The Irrawaddy
Land Lost, Families Uprooted as Myanmar Pushes Industrial Zones
Than Ei lived in the Thilawa area near Yangon for years, growing vegetables in her backyard and sending her two children to school with money from her husband’s construction job. Then came the government order to move. Than Ei’s family was among 68 households relocated in ...
Myanmar: Tanintharyi Chief Minister Arrested on Bribery, Corruption Charges
Tanintharyi Region Chief Minister Daw Lei Lei Maw was arrested on bribery and corruption charges in Dawei on Sunday, according to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC). ACC spokesperson U Kyaw Soe confirmed to The Irrawaddy that the chief minister has been detained at Dawei Myoma Police Station, ...
China’s Six Belt and Road Projects in Myanmar to Watch in 2019
The Myanmar government recently agreed to begin work on key projects under the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor (CMEC) agreement which is part of Chinese’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative. Experts, including voices from the World Bank, have pointed out that Myanmar’s growth will largely depend on ...
Number of Journalists Jailed For Doing Job Near Record High: Report
A near-record number of journalists around the world are behind bars for their work, including two Reuters reporters whose imprisonment in Myanmar has drawn international criticism, according to a report released on Thursday. There were 251 journalists jailed for doing their jobs as of Dec. 1, the ...
Is Myanmar Ready to Become a Regional Trade and Supply Hub?
apanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe recently pledged to promote more than 150 quality infrastructure projects in five nations in the Mekong River subregion—Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos—under a new blueprint, the Tokyo Strategy 2018 for Mekong-Japan Cooperation, which will be effective from 2019 to ...
New Strategies Needed as EAOs Adapt to Changes in Drug Demand
There is both good news and bad news for Myanmar on the drug front: a sharp decline in opium cultivation and a shift toward synthetic drugs, especially methamphetamine. In the past 20 years, opium cultivation has declined to 41,000 hectares, a 75 percent drop from ...
INGOs Discourage Repatriation for their Own Interests: Gov’t Spokesperson
The Myanmar government’s spokesperson U Zaw Htay has accused international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) of deliberately discouraging refugees in Bangladesh from returning to Myanmar due to their own business interests. Speaking at the government’s press conference on Friday, U Zaw Htay, also director-general of the President’s ...
Myanmar Fails to Advance in World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business List
Myanmar showed no improvement in its overall ranking in the World Bank’s latest ease of doing business index, retaining the No. 171 spot it held last year—and remaining the least favorable ASEAN member country in which to conduct business. Keep reading ...
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to Join Mekong-Japan Summit in Tokyo
State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi will leave for Japan on Friday to take part in the 10th Mekong-Japan Summit to discuss ways to connect industries and improve infrastructure in the Mekong region. The state counselor will also visit a farm in Fukushima Prefecture ...
Investors Dissatisfied With Government’s Lack of Direction on Economy
Impatient with the sluggishness of the economy, local investors are losing confidence in the pace of economic reform and blame it on a lack of direction by the National League for Democracy (NLD)-led government after two-and-a-half years of its administration. Keep reading ...
