Arakan News Agency
The independent Irrawaddy newspaper said that although the recent Rohingya crisis in Arakan state has made many foreign investors to retreat, the South Korea in Myanmar is confident of getting more investment.
South Korea’s ambassador to Myanmar Lee Sang-hwa said the approach was in line with the policy of South Korean president’s “New Southern policy” to deepen relations with Southeast Asian nations, including in the economic realm.
Seoul plans to increase investment in Myanmar, said the ambassador on Monday at the embassy in Yangon, two days before the first investment exhibition in Arakan. He said, although he was happy with his country’s current status among Myanmar’s top investors, there was plenty of room for growth.
South Korea is the sixth largest source of foreign direct investment in the country, with foreign direct investment between 2012 and December 2018 amounting to nearly 4 billion US dollars (6.13 trillion kyats), according to the Myanmar government investment agency.
The ambassador said there were about 270 South Korean companies operating in Myanmar, compared to more than 2,700 in Vietnam.
“Despite Arakan’s reputation stained by the Rohingya crisis and the ongoing armed conflict there, the government plans to boost investment in the country, considering that economic development is the key to resolving the conflict,” the paper said.
On February 21 and 23, the Arakan state government will host its first investment fair. Under the slogan “Arakan open to work for the world”, will focus on the development of three major sectors – tourism; SMEs. Agriculture, livestock and fisheries. The investment fair is part of the Government’s “Look East” policy aimed at halting the decline in foreign direct investment for two years.
Arakan is located on the western coast of Myanmar, rich in natural resources, especially oil and gas, but remains one of the least developed in the country. Nearly 70% of the population lives in poverty and lacks public services. The population faces a lack of infrastructure, unemployment and poor living conditions.
Arakan is home to a number of major projects. Since 2016, India has been building a deep water port in Sittwe, located on the Bay of Bengal. It also funds the estimated cost of US $ 120 million (183.9 billion kyat) as part of the Kaladan Multi-Transboundary Transport Project, a bilateral initiative aimed at developing transport infrastructure in southwestern Myanmar and north-eastern India.
Arakan is also home to a major section of a Chinese pipeline carrying oil and natural gas from the Bay of Bengal through Myanmar to Kunming in China’s Yunnan Province since 2010.
In November, Myanmar and China signed a framework agreement for the construction of the deep-sea Kyaukphyu port, which will allow China to reach the Bay of Bengal while strengthening regional communication as part of the Beijing Road and Road Initiative (BRI).
