European Chamber of Commerce of Myanmar held an event to present the results of EU Business Confidence Survey on December 12.
EuroCham Chairman David Levrant opened the event with a speech on European-Myanmar business relations and Director General Aung Soe from the Myanmar Trade Promotion Organization at the Ministry of Commerce shared data on improving EU-Myanmar trade relations. EuroCham Executive Director Filip Lauwerysen then presented the key results of the Business Confidence Survey followed by a panel discussion on the business environment in Myanmar. Speakers from the EuroCham advocacy groups – energy and construction shared on behalf their sectors what kind of difficulties and opportunities they see for doing business in Myanmar. Head of Roland Berger Myanmar Dieter Billen discussed what the government could do to speed up the economic development.
The key findings presented at the event were as follows:
- For the next three years, the 56 European company respondents have budgeted reinvestment plans of a minimum of 660 million euro up to 1.39 billion euro in total.
- The main challenge for doing business in Myanmar for European businesses are the regulatory issues and legal uncertainty.
- The main reason for European companies to come and do business in Myanmar is the opportunities in Myanmar’s domestic market.
- 31% of businesses state that the business environment has improved, whereas 61% feel it has remained about the same.
- 46% of the European companies currently active in Myanmar started their operations after 2011. EuroCham serves as the voice of European business in Myanmar. Its main mission is to significantly increase the presence of European companies in the country and to facilitate market access particularly for European SMEs – by advocating for member interests with the government and organisations in Myanmar, the ASEAN region and the EU.