Tag Archives: European Union

The Stampede into Myanmar Reply

by • Myanmar (Burma) News • Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Reposted from The Straits Times
By Hans W. Vriens

WITH the United States and the European Union suspending sanctions against Myanmar, Western companies are rushing to invest in a country they were forced to leave half a century ago. Myanmar is South-east Asia’s final frontier. There is almost a stampede to be the first into this country of 60 million. But aspiring investors are in for a rough ride. Myanmar is the most challenging investment climate in Asia with the exception of North Korea. General Ne Win’s 1962 coup closed the borders, nationalised the economy and kicked several hundred thousand Indians out of the country, many of them entrepreneurs and shopkeepers. More…

Myanmar Open to Reducing Army’s Political Role, Minister Says 1

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25% of parliamentary seats are reserved for the military

25% of parliamentary seats are reserved for the military

Reposted from Bloomberg
By Daniel Ten Kate

Myanmar is open to changing the constitution to reduce the military’s role at an appropriate time, according to Defense Minister Hla Min.

Myanmar’s charter allocates 25 percent of parliamentary seats to soldiers, a requirement opposed by opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The country’s transition to democracy in recent months after about five decades of military rule has prompted the U.S. and European Union to ease sanctions. More…

EU delegation launches 2012 Blue Book Reply

by • Vietnam News • Tags: , , , ,

EU Blue Book 2012

EU Blue Book 2012

Reposted from Vietnam Investment Review

The delegation of European Union (EU) in Vietnam launched the “EU Blue Book 2012,” the annual publication on EU development in Vietnam , on May 31.

Head of the EU delegation to Vietnam, Ambassador Franz Jessen said EU is still one of the leading foreign development assistance providers for Vietnam, with committed aid totalling 745.3 million EUR ($1 billion) in 2012, representing 13.24 per cent of the total committed foreign assistance for Vietnam. Of the amount, non-refundable aid accounts for 32.5 per cent, or 245.21 million EUR. More…

Myanmar’s Suu Kyi cautiously supports Sen. McCain’s proposal to suspend US economic sanctions Reply

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Aung San Suu Kyi

Ang San Suu Kyi

Reposted from The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is cautiously backing a U.S. senator’s proposal to suspend U.S. economic sanctions.

Suu Kyi said Tuesday that suspending, rather than eliminating, sanctions would send a message that the U.S. is trying to help the country move toward democracy, but would consider other steps if the Burmese people’s aspirations aren’t met. More…

Myanmar sanctions: The US paddles its own canoe Reply

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Yangon, Myanmar

Yangon, Myanmar

Reposted from Network Myanmar</em?
By Derek Tonkin

“Have our European and Asian allies gone too far by rushing headlong into suspending all sanctions and immediately boosting assistance?”

Chairman Donald A Manzullo, House Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific – 25 April 2012

While the Western world and the Burmese people looked on aghast as Daw Aung San Suu Kyi threatened to derail the reconciliation process by refusing to take the parliamentary oath, the United States let it be known that they were not entirely happy with the decision by almost every other Western country except themselves to suspend or lift economic sanctions against Myanmar. More…

U.S. Policy Options Toward Myanmar Reply

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Yangon, Myanmar

Yangon, Myanmar

Reposted from The Council on Foreign Relations

Speakers: Joshua Kurlantzick, Fellow for Southeast Asia, Council on Foreign Relations, and Lex Rieffel, Nonresident Senior Fellow, Global Economy and Development, Brookings Institution
Presider: Romesh Ratnesar, Deputy Editor, Bloomberg Businessweek

ROMESH RATNESAR: OK. Good afternoon. Welcome to the Council on Foreign Relations. I am Romesh Ratnesar from Bloomberg Businessweek magazine, and I’m pleased to be presiding over today’s meeting on U.S. policy options toward Myanmar. More…

U.N. Chief Will Ask West to Lift Myanmar Sanctions 1

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Reposted from The New York Times
By Thomas Fuller

NAYPYIDAW, Myanmar — When he addresses Myanmar’s Parliament on Monday, Ban Ki-moon, the secretary general of the United Nations, plans to urge Western nations to lift or suspend their remaining sanctions against the country.

Mr. Ban will be the first foreigner to address the Parliament since at least the beginning of military rule in 1962. A new Constitution and moves toward political liberalization have revived the legislature, which was moribund for decades. More…

Sanctions lifting could revive Myanmar industry Reply

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Yangon Garment Factory

Yangon Garment Factory

Reposted from Businessweek
By Todd Pittman

Looking across a sea of young workers perched behind rows of buzzing sewing machines, factory owner Myint Soe has one main hope for Monday’s suspension of European sanctions on Myanmar — the restoration of some of the 80,000 garment industry jobs lost here over the past 10 years. More…

Canada, EU suspend sanctions on Myanmar Reply

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Foreign Minister John Baird met with President Thein Sein last month

Foreign Minister John Baird met with President Thein Sein last month

By John Conway Boyd

A day after the EU suspended most sanctions against Myanmar, John Baird, Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister, announced Canada would follow suit, the Globe and Mail reported yesterday. Baird became the first Canadian foreign affairs minister to visit Myanmar last month and brought a message of support if political and economic reforms continued. Baird announced on Tuesday that Canada is “living up to our part of the bargain.” More…

Myanmar Briefing Note No. 26 Myanmar: An end to European sanctions Reply

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Reposted from Network Myanmar
By Derek Tonkin

As expected the EU Foreign Affairs Council agreed to suspend ‘restrictive measures’ against Myanmar, with the exception of the arms embargo, at their meeting on 23 April 2012. The detail will be set out in regulations to be published later this week. In order to suspend sanctions during the coming year, the first essential will be renew them formally, and then suspend them, since otherwise they would lapse completely on 30 April 2012. More…