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Myanmar is seeking to build upon the growing and steady contribution of industry to GDP. This figure rose from 12% to 15.3% between 1970 and 1995 even as international sanctions affected the garment industry, with clothing exports falling by 60% and a loss of 80,000 jobs. However, with reform has come optimism of a turnaround in the making. As of 2012 the country had around 200 garment factories, having peaked at 300 in 1999. In addition, there are five steel plants, as well as hundreds of smaller steel workshops and four cement factories. In many ways, Myanmar has very suitable conditions already in place to develop and sustain an industrial base. In order to maintain its position as an attractive, low-cost market for international investment, Myanmar will need to overcome rising property and electricity prices, not to mention gaps in transport infrastructure. Progress will also depend on how laws are finally settled and whether the domestic financial system can be reformed to the extent that local corporations are able to finance their own facilities. This chapter contains interviews with U Maung Myint, Minister of Industry; U Khin Maung Win, Chairman, Myan Shwe Pyi Tractors; Dr Sai Sam Htun, Chairman, Loi Hein Company; and Daw Win Win Tint, Managing Director, City Mart Holdings.

The presence of rubies, jade and other precious gems has been noted for centuries by locals, early Western explorers and colonial powers. Myanmar has an abundance of gold, silver, platinum, tin, tungsten, zinc, copper and gemstones. Yet very little of this has been exploited. One challenge to exploration and production is information. Only about half of the country has been mapped, pre-independence surveys are incomplete, and much was lost during the Cold War. Bureaucracy remains a hurdle for foreign investors. After years of working mostly with other governments directly, the Ministry of Mines lacks certain administrative capabilities and expertise. In 2014 Myanmar hopes to build trust internationally by joining the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, a process that shows accountability and transparency in the mining and hydrocarbons sectors. Given the huge demand for Myanmar minerals and the positive bearing of the government, it is expected that sizeable new exploration and production projects will get underway in the next few years. This chapter contains an interview with Dr Myint Aung, Minister of Mines.

While estimates may vary, the sector contributes 43% to GDP and employs 70% of the working population, according to the World Bank. Almost everything can be grown in Myanmar, from tropical fruits and vegetables to rice and pulses. It is sometimes said to have the most fertile soil in Asia. The country is known for its rice, teak and mangoes, but it also produces rubber, oil seeds, cotton, corn, chillies and pulses, with a total of 60 crops grown. If the country manages to avoid the pitfalls of agriculture that have challenged other countries in the region and works to best practices, success will build on success and a healthy agricultural market will be restored. This chapter contains an interview with U Ye Min Aung, Secretary General, Myanmar Rice Federation (MRF) and Managing Director, Myanmar Agribusiness Public Corporation (MAPCO).

Myanmar is being hailed as the next Vietnam, which kicked off a multi-decade construction boom when it opened up to the world in the 1990s. With much of Myanmar’s housing stock in poor shape and cities expected to grow rapidly, demand for middle-class urban apartments will be a powerful driver of growth. And with the country’s limited domestic capacity and wide range of construction needs, there are plentiful opportunities for foreign investors, international construction firms, and sellers of construction equipment materials. The biggest recent legal change for the industry was a reform to the Foreign Investment Law in 2012 that allows foreign investors in real estate to operate without domestic joint venture partners through build-operate-transfer lease agreements with the government. But developers have a long way to go to catch up with demand, and the pace of development is still restrained by the limited availability of prime land and domestic financing. This chapter contains interviews with U Kyaw Lwin, Minister of Construction; and U Aung Zaw Naing, Group CEO, Shwe Taung Development Co.

Until September 2013 there was only one telecoms provider, which has run the mobile network and backbone gateway for Myanmar since their construction. In 2013, two new international telecoms players entered Myanmar, providing the modern and affordable services necessary to bring the country into the 21st century. With 55m unconnected citizens, these firms have the opportunity to tackle one of the final frontiers for mobile penetration. However, Myanmar’s telecoms sector remains one of the most underdeveloped in the world, and immense challenges lie ahead for the international giants as well as the local government and domestic providers. Meanwhile, the doors have been opened for local and foreign firms to begin expanding the IT space and some 700 companies are now registered with the Myanmar Computer Federation. In 2014 Myanmar’s IT industry will see an explosion of activity that promises to transform almost every other sector of the economy over the coming years. Yet experience and training are severely lacking at present, and education will need to catch up quickly with the rush of technology if the country is to take full advantage of the trend. This chapter contains interviews with U Myat Hein, Minister of Communications and Information Technology; Ross Cormack, CEO, Ooredoo Myanmar; Ren Geng, Managing Director, Huawei; and U Shane Thu Aung, Vice-Chairman, RedLink Communications; and a viewpoint from Eric Schmidt, CEO, Google.

The energy sector is the great, untapped potential on which much of Myanmar’s hopes are pinned. One of the world’s first oil producers, Myanmar is emerging in the 21st century as a key producer of natural gas. The country’s vast rivers are also well suited to hydroelectric dams. The lion’s share of sector investment has been aimed at the export market as low electric tariffs and an inefficient centrally planned gas distribution system limit expansion of the public energy grid. Already the main source of the country’s electric power production, hydropower output has the potential to be boosted 40 times. Myanmar faces challenges, however, with an underpowered and overloaded energy grid. Furthermore, the pace of new supply additions is unlikely to keep pace with rapidly growing domestic and international demand. Over the longer term, offshore gas exploration is set to bear substantial fruit and large hydropower projects are expected to be revived, which will ultimately accelerate industrial development. This chapter contains interviews with U Khin Maung Soe, Union Minister, Ministry of Electric Power; U Zay Yar Aung, Minister of Energy; U Moe Myint, Chairman and CEO, MPRL E&P, and CEO, Myint & Associates; Jean-Marie Guillermou, Senior Vice-President Asia Pacific, Total Exploration & Production; and Ken Tun, CEO, Parami Energy Group of Companies.