1st Business to Business Dialogue: To promote bilateral trade and investment cooperation

The 1st Business to Business Dialogue aiming to promote bilateral trade and investment cooperation between Myanmar and Russia was held in the afternoon of 28th September 2021 with Virtual System at the meeting room of Office No (1), Ministry of Investment and Foreign Economic Relations, in Nay Pyi Taw.

Union Minister for Investment and Foreign Economic Relations U Aung Naing Oo and Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the Republic of the Union of Myanmar Dr. Nikolay LISTO PADOV made opening remarks.

The Russina  Ambassador to Myanmar, the President of the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry, the Chairman of Russia-ASEAN Business Council, the Deputy Chief of the Committee for Economic Cooperation with Countries of Asia and Oceania of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation, the President of the Siberian Association for International Cooperation with Asia and the Chair of Myanmar-Russia Friendship Association addressed keynote message respectively.

In his welcome remarks, Union Minister U Aung Naing Oo said that the Intergovernmental Russian-Myanmar Joint Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation Meeting has been agreed to be held alternately in both sides since the Commission had been formed in 2014 and the 3rdJoint Commission Meeting is planned to be hosted by Myanmar in December 2021 if when the spread of pandemic could be controlled.

The dialogue is aimed to share the information between two business communities in order to promote bilateral trade and investment. He also explained the measures focused on the trade liberalization and investment facilitation to be in line with the new normal situation and he highlighted the implementation of SMART Programmes; namely Streamlining and Simplifying Procedures, Maximizing Online Services and Minimizing Barriers to Business, Assuring After-care Services, Reducing Regulatory Burden and Transparency Enhancement.

Moreover, he informed the Russian investors the initiatives of the government on the development of the Standard Operation Procedures for One- Stop Service Center under the Myanmar Investment Commission in order to simplify and streamline the procedures of the obtaining business related licenses and permits from relevant government agencies.

He urged business communities of both sides to conduct the exchange of the business information through B2B dialogue platforms in order to achieve the fruitful outcomes of future bilateral economic cooperation. It was followed by by the presentations on “Investment Climate, Legal Framework and Opportunities to do business in Myanmar” and “Status and Future Prospect as well as opportunities of bilateral trade relations between Myanmar and Russia” respectively.

Similarly, the Russian side updated the Eurasian Economic Union’s Common System of Tariff Preferences offered by Eurasian Economic Union to the developing countries. Therefore, Myanmar can enjoy the Tariff Preferences for her exports to Russia.

The meeting discussed five potential cooperation areas; Banking and Insurance, Agriculture, Livestock and Fishery, Electricity and Energy, Oil and Gas, Food Processing Industry and Mining.

Senior Officials from Central Bank of Myanmar, Ministry of Electricity and Energy, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation and the representatives from Myanmar Banks Association, Myanmar Insurance Association, Myanmar Rice Federation, Myanmar Fishery Products, Processors and Exporters Association, Myanmar Oil and Gas Services Society, Myanmar Food Producers and Exporters Association and Myanmar Federation of Mining  Association also made presentations on the existing and future bilateral trade and investment cooperation.

After that, the Russian companies actively participated in the Q& A Session and Myanmar side frankly responded queries. From Russian side, six international companies also presented their existing business situation in the areas of Agriculture, Livestock and Fishery, Electricity and Energy, Oil and Gas, Food Processing Industry and Mining. This dialogue was attended by nearly 200 participants from both sides.