Brussels, 16/02/2015 (Agence Europe) - The EU and Burma/Myanmar concluded the first round of their negotiations, in Yangon last week (9-12 February), for an agreement on investment protection. The European Commission stated in a press release that the EU presented and explained its text proposal to the Burmese party. The next round of negotiations is planned for May.
The agreement on investment protection between the EU and Burma/Myanmar is the first stand-alone agreement of the kind negotiated by the EU, and will cover investors from the 28 EU member states as no member state has thus far concluded an agreement of this type with Burma/Myanmar. The future agreement aims to protect investors from both parties and to reserve fair treatment for them. It aims to offer protection against discrimination and uncompensated expropriation, and to guarantee the transfer of capital.
In a country that has long been closed because of the sanctions regime against the military junta - which in 2011 entrusted power to the civil government led by former general Thein Sein - the Burmese market attracts the interest of Europeans, who want access to protected sectors while guarding against an uncertain political climate. With a potentially strong agricultural and tourist market, and rich in natural resources (hydrocarbons, wood, copper and precious stones), the Burmese economy is handicapped by red tape, a lack of infrastructure and an institutional system where political and economic elites are closely linked to the army.
As a less developed country, Burma/Myanmar enjoys trade preferences from the EU that are granted as part of the Everything But Arms initiative. These preferences were re-instated on 19 July 2013, in response to the political and economic reforms undertaken in the country since 2011.
According to data from the Commission, bilateral trade in goods stood at €0.5 billion in 2013 - with €346 million in exports and €224 million in imports for the EU. According to the figures from Burma/Myanmar, the total cumulated EU investments in Burma/Myanmar rose to $3.1 billion in 2013, or 9% of the foreign investment in the country. (Emmanuel Hagry)