Myanmar’s new government will not allow the Myanmar Investment Commission to become an independent entity, but the MIC is planning to amend its policies to relax investment restrictions and direct more capital flows into manufacturing, its secretary U Aung Naing Oo has said.
There have been discussions about an independent MIC for several years. U Aung Naing Oo said the previous administration had planned to allow the MIC, which is tasked with approving foreign investment, to be independent from what was then the Ministry of National Planning and Economic Development.
“Organisations like MIC work independently in most countries with direct connect to the president and cabinet members,” U Aung Naing Oo said.
But the new government made a decision that MIC will stay under the authority of the Ministry of Planning and Finance, and the requisite laws have been amended to reflect that position, he added.
U Aung Naing Oo was speaking at a forum on promoting business cooperation between South Korea and Mekong countries Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam held on June 30.
The forum was organised by Myanmar’s Directorate of Investment and Company Administration.
The MIC is discussing new policies that would give more priority to the manufacturing and industrial sectors when granting business licenses, and discourage permits for foreign investment in natural resources and extractive industries, U Aung Naing Oo said.
The commission is also proposing relaxing restrictions on investment contained in the draft Myanmar Investment Law, which will be put forward in the next parliamentary session, he said.
The draft law is a combination of the existing Foreign Investment Law and the Myanmar Citizens Investment Law.
“We have considered which amendments should be made in regard to relaxations and we will try to submit the new bill to the coming parliament,” said U Aung Naing Oo.
Source: Myanmar Times
