Myanmar President U Thein Sein said the ongoing Myanmar Global Investment Forum would contribute to the economic development of the country, official media reported Wednesday.
He added that the forum is a golden opportunity for Myanmar at a time when sweeping reform is taking place.
U Thein Sein made the remarks at a meeting with vice president of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Xiaoyu Zhao who is attending the forum in Nay Pyi Taw, which is the second of its kind.
The two-day Myanmar Global Investment Forum, which commenced on Tuesday, is jointly sponsored by the Myanmar Investment Commission and the Euromoney Conference.
Experts at home and abroad, entrepreneurs and technicians are among 850 attendees from 35 countries discussing investment matters in respective sectors.
Myanmar had received over 43 billion U.S. dollars' foreign investment as of the end of August since 1988, in which the Chinese mainland had put in 14.189 billion dollars, followed by Hong Kong Special Administrative Region with 6.446 billion dollars, South Korea with 3.037 billion dollars, Singapore with 2.436 billion dollars, Malaysia with 1.625 billion dollars and Japan with 274 million dollars.
The investment, which came from 32 countries and regions, were mostly injected into power sector, followed by oil and gas, mining, manufacturing, hotels and tourist and real estate.
Myanmar promulgated a new foreign investment law in November 2012 in a bid to attract more foreign investment to the country in line with its reform strategy.
The new law allows full investments by foreigners and joint venture operations between foreigners and local citizens or related government departments or organizations on mutually-agreed ratio of investments.
However, skyrocketing real estate prices are deterring new foreign investment entering Myanmar, the authorities said.
Myanmar is very rich in natural resources like petroleum, timber, tin, antimony, zinc, copper, tungsten, lead, coal, some marble, limestone, precious stones, natural gas and hydropower. ... More