Burma : Foreign investment in Myanmar soars

Foreign investment in Myanmar soars
24 minutes ago

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Foreign investment in Myanmar — much of it from China — nearly doubled in the first nine months of 2008 compared to the same period last year, according to government statistics seen Monday.

Mining accounted for more than 88 percent of the total foreign investment — a record for that sector.

Investment from January to September last year jumped to $974.9 million dollars from $502.5 million in the same period the previous year, said the Ministry of National Planning and Development in its latest statistical survey.

That was the second-highest amount for this nine-month span after 2006, when Thailand built a hydroelectric plant.

China accounted for $855 million of the $860.9 million invested in mining while Russia and Vietnam added $114 million in the oil and gas sector.

China has signed a number of agreements with the resource-rich country to mine gems, gold and nickel.

The U.S. and European Union have imposed economic sanctions on Myanmar to pressure the military government to improve human rights and release detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Since Myanmar liberalized its investment code in late 1988, it has attracted large investments in the hydro-electric power and oil and gas sectors.

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Originally Posted by Mid

Since Myanmar liberalized its investment code in late 1988,

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any links to info?

^

BLC Laws Achieve (Myanmar Laws 1988)

invest01.htm

Much to my displeasure, if the corporations are permitted to continually rape & pillage Myanmar as they do now, there will be nothing left in the not too distant future to rape & pillage. At this future point, the government will fail & the citizens of Myanmar will be free.

Winners & Losers Among Burma’s Foreign Partners
By WILLIAM BOOT
Friday, January 9, 2009

A new study of Burma’s economy reveals several trends in terms of the military regime’s foreign trading partners.

China is becoming increasingly influential, while Japan’s relevance is in decline.

Singapore remains important to the regime’s economic affairs but is “declining in relative terms,” said the study by Australia’s Macquarie University.

However, despite China’s overall rising influence on Burma’s economy, the regime continues to remain dependent in Thailand “as the principal market for Burma’s exports”—notably gas.

Gas is Burma’s biggest single foreign income earner, but since the global economic slump began gas revenues are declining due to a worldwide drop in prices.

The fall in gas prices will continue at least into the first half of 2009, says the report, “Burma’s Economy 2008/09: Decline, Disaster, and Ways Forward,” authored by Prof Sean Turnell.

irrawaddy.org

China to break ground on huge Burma mine
FRANCIS WADE
10 May 2011

https://teakdoor.com/images/imported/2011/05/1183.jpg
A worker welds steel bars at a residential construction site in Jiaxing, Zhejiang province. China's soaring demands for steel are behind several mining projects in neighbouring countries
(Reuters)

A trial operation will begin in July on the giant Tagaung Taung nickel mine in northern Burma run by the world’s largest steel manufacturer, but environmentalists have warned of “toxic” consequences.

The deal, signed in July last year, becomes the largest cooperation project for mining between China and Burma. Overseeing the operation will be Chinese metals giant Taiyuan Iron and Steel Group and the China Nonferrous Metal Mining Company (CNMC).

The two are set to sink around US$800 million into the project, located just 200kms from the China border, which will generate some 85,000 tonnes of nickel-iron each year to feed China’s soaring demands for steel.

The dwindling global reserves of nickel has pushed nations like China, the world’s leading steel producer, to rush for control of resources, according to environmentalist Steve Green. Nickel is a key component in steel manufacturing.

He said however that one of the main problems with such projects in Burma is the absence of any post-mining remediation, particularly the lack of tailings management where the waste from the manufacturing process is safely disposed of.

“This means there will be toxic downstream contamination for generations to come,” he said, as the chemicals used in the process seep into waterways. He added that such a large-scale project could also result in the confiscation of local land by the Burmese military.

Taiyuan, the largest steel manufacturer in the world, and CNMC will operate the mine for two decades. Smelting and “service” facilities are already under construction there.

Chinese weapons giant Norinco last year signed a lucrative deal to operate the Monywa copper mine, also in Sagaing division.

Matthew Smith, senior consultant at EarthRights International, told DVB that in both cases, the likelihood of an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) being made public prior to commencement of the projects was slim.

Although the Export Import Bank (EXIM) of China provided funding for Tagaung Taung, meaning an assessment may well have been done in keeping with its own environmental regulations, ERI claims that “the chances are no one’s seen it”.

Of Norinco, which reportedly won the contract following the sale of heavy artillery to Burma several weeks prior, Smith said: “Unfortunately Burmese law doesn’t require an EIA of international standards and there’s no evidence the company is guided by any sort of enlightened self-interest.” He added that the “same concerns would apply” for the Tagaung Taung mine.

China has been accused of outsourcing its pollutive industries to countries like Burma where environmental regulations are not enforced by the state.

China is battling rising energy demands with rapidly depleting domestic resources.

dvb.no

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Originally Posted by Mid

Of Norinco, which reportedly won the contract following the sale of heavy artillery to Burma several weeks prior,

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