Executive Summary
Myanmar, the last frontier of Asia. With abundance of untapped natural resources and potential growth is the key to her future success.
The recent signed “Telecommunication Law” makes Myanmar the last few untouched telecommunication markets in the world.
Although sadden with poor infrastructure, the country will be abled to leverage on the “Telecommunication Law” to bring potential growth to other sectors.
Although the country is seem as corrupted and with Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) at rank 156th out of 175 countries, President Thein Sein has made many political reforms to improve the governing situation. Overseas investors are starting to gain confidence and build their businesses in Myanmar.
Myanmars main exporting commodities includes natural gas, wood products, pulses, beans, fish, pulses rice, gems, jade and clothings. And its mainly being exported to Thailand,India, China and Japan .
The opening of Japan's Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ (BTMU) is a new milestone achieved as it is the first foreign bank to operate in Myanmar for decades.
In this report, we will analyse Myanmar’s recent developments and its new found global and evalute how Myanmar should prioritise over the next 5 years.

Table of content
1 Introduction 5
2 Myanmar’s recent developments and its new found global status 6
3 Analysis of Myanmar 7
a. Political 7
i. Politics and issues 7 ii. Corruption 7
b. Economics 8
i. FDI and Investments 8 ii. Commodity 8 iii. Housing 8 iv. Banking 8
C. Social 9
i. Education 9 ii. Young growing adults 9 iii. Drug abuse 9 iv. Poverty Rate 9
d. Technological 10
i. R&D 10 ii. Infrasturture 10
d. Legal 10
i. Judcial Control 10
d. Environment 10
i. Natural Hazzards 10 ii. Enviromental Issues 11

4 Recommendations 11
a. Urban and industrial development 11
b. FDI 11
c. Tourism 11
d. Overcome corruption 11

5 Conclusion 12
6 Reference 13

1. Introduction
With a land size of 653,508 sq km, water at 23,070 sq km, land boundaries of 5,876 km, 1,930 km of coastline and population of more than 55 million, Myanmar will be the last un tap country in Southeast Asia.

Myanmar was ruled by the military from 1962 to 2010. A parliamentary elections was held in November 2010, the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party won over 75% of the seats.
The parliament was convened in 2011 and former Prime Minister THEIN SEIN was selected as the president. Although the government has initiated a series of political and economic reforms, a great number of appointees are former or current military officers.
On October 8, President Thein Sein of the union of Myanmar signed into effect the Telecommunications Law (Telecom Law), As part of Myanmar’s continuing effort to open up the country to the rest of the world.

2. Myanmar’s recent developments and its new found global status.
Since its first general election in 2010, Myanmar has ended their 4 decades of dictatorship ruling.
With a large pool of young population, Myanmar can provide an attractive labor force for foreign investment. More than 60% of the population are aged between 15 – 54 years old and another 26% under the age of 14 years old. The current Myanmar could potentially be the next rising star in Southeast Asia if she can leverage on their country resources and potential.
Myanmar is strategically located between the region's emerging countries like India and China. The country is rich in supply of natural resources such as arable land, forestry, minerals, precious stones and marine resources.
As part of Myanmar continuous effort to open up to the rest of the world, agriculture, Tourism and Telecommuction was seen as some of the major milestones.
The Myanmar government spend efforts to build good economic relationships with China and Thailand. This resulted with investors and visitors from both countries increases steadily over the years, both leisure and business. With the ease of flying to Yangon international Airport, we are starting to see more airlines offering flights to Myanmar. With Myanmar continuous effort to reform, it will definitely attracts long term serious investments from and beyond Asia.
Countries like Singapore, United of America, Japan and Thailand has also setup embassy and offices in Myanmar to facilitates their countrymen.
Myanmar main agriculture products natural gas, wood products, pulses, beans, fish, pulses rice, gems, jade and clothings.
Myanmar main industries includes agricultural processing; wood and wood related products; tin, copper, tungsten, iron; cement, construction materials; pharmaceuticals; fertilizer; oil and natural gas; garments, jade and gems
Telecommunitcation in Myanmar is used to be monopolised by the Myanmar Posts and Telecommunications, the government has clear direction to improve the current network to attracts foreign investors. With a population of more than 54 million, the growth rate for telephony, mobile phone network and internet connection will be enormous.
With the recent proposal for new telecommunications law in Myanmar, it clearly show that Myanmar is trying to attracts foreign investment to be setup in the country. To build and improve on the country connectivity and telecommunication infrastructure.
The signing of the Telecommunications Law by President Thein Sein of Myanmar in October 2013, further boost the confidence level of foreign investors, for both directly and indirectly to the telecommunication industry.
In order for Myanmar to maintain their competitive position, the country must ensure attractiveness in security for foreign investors to invest, a good communication network, transportation network and also the ease of setting up businesses in Myanmar.
3. Analysis of Myanmar’s current issues Using the PESTLE analysis to look the Myanmar current challenges.
A. Political
i. Politics and issues
Although Myanmar is no longer under military control since 2011, a lot more of works need to be done to win the trusts and confidence of overseas government and investors. As we can see that most of the ministries members are either former or current military officers. ii. Corruption
According to the Transparency International’s annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) report in 2014, Myanmar is ranked 156th out of 175 countries. Corruptions affects foreign businesses movement and opportunities.

B. Economics
i. FDI and investments
Countries such as Thailand and China, has been actively involving their businesses operations in Myanmar.
In fact, to protect Thai investors in Myanmar, both government signed an agreement to provide confidence for investors.
There should be on going talks for neighbouring countries to follow as ASEAN countries will be the main source of FDI for Myanmar growth. ii. Commodity
Myanmar main exporting commodities includes natural gas, wood products, pulses, beans, fish, pulses rice, gems, jade and clothings. And its mainly being exported to Thailand,India, China and Japan . Myanmar should continue to focus on and expand to reach out to more countries to import their commodities. iii. Housing
Half of Myanmar’s population lives in the rural areas and the rest of the people in the urban areas. High pricing, unaffordability and the lack of housing supply are some of the key issues face in Myanmar.
Due to political instabilities, there is difficulty in managing the housing issues. Housing prices in the urban areas of Myanmar can be too high for the average income earners. iv.Banking The opening of Japan's Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ (BTMU) is a new milestone achieved as it is the first foreign bank to operate in Myanmar for decades. With its new opening, it would definately strengthen the economy by providing more investment and business financing opportunities.
OCBC, Singapore's Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation, were also given approval for its operations recently.
Six additional overseas foreign banks in the Asia-Pacific region were also given preliminary approval to operate in Myanmar, and are expected to finalising their licences within months.

C. Social
i. Education
The government only spend 0.8% of GDP on educational system.
Children are only required to attend 5 compulsory years of primary education.
For education after the primary level, they must successfully write a comprehensive examination in basic academic subjects. Many of those disadvantaged ones in poorer areas simply fail to pass and proceed to the secondary level.
The educational system is generally corrupted, often reserved for children of those with government connections. ii. Young growing adults
26% of the population is under the age of 14 years old. Another 60% of the population are aged between 15 – 54 years old. With a fertility rate of 2.18 children born/woman. With the number of such young adults, there is an urgent need of participation in the workforce, to keep them out of the streets and commit crimes and turn to drugs. Vocational institute to train and increase their chances of employment. iii. Drugs abuse
The world's third largest producer of opium with an estimated production in 2012 of 690 metric tons and poppy cultivation in 2012 totaled 51,000 hectares.
The lack of government will to take on major narcotics trafficking groups and lack of serious commitment against
Illegal money laundering also continues to hinder the overall antidrug effort; major source of methamphetamine and heroin for regional consumption. iv. Poverty Rate
With an alarming poverty rate of 32.7% (2007 est.) Myanmar remains one of the poorest countries in Asia, with more than one-fourth of the country’s 60 million people live in poverty.

D. Technological
i. R&D
There is a lack of R&D allocation from the Myanmar government indicates that the government need to work harder on the R&D and protection on the country innovation and technologies. ii. Infrastructure
With the recent signing of the Telecommunication Law and being the last untapped country in South East Asia, it should capture the interests of foreign investors to setup investment related to it. There is only 5 million people in a population of 55 million with mobile phone and related services.
E. Legal
i. Judicial control
Myanmar is always rank one of the lowest in the world for law and order. Although Myanmar had since transform to a civilian government, however, it is still control by the military in all areas of decision and development. As such, foreign investors will be prone to negative impact by the governing bodies.
F. Environment
i. Natural Hazzards
Troubled by natural hazards like destructive earthquakes and cyclones. Floods and landslides are usually common during monsoon season. The country also experience dry season during October to May. ii. Environmental issues
Deforestation; industrial pollution of air, soil, and water. And inadequate sanitation and water treatment contribute to diseases.

4. Recommendation
A. Urban and industrial development
Myanmar is urbanising and need proper planning to manage its massive development. Overseas building and construction firms with proven tracks record and will be able to assist Myanmar in the related field such as urban planning and development. Power supply is one of the main key factors to grow and attracts investor in Myanmar. As more factories and major plants are being setup, it will definately create demands for a reliable power supply. There will definately be an increase of demand for electricity usage as Myanmar starts to grow. Companies with related businesses and expertise will look promising in this area.
B. FDI
With Thailand and China continued to improve their business operations in Myanmar, there is a need to showcase to the rest of the world on their success. Even country like Singapore has taken major steps to invest significantly in Myanmar. Recent opening of foreign banks strengthened investors confidence in Myanmar and It will also open up more finance options to local setup as well as foreign businesses. With Myanmar showing strong determination to improve their economic relationship with other countries, more business offices will be setting up in Myanmar.
C. Tourism
Given the country rich culture and history, the potential growth in tourism is tremendous. With the country opening up and the increase in tourism activities, it will increase economic growth via the servicing industries as well. The building of commercial buildings and theme parks will also attracts tourist interests. Related functions like hotels, shopping malls, attractions and businesses will also gain more exposure and built on it.
D. Overcome corruption
The newly form government must take more drastic actions to showcase to foreign investors and gain their confidence level. For a sustainable growth, President Thein Sein has shown efforts to the rest of the world that he is making step towards eliminating corruption in his country. As such, more foreign businesses with me more prone towards setting up businesses in Myanmar. With more foreign business setup in Myanmar, it will definitely lead to an increase in employment rate and also educational advancement.

5. Conclusion
With the new governmental changes and politcal reforms, the government has initiated a series of political and economic reforms leading to a substantial opening of the long-isolated country. Myanmar will definitely be the “Last Frontier of Asia”.
The signing of Telecommunication Law and opening of foreign banks in Myanmar further strengthened and build the confidence of all foreign investors to setup business in Myanmar.
Relevant agricultural trades will aslo benefit with the future improved access to the country capital.
Therefore, I would strongly recommend to invest in Myanmar for the years to come and be the pioneer in the building and development of Myanmar. Nevertheless, all foreign investors should be prepared for unforeseen contingencies.

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