It\'s time to explore business opportunities in Myanmar

A number of Bangladesh business leaders living in Yangon for more than a decade say as the resource-rich South East Asian country Myanmar is opening up its economy, it offers  plenty of opportunities for businesses. Bangladesh needs to give a push to further improve its ties with this newly-emerging democratic neighbour in all areas. They think, despite being a close neighbour, Bangladesh is yet to explore 'tremendous' business potential such as bilateral trade, investment and other forms of economic cooperation with Myanmar. Other countries, including India and China, are advanced well ahead of Bangladesh in such fields of economic cooperation with Myanmar.
For Bangladesh to gain maximum benefit utilising its proximity with Myanmar, the business leaders laid emphasis on enhanced people-to-people contact, boosting trust and image between the two countries along with establishing smooth connectivity, especially direct shipping links. Managing Director of Bay Line Shipping PTE Limited Capt Quamruddin Ahmed, who has been living in Myanmar for the last 18 years, said there is 'tremendous prospect' for Bangladesh to benefit by enhancing business relation with Myanmar if it can have better diplomatic ties with it. He said, "India is enjoying very good relations with Myanmar. If India can why not Bangladesh?  We can have better and friendly relations with Myanmar. Initiatives need to be taken at the government level to address the problems we see in our exiting bilateral relations".
Managing Director of Trust Technologies Limited Bijan Bishi, who has been living in Yangon for 16 years, said Myanmar, which has recently re-emerged on the global stage after 50 years of isolation, is now a country of over 50 million people and it is opening up its economy to the outer world. He said that "everybody's doing business here. Only we're (Bangladeshis) lagging behind". He suggested that the Bangladesh government needs to do whatever is needed for improving relations with Myanmar as there is huge scope for doing business there. Currently India is the fifth largest trade partner of Myanmar and in the fiscal year 2013-2014 the bilateral trade between the two countries climbed up to US$ 2.18 billion while the annual bilateral trade between Bangladesh and Myanmar stands at only US$100 million. Both Bangladesh and Myanmar hope to raise the figure to US$500 million with the introduction of a shipping line. According to the business leaders, Bangladesh has a target of US$1 billion trade between the two countries by 2020.  
Country Manager of Searle Company Limited in Myanmar Abul Kalam Azad Khan, who is living for 11 years, said since Myanmar is now on the road to democracy, it will develop all the systems, including smooth banking system in line with the global needs for doing modern business. He said that they're developing all necessary infrastructure. For Bangladeshis, there is a vast scope in Myanmar.
The Bangladesh-Myanmar Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BMCCI) maintains that though many talk about trust deficit between the two countries, enhancing people-to-people contact and ensuring smooth connectivity with Myanmar through sea, air, road, rail and banking will automatically remove all the gaps. It said that though the chamber is supposed to be the leader in the race, it is unfortunate that they - the Bangladeshi businesspeople - remained behind all in terms of exploring business opportunities in Myanmar. However, it sees a ray of hope as there has been 'some progress' in terms of establishing connectivity. It says that 'connectivity is the key. Once connectivity is established in all forms, we'll remain well ahead of others who're now much ahead of us".
However, appreciating government efforts, the business leaders said Biman Bangladesh Airlines introduced Dhaka-Yangon direct flight first but it was very costly. They say that 'then we encouraged private airline Novoair to operate flights on the same route and the fare came down to Tk 22-23,000".
According to the BMCCI, for Bangladesh the need now is to give priority to establish direct shipping link with Myanmar and the protocol needs to be signed as soon as possible. It needs to be mentioned here that Bangladesh and Thailand are working on modalities to start direct coastal shipping, connecting the Chittagong Port in the Bay of Bengal with the Yangon Port in the east of the Andaman coast in south-western Thailand.
Smooth connectivity in all forms is the key to boost business ties between the two countries, said the BMCCI.  If Bangladesh now wants to import or export goods through sea, it will have to do it via Singapore. It is time-consuming and costly, too. The BMCCI said, "If the sea connectivity is established with Myanmar through signing of necessary protocol, we'll definitely remain ahead of all".
The BMCCI said, referring to inadequate banking facilities, grounds need to be prepared for Bangladeshi private banks to operate in Myanmar. Through required banking connectivity with the presence of private banks, cost will be reduced and the process for opening letter of credit (LC) will be easier. Now Sonali Bank plays a role which is not adequate as described by the chamber leaders. Moreover, Bangladesh has its presence in Myanmar now on a very limited scale in some areas like IT, RMG and pharmaceuticals. The business leaders say there are many areas to explore in Myanmar which can bring benefits for both Bangladesh and Myanmar.
       The Managing Director of Novoair observed that Myanmar, 'endowed' in rich natural resources and situated in the fastest growing region of the world, is now 'opening up' to the outer world. He said, "Many global companies have already gained access to investment there while many are trying to gain access. We're committed to facilitating Bangladeshi businesspeople to explore opportunities there through smooth flight connectivity". At the same time, the Novoair MD said they want to promote people-to-people contact between the two countries. Majority Buddhist nationals of Myanmar can be attracted to Bangladesh as it offers attractive tourist spots specifically the Buddhist heritage sites in the country.  
      Led by a successful new democratic leadership of Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar is preparing to take a historic leap into unexplored territory, having only known democracy for 14 of its 1,000 years of recorded history. Suu Kyi scored a stunning victory in last year's national parliamentary elections. Bangladesh hopes she will take quick and fruitful initiatives to solve the current Rohingya problem that exists between the two neighbourly countries to give successful vent to taping of business and trading opportunities for the welfare of both the peoples of the two countries.  
The writer is a retired Professor of Economics, BCS General Education Cadre.  
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