Dubbed “Asia’s last economic frontier”, Myanmar is one of the fastest-growing emerging markets in the world. And while highly-skilled Myanmar expatriates are returning in droves to start businesses and to experiment, Irish interests, from start-ups to established corporations, are getting stuck in, too.

The Union Peace Conference-21st Century Panglong will be held in late April or early May, according to the 7th Joint Implementation Coordination Meeting (JICM) on the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement held in Nay Pyi Taw yesterday.
The decision was made at the meeting held at the National Reconciliation and Peace Centre in Nay Pyi Taw yesterday, which began with a greeting by State Counsellor
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
In her speech, the State Counsellor, in her capacity as the Chair of the National Reconciliation and Peace Centre, called on participants to dare to dream for a peaceful federal Union.
“I believe that those who are here don’t want their grandchildren to grow up in surroundings which are not at peace. So, to all those delegates who are here who have a strong desire for peace, nothing is better than peace. To build development, we need peace,” she said.
She also urged the participants of the meeting to take part in the discussions with confidence.

Shae Thot is a USAID-supported six-year integrated community development project working in over 2,700 villages across Central Myanmar and Kayah State. Guided by Pact’s core approaches of civil society strengthening and enhanced self-governance, Pact, four international partners, and seven local partners provide resources and technical assistance to increase community-based knowledge, ownership, and implementation of local development priorities. The project facilitates community participation to achieve sustainable solutions in the areas of maternal and child health; livelihoods and food security; and water, sanitation, and hygiene; in addition to strengthening community governance.

In partnership with Worldview International Foundation and Worldview Impact Foundation, BioCarbon Engineering has launched a project to restore and regenerate the degraded mangrove ecosystems in Myanmar in order to protect the lives of highly vulnerable communities. Mangrove forests are the vital foundation for a complex marine food web, sustaining not only fisheries but many forms of bird and other wildlife. The project has been chosen as a winner of a Bridge Builder challenge on OpenIDEO and is supported by the GHR Foundation. The first phase of the project included mapping of the areas, planting mangrove trees, meeting local communities and designing an integrated plan for ecosystem restoration.

Global New Light of Myanmar: Local and foreign investments worth more than US$500 million were pumped into the Mandalay Myotha industry park project in Ngazun Township, Mandalay Region, as of the second week of January 2018.

The Mandalay Myotha Industrial Development (MMID) public company expects to house more than 100 plants within three years, said U Tun Tun Aung, managing director of MMID. The Mandalay Myotha industry park project is being implemented on a 10,000-plusacre plot, jointly by the Mandalay Region government and the MMID public company. Currently, five plants are operational, while two plants will be constructed in May. Another 22 plants will be constructed in August.

The project will be executed with 90 per cent foreign direct investments, besides local and foreign joint venture investments. “Currently, authorities are designing the construction of three plants on a 20- acre plot. It will include an automobile assembly plant. A Japanese company has also invested in the Mandalay Myotha industry park project to construct a waste recycling plant,” he added. Among the five plants that became operational currently, two are animal feed plants with investments from Indonesia and Denmark, a saw mill from Hong Kong, a concrete plant from Thailand, and a snow cookie plant from China. Some 24 plants are expected to invest within eight months, creating more than 20,000 job opportunities for the local people. The opening ceremony for a new plant project, with investments from China, was launched on 16 January. The new plant will include a hat factory, a garment factory, a shoe factory and electronic equipment factories. The entry of these plants into Myanmar will create more job opportunities for the local people, said U Tun Tun Aung. The Mandalay Baoshan Myotha Industrial Development has invested more than $390 million in the project. In the first phase, the project will be constructed on a 50-acre plot. As of December 2017, the Myanmar Investment Commission has given the green light to 56 foreign investments, worth more than $3.2 billion, and 141 local investments, worth more than Ks3.75 trillion, in the Mandalay Region – Global New Light of Myanmar

NEW DELHI:  Prime Minister Narendra Modi today held bilateral meetings with ASEAN leaders, including Myanmar’s State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, and discussed key bilateral and regional issues.

After the meeting between PM Modi and the Myanmarese leader, External affairs ministry spokesman Raveesh Kumar tweeted, “The two leaders had a productive discussion on intensifying bilateral cooperation, including follow up on key decisions taken during PM’s visit to Myanmar in September 2017.”

AFP: The repatriation of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees to Myanmar due to begin Tuesday will be delayed, a Bangladesh official said, citing the huge task of preparing transit centres and approving lists of returnees. 

Government: Ready to begin repatriation
Myanmar is ready to launch the repatriation of refugees from Bangladesh despite a delay announced by Bangladesh authorities. Under the agreement between Myanmar and Bangladesh, repatriation was slated to begin yesterday. “We are ready to accept the first batch of returnees today as agreed, because under the agreement with Bangladesh, we must start the repatriation within two months and today is the day we slated to launch the repatriation,” said Dr. Win Myat Aye, Union Minister for Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement at the press conference in Nay Pyi Taw yesterday. Myanmar has prepared two reception camps on its side of the border to take back up to 300 people per day. “I want to reiterate that we are ready to accept the returnees from Bangladesh according to the list we sent to Bangladesh. To carry that out, we need international cooperation,” said U Myint Thu, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

His Excellency Mr. Thongloun Sisoulith, Prime Minister of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic and State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi at the signing ceremony in Nay Pyi Taw. A number of MOUs (Memorandum of Understandings) were signed between the two countries resulting in increased bilateral cooperation.

Myanmar has beauty — lush jungles, valleys floored with ancient pagodas. Now it has wine too. With two wineries near the fertile but fragile Inle Lake region and seeing new demand in the country, it may soon be added to the checklist of travelers with a thirst. And while it’s early days, the area might just be prepped to become the Napa Valley of Myanmar.