Sun, September 02, 2012
YANGON, Sept. 2 (Xinhua) -- Three Japanese industrial and economic groups have reached an agreement with the Myanmar government to jointly establish a special economic zone (SEZ), Thilawa, in Yangon's Thilawa Port, local media Voice reported Sunday.
Under the agreement, Japan's Mitsuibishi Corporation, Marubeni Corporation and Sumitomo Corporation will obtain 49 percent of stake to run the 2,400-hectare Thilawa SEZ, while Myanmar entrepreneurs in the form of public company, will take 56 percent, Myanmar's Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry was quoted as saying.
The Japanese side will provide financial assistance to the SEZ' s infrastructural development such as factories and workshops and one natural-gas-fired power plant, the report said.
In addition to foreign investors, Myanmar government has also invited domestic entrepreneurs to make investment in the project through share. However, the permitted amount of the investment and the duration of the project and other details have not been revealed, the report added.
Thilawa SEZ project lies between Thanlyin and Kyauktan townships in Yangon region, which is next to the Dawei Special Economic Zone project in southern Taninthayi region.
The government had designed to enable Myanmar nationals to be able to establish a public company in partnership with foreign companies on joint-venture basis for the project.
The government also invited other foreign investors such as South Korea, China, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia to engage in the Thilawa SEZ project.
Myanmar's previous government promulgated the Special Economic Zone Law in January 2011, three months before the new government came into being in March the same year.
According to figures, Japan injected a total of 221.25 million U.S. dollars as of May 2012 since 1988, standing the 12th in Myanmar's foreign investors line-up.
In the fiscal year 2011-12 which ended in March, trade between Myanmar and Japan nearly doubled, reaching 822.5 million dollars compared with 2010-11's 493.8 million dollars.
