our international image? They are real large companies that can show all their banking statements and financial statements. In fact they come to Myanmar first to be ahead of others. But the implementation comes to a stop at the beginning, sir. It means they cant move. While launching operation, they dont know where to proceed, whirling around and halts at that level. Some feel disappointed and watch. These are the things found to be sluggish. I think it is weak at the implementation level. Regarding HR problem, foreign companies are coming in now. It is worse for us. Large companies and telecom companies relating to IT are coming in. Our HR, our really good technical staff and well-trained staff are ready and so loss of good staff or HR is our problem. Our problem is the problem of our inability to pay as much as others. Its a common problem. The next is rental. This is also the problem all of us must face. As we have to bear it as much as possible, the situation is very arduous. Among these hardships, we are the ones who dont want to pause and its a problem too, sir. The money is required, more and more is borrowed from our relatives and the interest increases more and more. The bank can offer loans only from their possible part and we have to borrow from outside when we are really in need. So we cannot escape from the cycle of burden of interest.As entrepreneurs, we have to strive for survival in reality. Sometimes financial profit is not as much as we hope. These are the problems we are facing at present as SME-s, sir.
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Professor Dr Aung Tun Thet: These are the presentations all three of you, arent they? What we really want to promote and what we really want to happen are the same as the desires of all three of you. We ourselves need to be productive. What was said before is true. Most of us say why the prices of land are so high. Office rentals in Myanmar can be compared to those of New York. They dont care even New York. Why is it happening so? We cannot blame those who are doing them. The returns of entrepreneurs and the returns they are making are different. Those who are doing business now are doing it because they are stupid. Its the thing we should consider for ourselves. Things should be made more profitable for those who really want to do business. Thats land speculation. Then lets turn to public speculation. If not, it will remain there. Theres another thing to notice. Do it.We are worried about being demotivated. Thats the way we have to move. Next. The case of interest rates. We realize it. Entrepreneurs have to borrow with about 30 percent interest. Even to do so is not an easy thing. They are borrowing with about 30 percent interest. When we argue immediately to fight it, 8 percent becomes a barrier. Deposit rate is 8 percent. If it is cut, banks will have no money and banking sector will collapse. So what is really required and what we are trying for as all three of you have said is nothing but capital market. As we have no capital market here, banking sector is limited. Im also concerned a little about it. I realize it and accept it as well. The implementation is slow. We tried it with One Stop for example. Previously, company registration took two weeks. Its our problem. We are familiar with this process. It was opened for the first time even in my lifetime. After being opened we always warn all to be quick and swift like other countries. We do business with speed. Not with size. Thats why we rely on SME-s. We rely on speed. Its flexibility. If it doesnt work here, it will be moved there. SME-s are moveable. Large companies cannot be moved. They have their difficulties. So we put SME-s at the front. We want to encourage them as everybody knows. The President himself regards SME-s as the engine of our country. A committee was formed with many ministers and two Vice-Presidents are also leading it. So you, entrepreneurs.Id like you to be aware of the activities of that committee. If you have to advise this committee, what kind of advice will you give? Lets discuss. Daw Naing Naing Lay: As it was said earlier, the problem
Daw Naing Naing Lay
of all three of us seems mainly to be HR. It also means Something can be done. Its a little far from being able to change things such as land prices. Training is only other kinds of training. What kind of training can these SME-s invest in? If it starts from this point, it may be very smooth, I think. The next is SME companies. Involvement empowerment must also be carried out at managerial levels and director levels. Whatever decision is made, it concerns all of us. As you have said, there may be many dissatisfied people when the law is promulgated. Its because as only those who themselves actually perform the operations know everything without exception, we can discuss and give advice in detail. We expect it will be very convenient if we can participate in the decision making process.The next is HR problem and existing HR will be similar to training schools, sir. Now we dare not employ inexperienced persons. If we employ an inexperienced person, it becomes similar to a training course which is conducted by paying money. Book knowledge and practical experience are very different, sir. Some young guys can read, learn and memorize things well. But actual marketing needs a lot of training. We have to train his personality with real hands-on experience to make him speak
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about Myanmar culture. After training an employee for about 3 or 4 months, he left the job unexpectedly, sir. I dont mean they must not jump from one company to another company. These are the things that usually happen. In foreign countries, there is reference check, sir. Then there is proper handover too. In Myanmar, the word handover seems to be unheard of. However, proper handover is necessary, sir. Maybe its a month. We can proceed if there is proper handover. We must have a reference check document through the collective activity of all SME-s. We must be ethical. When we dont want our employee to be taken away, we cannot give a false impression that he or she is not good, sir. At that time we must also be ethical. We must say he is good if he is and we must say he isnt good if he isnt. As employers, we also need it. After reference check comes proper release. Real organizations have proper release. All of them are financially clear. The present problem is that another company employed a person. We could not know his financial involvement. We also employed him. A financial problem occurred again. When it was investigated we found out that a similar case took place in his previous company. Such kind of cases happened many times. After leaving our company, they are employed in other companies. So we have an idea. Well form an organization with all SME-s. Whatever happens we will meet and discuss about once a month. Will it be possible, sir? In fact, almost all of us are busy. Some may be able to attend the meeting only once in two months. Its a way of sharing problems with other companies through brain storming and using reference check or a release form, sir. But companies need to be ethical. U Tin Myo Han: Formation of committees by SME-s is found in the newspapers. But as far as I am concerned and if possible, Id like all these industries to have intensive plans which have more categorized details. Its because responsible persons may not know these operations of ours in detail. If possible, Id like those who are proficient in this field to participate and give leadership.What kinds of problems do we have? They are, what shall I say, quicker. They are quicker than us in solving problems. They understand what we say and it is effective. So Id like it to happen. What will be done generally for all of us? To say it frankly, our industries are different from one another in scale. We are also different in nature and with them we are spinning around in that cycle. Theres no end. Thats one thing and theres still another one. Its the one that failed long ago, I think. Its standardization. Id also like it to exist. For example, if we have a business to do, what do we need? How about setup and what skills will we use? As we have such standards, it will be fair to those who really work. We have many such things. We have someone who works with us in the software line. A customer who we also call client said he would place an order of a project at a certain rate. Its okay. As for us, to say
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U Tin Myo Han it frankly, making software is his profession and we need not see it second time for the future. It needs to be totally automatic and we have to arrange things in detail to reach this stage. But later, this client returned to us not knowing whether they were ethical or not and whether inspections were carried out to this extent or not. It was his problem. What we mean is that to remain in a market, it will be convenient only when it is fair. Its also the code for enabling standardization. There should be something according to industry. I think its important. Then as there are codes, its necessary to see if they are observed. In foreign countries, there are rules & law enforcement teams. We should also have such teams. Infrastructure should be good. Electricity for factories and internet for us. An internet service has been bought with K2,000,000 or K3,000,000 since the last three or four years. Its bad. Although they are now saying it is offered cheaply, its found to be only quantity. The quality doesnt improve actually. Its one thing. Id like SME-s to be like those in our neighbouring countries. In Thailand, theres a brand Made in Thailand and their nationals and their factories themselves are very proud of it. Why cant such a thing be made here in our country? Id like it to be promoted. For example, by
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using the brand, the person who works with this factory will get one of its values whatever happens. The customers also can buy and use these products without worry. Even it isnt so, there may be encouragement as they are local made. We should be proud in this way. The organization should be the one that can organize it thoroughly. We really hope so. Last year, entrepreneurs were found to be presented with outstanding awards. Things such as value added products should also be more extensive. It should be carried out for SME-s. Professor Dr Aung Tun Thet: How about Daw May Phyu Thwe? Daw May Phyu Thwe: What all a here have said are good. As for me, as SME committee has come out, entrepreneurs have something they can really rely on. But it should stay very close to those who really run their business. At present we know theres a committee but it seems distant from us or unconcerned with us. Instead, it should be close to the enterprises. The next is liberalization. It will facilitate the activities of those who want to launch an SME. In other countries, a business can be run without a license, sir. So we expect a kind of liberalization that will allow us to run a business without a license if its a proper one.If the committee can give a little support to such entities as SME-s it will be a kind of encouragement. Although they cannot give support to everybody in financing, as we have said, how can they give support to the companies with really good track records? How can the companies enter into negotiations? If , as you have said, such a thing as capital market appears and the committee can take part in it, we will be encouraged, sir. The next thing is something like a motto. If you have a real desire, do it really and the desired result must be real. It needs just to work really. Now as people are free to speak openly, they begin to want deeds rather than words. For example, I also went and met one international organization after another. Between 2011 and 2013, I managed to work with totally six new international organizations, sir. What happened then is in this way, sir. I went to the departments and their major problem is having so many guests. The guests were so many that they couldnt remember what the guests said. They remembered nobody. They had records. But it seemed things could be done only when the decision maker was there and only when he knew them. If other persons were followed, you would know nothing exactly and nothing would work. Nobody except the decision maker has the courage to speak and decide. I am saying it openly because I want to see things work actually. I really love my country and its my real desire. Some had to give up and lost a lot. Im sorry for the time lost in this way. People at the operation level should be a little more patient and if the groups are real ones to work, they should take responsibility and hold
discussions. I feel sorry for the opportunities that are going to be lost. Id like to request them to be a little more patient despite having many guests. Id like the committee to be closer to the entrepreneurs, sir. Professor Dr Aung Tun Thet: Well, all three of you. I think the committee is a supreme body of the State existing like an umbrella. We only need to implement it. Only after it came into being, can we draw a conclusion. In fact, it is UMFCCI that has assigned duties to the entrepreneurs, isnt it? But, as you know, UMFCCI has so many organizations that nobody knows who are doing what. Then the thing that was said earlier is not like industry not only in nature, but also in scope and size. Some things come to an end while it is being talked about. While they are talking about IT, the drug seller does not know what they are talking about. It doesnt concern him. It can be concluded that committee members and responsible persons will be there. At that time, working committee, working group or task board must be divided. It must be IT for IT and hardware for hardware separately. Pharmaceuticals must also be the same. In software, solution provider must be a separate one. Working must be actually in this way. Next, theres a thing we are getting to talk about. Mere trying and helping to do are not enough for us. Show the result. Right? These committees, task boards, working groups, meetings. Meetings are held when they are free. If a tick is marked for a meeting there will be a lot of marks. Then what results do we get from them? Only one thing. Its motivation. We have got an idea. A thing as weve said before. Its interesting. We encourage those who want to do business. Weve started as weve said before. But there are problems in practice. What we are saying is under 25 persons. No registration for the ones with the number of staff of under 25. A name is enough. No need to pay tax. Collecting tax from small-scale vendors is nonsense. Let them sell in their own way. No need to care if they make profit. So I think, as they have foreign experience, they need good incubators. Large businessmen can offer small ones such things as incubators. With a good business plan, let them start working telling them that the offer is not FOC and they must repay for it when they gain profit. But here Id like to give a good advice. Try to enter the committee. Let your voice be behind. Your voice must be heard. Its a must. Its possible only when you are at the higher
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level. If you hold a meeting by way of getting something, you are not responsible persons. If there are committees, are they IT committee or pharmacy committee, for example? Then I think there are groups in UMFCCI. Is there our SME interest there? As I understand, there is SME in UMFCCI. Theres a group. But the contacts with this group are very few. If they talk about the things we are talking about, theyll also do the same. HR problem. Market problem. Awareness problem. I have something to ask you. Theres a committee. Right. The State is ready. But you are entrepreneurs and AEC is coming. As they are coming, I am often asked, Please give us help, sir.Help. Its the word they use. Be cautious of that word. Its also a thing we want to let the audience know. They use the word protection. They say, Protect us. Protect SME-s. Its because when foreigners enter in 2015, business wont be fine without protection, businesses will disappear. All retail businesses will disappear. Those who provide solution and pharmacy shops that we mentioned earlier will disappear. We must be cautious of one thing. It doesnt mean theres no protection. But we can only promote them. If we say to prevent them from coming in, it will be a problem with AEC Law. AEC is free trade. You are allowed to work with your products in their countries. So what Id like you to discuss here is your preparation for AEC. Consider especially a little what Id like to you be. Wont you go there rather than preparing for their arrival? Someone told me about our market recently. Hes from EU and EU market is 500 million. Our market is 600 million, isnt it? From 60 million to 600 million. What a large market! So What wed like you to discuss is whether your company has preparations for these AEC and AFTA or not. What are your ideas? And we are particularly interested in one thing. As you are young and aggressive entrepreneurs, do you have an idea to go abroad and run your business there? Daw Naing Naing Lay: Depending on it, Ni Lay Naing has started in Cambodia with registration. A company has been established. But it is the same as what we said earlier. Its willingness. We have willingness, sir. But defence is the main thing for us instead of attack. If only attacks are made without a strong defence, we can get into trouble, sir. As we have said before, all SME-s are scared. How will we provide service if big players come? I came back from America. In America are also SME-s. We can also say SME-s exist internationally. How do they exist? We must learn it, sir. How do they exist? The main thing is if services are provided in the same way, it wont
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be easy to exist. It can be said we cannot compete with this big reaction in terms of economic skill too. Then what can we do to be distinctive? It must be distinctive. What added value can we give for service? What things that they cannot give can we give? It cannot be convenient if things go on without changes. As I really see it at present, its impossible to go on without change. There must be changes. Restructuring must also be made if it should be done. In service or in product, how can you give service or product that foreign companies cannot give? We know service is our major culture. With this culture we know about the land where we were born and about our people most. We may be better in cliental orientation. We understand our clients better. But they will use standardization. And they will go with globalization. We must find niche market. In terms of our industry, what niche can we lead? Where can we lead? If we can start these things, we will be able to survive. On the other side, which countries can we go to for an attack? They are Vietnam and Cambodia. Primarily, these countries are not very far from here. From the economic point of view, I see Singapore is a little far away from us. Costs are also high there. As it is also a developed country, businesses that have not been done by others are rare. Businesses that have not been done by others are many in a developing country. So there are many things we can innovate. The main thing is creativity. I think its the main thing in 2015. As they will start to enter in 2015, they will start to learn after entering, sir. They will mainly recruit locals. How can we retain our locals and our employees? The main thing is whether we will invite them as our partner or not. The main thing is empowerment. I think empowerment is a little weak in Myanmar. Decision making is totally at the top and there is no decision making at the bottom. People at the bottom are very afraid of been fired as we say, No activity, no problem, no sack. They are afraid of making mistakes. Nobody is free from mistakes. I also made mistakes. Either in SME or in our own organization, empowering is badly needed. Their prime requirement is confidence. When we have such things, we have to start preparing for 2015. These are restructuring changes. Its to say we have to do things by changing the traditional mentality. In this respect, the change will reach the bottom only if it starts from the top. I think its impossible to start the change at the bottom. U Tin Myo Han: As Daw Naing Naing Lay said the old methods are useless. If it really becomes open, we have to proceed with a lot of innovative and creative ideas. It must be comprehensive. All existing traditional businesses will totally disappear. As for me, I think 2015 is a kind of ability test. Id like to request to promote us rather than protecting us. Those who are really competent will absolutely survive. If the survivors raise good staff, something will come out. Circulation will continue again. When we are left behind, how will we keep
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ourselves sustainable? Although we cant do anything, we still can learn from the surroundings. It is the same in China. There are products. But when its really open and things enter with force, they cant stand it. But local people understand their local market. Those with real competence can do to remain there. By adding creativity, they can survive. So as you said, If they come in, dont we go out? There may be some difficulties for all businesses to go out. But our software has an advantage there. We dont need totally to go out ourselves. We have a virtual world. We have been making attempts to get that chance since we started to run our business. At present we are running with some links as well. In this way, we have a lot of advantages if we go out. Here in our country, we have to make a lot of efforts to sell an application for $1000. If we sell it in America, we will get $10,000. Well get more than ten times. If we fear not to be bought we can still sell for $8000. Our advantage is definite. Theres only one thing, link. As we have been making efforts at a stretch with this link for that chance, we can go out. Its because we have a lot of advantages if we go out. Daw May Phyu Thwe: AEC and AFTA are inevitable. They will also come and I think we, local companies will have to compete with international companies whatever happens, sir. According to an old example of ships, when the mighty and the weak compete, only the mighty will win whatever happens. Its my own belief. As for the belief of my company, we give priority to cooperation. Its because if we make adaptations, they have a lot of good international experience, sir. Its the experience we dont have. The next are methods of international relations of other countries, sir. As for us, we welcome all who will become our partners. We welcome for cooperation and we have pursued that policy since 2011. For example, in census taking, Lucky Bird has also submitted a tender. Our partner is a company from Europe, sir. In the drivers seat is our Lucky Bird. We compete for the main shareholder under the name of Lucky Bird. When they compete there, Lucky Bird has experience regarding technical support. As our partner has technical experience, we become a business. After being a business, we didnt win the tender for Myanmar. Although we didnt win it, as we become a business, whenever census taking is put out to tender in the world, we are invited, sir. Its because our partner has this kind of experience in 32 countries, sir. Fortunately, we won a project in Yemen, an African nation. Although our Myanmar company didnt win the project in Myanmar unfortunately, we won it in Africa. Its our achievement of 2013. What does it base on? We choose a good partner of ours. Ours is a technical company but we couldnt invent technology at the beginning. Although the local company cannot invent technology, we cooperate with the one that can invent. As we are local, we know the local feature. But interna-
tional companies need local partners, sir. When they come to this country, they accept the decision of their local partner for localization and for the nations culture. As they need these things and we need technology, we have to cooperate for the common interest. So when AFTA comes, it isnt to compete. We have prepared to cooperate according to the nature of business. We have prepared our company to meet ISO standard. As we are to work with international companies, we are also upgrading our company to meet international standards, sir.
Professor Dr. Aung Tun Thet
Professor Dr Aung Tun Thet: As I always say, if you do business, what is important is Cooperate AFTA strategy whether it is an SME or a large company. Many Myanmar entrepreneurs have no cooperate strategy. As they have no cooperate strategy, they have neither vision nor mission either. They are not serious. In this AFTA and AEC is cooperation strategy. What we always consider is only two things. Competitive strategy. Well compete. If we compete, we have advantages as well as weaknesses. If we can compete because we have a niche we said earlier or
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because we have local knowledge or because we have market awareness, its one thing. This also must be chosen. Its also possible to use cooperation strategy instead of competitive strategy. So many foreigners come as we said earlier. They come to you and to the State. EU as well as the Japanese come. When they come, none of them want to take 100 percent even if we give them 100 percent according to FDI Law. They look for local partners. Todays very famous Coca Cola is a manufacturer. According to a manufacturers procedure, distribution reaches villages. Self-distributors are also the same. Pharmacy is the same and others will be the same too. So the last one is industry. It concerns all three of you. Its our theme. In our country, if business is carried out, former mindset to have relationship was B2C (Business to consumer), Client Focus and Consumer Focus. Thats all. Then, it is B2G (Business to Government). Its conditions are good regarding the government. We have been carrying out B2G relationship for many years. Now the political and economic situation becomes a new type. Its B2B. When business to business is implemented, business growth of your own is the same in family business or partnership or public district. So Id like to discuss one thing now. Could you please tell me about your business to business activities that are not engagement with the clients. And please base it on your experience. Daw Naing Naing Lay: Proposals for co-operation are coming, sir. They are mainly financing. We have established a company. Its corporate financing as B2B. Just an introduction. There are also many activities of co-operation. When we review B2B system, a lot of B2B-s are found for 2015. I think there are only two kinds, merger or acquisition. There is no other thing instead of these two. If we want to escape from acquisition, we must merge. It may not happen at once in 2015. When we merge in terms of industry, its like a match between light weight and heavy weight and the match is not very fair. Its like the race between the hare and the tortoise. As all know, the tortoise won at first. The hare lost. But the hare was dissatisfied and raced again. He ran carefully. And the fast and persistent one won. Then the tortoise changed the course. He didnt run the previous course. He chose another course. As theres water along the course, the tortoise won by swimming across it. So sometimes the strategy must be changed if necessary. As I said before, in another story the hare and the tortoise became friends after running three races. So they said to each other to run together. In the same journey, the hare ran putting the tortoise on his shoulder on the land. When they had to cross the water, the tortoise put the hare on his back and swam. So they reached
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their destination in the shortest time. So, as SME-s we must merge if it should be done so. As you know, the really large enterprises wont merge. In fact, the enterprises we are merging with are of medium size. To say openly, those of different size wont come and merge with us. Its about our day to day experience. I dont say they dont come to meet. They do so but, in most cases, only those of the same size merge at last. Then we also need to merge with the same size of ours. It must be said we, the local SME-s have to work hand in hand if necessary. I think we should also make a lot of preparations for it. U Tin Myo Han: B2B is a thing we must do. As you have said before, we like co-operation more. If we have to compete actually with them head-on, we cant stand long. For co-operation, we have to see two parts, local and international. For local, people in this industry are not many. As there are only a few people, we are not complete. If its a win-win situation for all, we do many things together. For the international level we have a web service company in the US. They are also an SME. As Daw Naing Naing Lay said, the merger will be fine only if we have the same weight. On the other side they accept such a project. On this side we are operating with an outsourcing type.
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When we merge in terms of industry, its like a match between the hare and the tortoise. As all know, the tortoise won at first. The hare lost. But the hare was dissatisfied and raced again. He ran carefully. And the fast and persistent one won. Then the tortoise changed the course. He didnt run the previous course. He chose another course. As theres water along the course, the tortoise won by swimming across it.
Its because this industry of ours is like a global lead and we will remain sustainable only if we do so. We are operating in this way. Next, as far as I know, B2B system still doesnt work well in this country. Many still dont know its a thing that should be done. As we work with the solutions, we are now setting up a project of this solution for B2B. We are trying a future platform that can be operated through B2B at the end of this year or at the beginning of the next year. Maybe we can make links with all. As we expected, we are in a situation where we will be able to make total cross platform for about four industries on this side. Its just what we have done as much as we can. There are things similar to these ones. Daw May Phyu Thwe: We are also observing B2B now. Ours is primarily a hardware company. Sometimes when we want to go to a client, only hardware isnt enough. There are some cases in which we have to add software. We have to cooperate with other necessary groups. As we have these things according to the nature of our business, we have B2B culture already for businesses. In this way through B2B, as IT associations, we, more than 80 IT companies have joined together and started to establish small public companies to do business. Its
also one of our substantial contributions. More than 80 SME-s have taken part in it. Although we cannot compete with large companies, all of us have a desire to work in co-operation with experienced international technology companies so as to give solution to the nation as our substantial contribution. We are joining together in practice. We are now starting, sir. Its a good trend. As for the nation, wed also like the decision makers to encourage and nurture small public companies jointly established by IT companies as a substantial contribution. From the side of our SME-s, these small companies jointly established by more than 80 should consider to move from S to M and then to L as we expected. Wed also like the State to recognize and encourage this kind of activities. Professor Dr Aung Tun Thet: Well Daw Naing Naing Lay, U Tin Myo Han and Daw May Phyu Thwe. You have already taken part in this B2B Talk together with me. The topic we discussed today is about SMEs and they are the most basic in the economy of the nation. To prove how important are these small and medium enterprises for the State, theres an organization formed by the President himself. It includes the two Vice-Presidents and many ministers. A lot of things were presented in this talk. There are a lot of words in my heart. A lot of words to say. The main thing is empowerment. We welcome participation. Only when those who run their business thoroughly take part, will the policies and programs laid down by the State be beneficial. After speaking, listening and discussing in this way, I begin to realize one thing. In our country, some say very often we are not prepared for AEC. Prepared or not is mind-set. We must be prepared anyway. So we must do ourselves to upgrade our country. Why? I realize it after listening your presentations. When training is given, it becomes an unending cycle of loss. Especially IT staff. They disappear after being given training. As you said, we dont know where they have gone. But Its an investment. The word was carefully chosen. If it concerns Human Resource and if we consider it as investment instead of cost, Our ability will improve. For example, however good the software is, however good the hardware is and however good the quality of the medicine is, the most important is man. Its human quality. So consider HR a little. Not only SMEs but also large companies need human resource development. Its also the same for the nation. As for me, the most important thing for the nation is HR. So make the abilities of your staff and people better. Let me conclude thanking all the three persons for their participation. A
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yanmar is not an isolated country in the world anymore. It is coming up with lots of potentials withholding the market-oriented economic policy. Politically, Presi dent U Thein Sein is trying his best for genuine democracy for the sake of the entire nation; attempting to have genuine and long lasting peace with ethnic armed groups and genuine federal union; promoting rules of law for peaceful society. Economically, foreign direct investment changes the country to economic development with previous examples around the world. But there are still challenges and many areas that need to be improved. This programme aims to give the message of the way of thinking and point of view by international community in the transition of Myanmar. The ideology and their point of view would be helpful to overcome the challenges and correct necessary things in each sector toward being a developed country. Cooperation with and receiving necessary assistance from international community is one of effective ways to jump up as a developed country. Therefore, in relation with other countries, Denmark becomes one of the countries which want to extend its economy in Myanmar. The relationship between Myanmar and Denmark is not the relationship of yesterday. It was rooted from 17th century feudal era -trading country to country according to historic record for example- the Danish traders exchanged their goods with Rakhine Kingdom in the Bay of Bengal in 17th century. The following is an interview with Danish Ambassador to Thailand, Mr. Mikael Hemniti Winter.
Mikael Hemniti Winthers Overview Current Ambassador at Danish Embassy, Bangkok, Thailand Past - Head of Department at Ministry of Foreign Affairs Denmark - Ambassador at Danish Embassy, Baghdad - Counsellor and Deputy Head of Mission at Danish Embassy in Hanoi Mikael Hemniti Winthers Experience Ambassador Danish Embassy, Bangkok, Thailand January 2011 Present (3 years) Ambassador of Denmark to Thailand, Burma (Myanmar) and Cambodia. Head of Department Ministry of Foreign Affairs Denmark Public Company; 1001-5000 employees; International Affairs industry 2010 2011 (1 year) Ambassador Danish Embassy, Baghdad
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Can you briefly explain the previous economic relationship between Myanmar and Denmark? And now what is going on with Denmark companies investment in Myanmar? What are they doing? When we talk about economic relations between Denmark and Myanmar and the economic situation in Myanmar, we also should talk about politics. To understand Myanmar itself and where it is at this stage and how it relates to a country like Denmark and EU or any country in the world we have to understand the politics Myanmar was as is well known governed for quite a long time by a military junta. And many countries imposed sanctions on it during that time. It was, however, not only because of sanctions that were imposed on the country that had great economic consequences, it was also the policy choices it made for itself. These choices had great impact on people of Myanmar. We know that the economic model during that time and the choice of isolating the country, named as the Myanmar way to socialism also led to a dependency on a few countries for economic co-operation. In addition there was a lack of democratic development, there were human rights abuses, and that determined the relationships with many countries in the world. Denmark and Myanmar has had economic relations for many years. We have worked together quite early in cement
sector and other areas where technology was exchanged. When I speak to Myanmar government officials and with Myanmar people, they speak with warmth of Denmark and I feel that Denmark is known in Myanmar. I think it partly comes because of the past quite close economic co-operation. Naturally, this was not the same, when we talk about the political relations. Denmark is part of the EU and therefore also imposed sanctions on Myanmar. That is the past and both countries are looking towards the present and the future. So in general the relations are positive. I believe that Myanmar people consider Denmark is fully democratic country that has been quite successful economically as well. And it is seen as a country that cares for its citizens,a society that is safe and where people are being treated decently. Denmark together with New Zealand this year has been named the least corrupt country in the world by Transparency International. I believe that the Myanmar government should get inspiration by many different models for society, and therefore also should use many means to improve the livelihood of its people. I therefore also think Denmark in some ways can serve as a model for inspiration although there are many differences between our two countries. For one thing, on the matter of size Denmark is small while Myanmar is big both in terms of area and population. Myanmar has substantial natural resources, while
September 2008 August 2010 (2 years) Counsellor and Deputy Head of Mission Danish Embassy in Hanoi September 2001 August 2005 (4 years) 1. Secretary Royal Danish Embassy, Bangkok 1995 1998 (3 years) Mikael Hemniti Winthers Languages Danish, English, German, French, Thai, Vietnamese Mikael Hemniti Winthers Skills & Expertise Organizational Development International Relations Foreign Policy Diplomacy International Development Program Management NGOs Intercultural Communication
Management Consulting International Business Capacity Building Economics European Union Policy Analysis Public Policy Sustainable Development Human Rights Politics Government Danish View All (42) Skills Mikael Hemniti Winthers Education Handelshjskolen i Kbenhavn M.Sc., Economics 1980 1986 Statsgymnasiet Schneekloths Skole High School 1977 1980
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Denmark has very little. There is a thing we have in common and that is fishery and good access to the sea. I think that this is an area where our two countries can share experience and work together. Denmark has strengths in shipping and logistics, and since we are a country with limited natural resources we have had the necessity to develop peoples skills. Myanmar should now focus on creating a solid framework for investments, ensure regulation and standards in particular in protecting workers and protecting the environment. Without proper regulations both domestic and foreign companies would be able to get away with investments that are not good for the country or the people. Denmark is strong with regard to Corporate Social Responsibility and Danish companies are concerned about their reputation. Strong labor unions have also contributed in obtaining high standards in conditions for employees in Denmark. The same is true for environmental standards where Denmark has developed many different technologies in the area of energy efficiency. I think therefore that our companies can be an inspiration for Myanmar and that we with other similar countries can help setting some good standards for corporate governance. When a company like Maersk or a company like Carlsberg who are companies investing in Myanmar, there will be a lot of Denmark and Danish standards in these investments. They intend to stay for a long time in Myanmar and their investments will benefit society with technology, employment and income creation. They will consider the needs of the local community and I expect them to develop good CSR programs. As is well known, in the western countries and in general in the international community, there are a lot of watch dogs who keep the business up to standards. They keep an eye on how the businesses copes with environmental concern, exploitation of workers, sexual harassment or whatever they could face. They will keep high standards and private corporate governance on a high level. And I think that these considerations can impact on their local partners who will have to and want to live up to the same high standards if they want to be partners with a company with that kind of reputation. So I think that the impact of that kind of investment goes beyond just a simple foreign investment. I am not saying it is only Danish companies who can set these standards. There are many good companies from many countries, who have good standards. These foreign investments can expose Myanmar companies to these standards and the overall situation will improve in the country. What do you think are the requirements to develop and promote Myanmar economy? And what are challenges of the economy? What is the impact of Foreign Direct Investment? For individuals and business coming, naturally the main
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objective is to make a profit for the company and for their shareholders. The things I talked about before is how it impacts the country as a whole. The impact is of course economic growth. Myanmar needs the private sectors to get growth. You dont get growth from only government investments. You will get some growth from government investment but Myanmar doesnt have sufficient state resources to drive alone the economy, even with state owned companies in many sectors. I also believe that employment creation is very important on the shorter time horizon. Myanmar people need that, in particular in the country side. They also need to be lifted out of poverty. And for that we cannot solely rely on private investment. The Government should increase the level of social services to the people but it will need assistance to do that. Denmark and other countries provide foreign aid and assistance to Myanmar these years where it is necessary to compensate for the many areas where the Myanmar Government cannot do enough, and where private investment either dont come in sufficient amount or not quick enough to create a long term effect. However, employment creation is important because Myanmar people need to see livelihood improvement quickly. Otherwise they will think that the ongoing reform process is something only taking place in Nay Pyi Taw giving them no positive impact on their lives. They will hear presidents and prime ministers talking about the great things going on in Myanmar reforms, but when they consider their own life, very little if any have changed. I have been experiencing that myself while travelling in Myanmar, in particular in remote areas in Kachin, Chin, Shan, Karen and Rakhine State. Most of these people have felt nothing from the ongoing reforms.The impact foreigners like myself can observe is mainly based on the changing image of Yangon, where we see office buildings, new car galleries and shopping centers, and we tend to believe so much is happening. We should be very careful not to assess the overall situation in the country on the basis of the development of the commercial center of the country. According to World Banks report, Myanmar is one of the most difficult countries to invest in. How do you see that part? Why is it the most difficult? Yes, Myanmar is difficult to invest in. And that should be known by investors. It is my job to tell Danish companies to come and invest, but I am also explaining that it is not easy. And together with private businesses and media, we are trying to expose these difficulties so the government can act on it. And I must say, I experience that the Government is listening and sincerely wishes to improve the business environment. My Embassy is assisting Danish companies in doing business in Myanmar through the export promotion department at the Embassy in Bangkok. As foreigners we also need to be a little patient. The level of
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bureaucracy obstacles is still high and the capacity among officials is sometimes low. Therefore, even when the legislation is changed the administrators may not know about it or know how to carry them out. Some officials mindset is set in a control mode and not in a service mode. To increase the capacity also at local level the international community owes this country to help with that. And thats why there is a need for development co-operation. We are trying to tackle these areas where the lack of services hurts Myanmar people, mostly in the health care and education. We also work in those areas where it is most difficult for businesses. AEC in 2015, Myanmar needs to be ready. It is good market and great opportunity for Danish companies. How do you see AEC? I think it is a real good thing that Myanmar will be chairing ASEAN because it will make people and the government aware what it means to be part of a community, politically and economically. It is also a challenge for any country, and I know because Denmark has several times had the rotating presidency of the EU. As a small country, it is a big job to carry out. But everybody I speak with, believes that Myanmar will do a good job and Denmark and Danish companies are very much looking at Myanmar being part of the Asian community. What the economic impact will be is probably not yet completely clear. Most of us believe that there will be a reduction in the numerous barriers for trade between the ASEAN countries.It is also believed that the possibility for people to move around is going to be easier. But there are still some barriers left that we should not ignore. A lot of efforts have been done on tariffs, customs and all the levies. However, there are many areas of non-tariff barriers like technical standards that can still make it hard to trade. But I think for Myanmar it is going to be very positive. For any country that becomes part of a group promoting free trade it is going to be positive impact. Of course the countries in ASEAN like Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos will for some time need assistance from other countries to be able to take advantage of this free trade. They need time to prepare and need assistance. But all in all from the EU side from the Danish side we look at this development as very positive. Please give your suggestions for Myanmar economy to grow. Every country including Denmark is trying to find its own brand. However, in a globalized world some say that country branding has become less important than it was in the old days where we used Made in Germany, Made in Japan, Made in Denmark and we attach a certain image to the product. Now I think it is harder to brand a country. One must think of what the reputation of the country is. I believe that if we use
Denmark again as an example, Denmark can brand itself as a country with a fair society. As an image and brand it is seen as democratic, the people as friendly and a society as fair and safe. I also think that Myanmar already has a very good brand. There are wonderful Myanmar people and everybody who has been in close contact with Myanmar people has a positive experience. And very few other countries can compete with the beauty of Myanmar. That in itself is a brand. And now you can add the democratic development of the country instead of a country with a military junta image. Then you already have something to work with when you wish to brand the country and the products. A
Denmark Area 42,915.7 km2[3] (133rd)/16,562.1 sq mi Greenland 2,166,086 km2 (836,330 sq mi) Faroe Islands 1,399 km2 (540.16 sq mi) Population - Jan 2013 estimate 5,602,536 (111th) - G r e e n l a n d 56,370 - Faroe Islands 49,483 - Density (Denmark) 130/km2/ 336.7/sq mi GDP (nominal) - Total - Per capita 2012 estimate $313.637 billion (32nd) $56,202 (8th)
Capital Copenhagen 55432 N 12342 E Official languages Danish Recognised regional languages Faroese Greenlandic German Religion Lutheran (Christian)
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Vulture is supposed as an ugly bird in Myanmar as opposed to an environmentalist bird in other countries. The bird eats away the dead keeping the area clean. It never dines on any living thngs. In Cambodia, vultures are bred in hotels and restaurants to eat thrown-away bones and flesh minimizing debris works. In Myanmar, culturally the innocent vultures are down-graded as they were somehow connected with witches and underworld! There are five different kinds of vultures according to Smithes Birds of Burma. All vultures now disappeared from our sky coinciding with Vietnamese war of liberation against the US and French. Many Myanmar believed they had gone there to dine on the dead! In reality, recent autopsy of about 700
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dead vultures in India revealed the cause of death was due to unusual kidney failure resulting from a chemical poison. It was an analgesic (pain relieving and fever lowering) drug used by veterinary doctors. This drug is found deposited in living muscles of cattle for life. When these animals died, the poisoned meat found its way somehow to vultures dinner. That ended the life of vulture. In prewar time the scene was different. The author had observed many vultures circling high in the sky. From there their acute eye sight could spot a dead animal from 7 miles away. Vultures in Myanmar belief were down-graded. In history books, the vulture visiting a palace was regarded as a bad omen predicting a misfortune or death of a monarch.
However vultures are supposed good omen bringing in riches by a wealthy man broker known as Oo Air. One day in about 1910, three vultures visited Wa-dan! It was a market place and commercial center since that time, teemed with sellers, buyers, vendors and brokers. All merchandises were sold or exchanged here. It is close to Zaygyo on 85 street between 28 and 29 roads, and the main market place in Mandalay. It was a transition time from monarchial to colonial. Motor cars were unheard of. Radio was far away. An old man, Maung Ko, who narrated the story to me at 85 in about 1999, was a young boy with a top knot. When vultures rested on a roof top in his Wadan, people on the road side saw them. Worse were entrails dangling from their beak. It was a very bad
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sight! Surely people believed it was a bad omen to the owner of the house. He was a wealthy broker. His name was Oo Air and his wife Daw Kyee Kyee and they have a single son, Young Saing. When some people tried to scare away the birds, Oo Air prevented them. He had a different idea. No, no. Dont worry. The birds would not invite misfortune. They are innocent. They will bring in good luck and wealth. So he invited Maung Ko and his friend Sein Win, to go up the house and sprinkle the birds with sacred water from flower pots offered before Buddha image. There on top of the roof, old Maung Ko narrated, I have to crawl slowly towards the birds. What I saw was really a horrible sight. From their large beak dangling entrails gave a foul smell. I have to steady myself before I threw water from a small cup. Well the big birds flew away and so I came down. But they came back and landed again on the roof top. No. no. Dont go up again. You dont need to. You have sprinkled the sacred water over them. After this, he gave us each a silver coin of one Kyat to buy cakes. That day each of us got two. At that time paper currency was not widely issued by the British colonial ruler yet. Banks were unknown. So money transaction was made through a medium
of silver coins only. Now Oo Air was a broker. At the end of each day, he got a large sum of money. Counting coins was not difficult. Maung Ko and his friend Sein Win counted 100 pieces and put them into a small bag and tied a knot around it. There were many bags they had counted. But the difficulty was counterfeit lead coins. Myanmar at that time called such coins as lead made from any cheap metal. For this we have to sound each coin against a flat stone and the whole house was filled with metallic noise. A lead coin gave a different sound. So we can detect it. We have to remove it. Every evening he gave us each a silver coin, a reward for our help. So the day the vultures visited his home, we got two coins each! At that time value of money was very high. With one-tenth of the coin, we could fill in our stomach like a glutton. Did the vultures brought bad for-
tune? From that day on, Oo Airs income increased very much. This we know as we were counting more coins every evening said Maung Ko. Oo Air gave away his money to the cause of religion. He donated much to the poor as well. He even built two huge lions sitting sentinel at the entrance of the southern stairways to Mandalay Hill (See Lions). The lions are so huge that people found themselves a pigmy near them. One day a report came to Oo Air that one of two huge Lions built on his donations was found with a bee hive in its gaping mouth! It was another stunning news. Again people went to see it. It would be a bad luck to him! Using wax from their mouth, bees can build hives in a few minutes. When their population increases in a colony, many went away and build new ones at some other places. Such hives found in a palace or a commoners house was regarded as bad omen! There were records in history mentioning a beehive heralding a demise of a king. Again Oo Air was found undisturbed. He installed a shed between the two huge Lions and served food to monks who recited Buddhas sutras over a flower pot. Again Maung Ko was to go up bamboo scaffold and sprinkled sacred water over the beehive. Of course he kept a respectable distance from the hive. I did not stay long up there. The bees are undisturbed. I came down without getting a sting. Again every evening Maung Ko and
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his friend found themselves busy sounding more coins. These omens regarded as bad are now good to Oo Air. The wealthy couple had a single son. His name was Young Saing. Every evening, he used to visit his friend in an open carriage drawn by a horse. It was
a time before motor cars were used in Mandalay about 1916. One day Young Saing came back unconscious, probably from an untimely CVA (Cerebro-vascular accident). His tomb was found on the road side to Pyin-Oo-Lwin, just 42 miles outside
Mandalay. Now-a-days new urban area rises up around it and his old tomb disappears. As their only son had died, the couple had no one left to inherit their riches. Sein Win, who sounded the coins every evening when he came back from school, was their nephew. So the riches went to him. Later in post-war time, Sein Win became a well-known journalist in Mandalay and Maung Ko became a trustee member of the Great Arakan Image, Maha Muni. The wealthy couple donated enough money to apply gold leaves to great temple in which the Maha Muni Image is now kept. Outside the entrance, there are the names of the donors. Oo Air on the left and Daw Kyee Kyee and Ko Young Saing on the right. The names at the entrance of Maha Muni Image and the two huge Lions at the foot of Mandalay are a standing witness to their deed. A
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Acumen Magazine January 2014

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Acumen Magazine January 2014

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Publisher and Copyright Dr. Htet Zan Linn Printer

U Khin Aung Myint Speaker of the Amyotha Hluttaw

U Yan Naing Htway Labour Activist

U Aung Thein Linn Member of parliament at Pyithu Hluttaw

Thura U Shwe Mann Speaker of the Pyithu Hluttaw

7 Days in Myanmar by 30 prominent photographers

Illegal timber export to China reaches $ 200 m

Indian companies eye of business to business relationship in Myanmar

The first visa service, Thai steps in Myanmar

Japanese investment in Myanmar depends on implementation in Thilawa SEZ

Petronas aims to become largest investor

Japans largest corporation prepares to invest in animal husbandry sector

Coverstory-The Question For 2014.pmd

Coverstory-The Question For 2014.pmd

The First Time

Coverstory-The Question For 2014.pmd

The Fence problem

An Experts talk show on ASEAN and Myanmar at UMFCCI.

Coverstory-The Question For 2014.pmd

The Interior Problem

Coverstory-The Question For 2014.pmd

Coverstory-The Question For 2014.pmd

Coverstory-The Question For 2014.pmd

Working towards a brighter future

Prof. Dr. Aung Tun Thet : Photo Shady Ramadan

Free trade is coming

The cost of using Agro-Annua.pmd

The cost of using Agro-Annua.pmd

Decline in farming profits

The cost of using Agro-Annua.pmd

situation that is inevitable given the current trend of farming practices.

Reduction in fish and aquatic creatures

The cost of using Agro-Annua.pmd

Impact on honey bees

The cost of using Agro-Annua.pmd

Organic food stuff

Profitability of low-external input agriculture

The cost of using Agro-Annua.pmd

Rough Lives Among.pmd

Rough Lives Among.pmd

Rough Lives Among.pmd

Rough Lives Among.pmd

Rough Lives Among.pmd

Rough Lives Among.pmd

Long Preparation for Grasping.pmd

Long Preparation for Grasping.pmd

December January 2013 2014

Long Preparation for Grasping.pmd

Long Preparation for Grasping.pmd

Long Preparation for Grasping.pmd

Long Preparation for Grasping.pmd

How will SME Stand.pmd

How will SME Stand.pmd

Daw May Phyu Thwe

How will SME Stand.pmd

How will SME Stand.pmd

How will SME Stand.pmd

Daw Naing Naing Lay

How will SME Stand.pmd

How will SME Stand.pmd

How will SME Stand.pmd

How will SME Stand.pmd

Professor Dr. Aung Tun Thet