As it continues to emerge from decades of isolation, Myanmar is a country with tremendous potential, but still presents many challenges for investors. At the Chamber’s “Unleashing the Potential of Myanmar” Seminar on 28 June, Serge Pun provided key insights from his experience as Chairman of SPA Group, a Myanmar conglomerate that has been operating since 1991. 

He said that there had been a number of false starts and a sense of disillusionment following the initial euphoria of the 2015 elections. However, Pun said, the country is now seeing a light at the end of the tunnel, for two reasons.

The first is geopolitical. Myanmar’s location provides Mainland China with access to the Indian Ocean, and is therefore a key Belt and Road participant. 

“Myanmar commands a very important strategic position in the whole initiative,” Pun said.

The second reason is that there has been a recent shake-up of government ministers that will, it is hoped, form an administration that is capable of delivering the needed reforms. Pun compared present-day Myanmar to the Mainland of several years ago, when not all officials had “come around the bend” with regards to corruption. The situation in Myanmar is now improving rapidly and creating a much more favourable environment for overseas investors.

“For HKGCC the timing is right,” he said. “I urge you to reassess the current situation and I trust you will find this is an opportunity – and an opportune time.”

Robert San Pe, Senior Legal Advisor to Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, discussed Myanmar’s law reforms, and more importantly, implementation.

“It is one thing to write things down, and another thing to actually deliver them,” he said.

But he said that investors could be reassured by progress that is being made, particularly in the country’s Special Economic Zones. Here, foreign investors can see for themselves that the law and business procedures are being followed. 

A huge challenge the country faces – and one mentioned by several of the speakers – is the shortage of people with the skills and experience to enact the necessary reforms. San Pe said that until recently, some government departments did not even have legal representatives, meaning that complex international agreements were being negotiated by non-lawyers and junior civil servants.

But he is optimistic about the country’s future, particularly given its key attributes of location, water supply and land. 

“For any foreign investor, now is the right time to be seriously looking at Myanmar,” San Pe said.

Peter Beynon, Chairman of the Myanmar British Chamber of Commerce and Jardine Myanmar Group, said that the country “faces a multitude of challenges.” The transport infrastructure largely dates back to the 1950s, much of the country is without a reliable electricity supply, and restrictions on education in the past have exacerbated human capacity challenges.

But although the country has a mountain to climb, the Myanmar government is now taking the first steps.

“It’s a threefold transformation – from a centrally planned economy to a market economy, from a military autocracy to controlled democracy, and from widespread civil war to a unionised peace,” he said. “Each task is daunting, but to tackle all three at the same time is indeed mindboggling.”

Despite these challenges, Beynon said that Myanmar is a place for the future. 

“Rome was not built in a day, just as Asian tigers are not born directly into adulthood. The tiger cub takes time to mature, and this is what Myanmar is doing.” 

Also at the event, Bernard Chan Pak Li, Under Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, discussed the importance of the Belt and Road developments, and Peter Moe Kyaw, Managing Director of research company MMRD, explored some of the difficulties in gathering reliable data in Myanmar, given the country’s unique environment over the past several decades.