PRESIDENT U Thein Sein of Myanmar (Burma) urged businessmen in the Philippines to invest in their country as the government completes the road to democracy with elections this April where freed Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi is a candidate.
Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said Sein issued the invitation when he paid a visit to Sein at Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar’s capital.
Del Rosario congratulated the Myanmar leadership for embarking on a series of social, political and economic reforms. These include the release of more than 2,000 political prisoners led by pro democracy leader Suu Kyi and the coming by-elections for 48 parliamentary seats.
With the Philippines’s lifting of economic sanctions against Myanmar, Sein urged Filipino businessmen to invest in various sectors of Burma’s economy such as oil and gas, agriculture, mining, forestry and timber products, development of deep sea ports, infrastructure, among others.
Foreign ministers of the two countries will meet for their first Joint Commission for Bilateral Cooperation (JCBC) to be held in Manila on June 5 and 6 this year.
JCBC is a mechanism that allows two countries to tackle issues of bilateral concerns such as trade and investment, air services, education, technical cooperation and other regional and international issues.
“The forthcoming meeting will provide the roadmap to move the relations further,” said del Rosario, stressing that his visit “ is significant because it is taking place when Myanmar is at its crossroads of history.”
Burma and the Philippines are members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) along with Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, Brunei, Laos and Cambodia.
The Philippines had been a staunch critic of the detention of Suu Kyi and the military junta ruling in Burma/Myanmar. The US and European Union have pressed for democratic reforms in Burma as they imposed economic sanctions against Burma.
The US and Europe have also criticized Asean’s failure to address rights atrocities in Burma due to its policy of non-interference and constructive engagement.
