Myanmar Morning News For March 28

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Myanmar picks outspoken lawmaker as new president
The promotion of former lower house speaker Win Myint as Myanmar’s president Wednesday could signal a change in the country’s power structure where State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi reigns supreme, but much still remains unclear.
— Nikkei Asian Review (metered paywall)

UN chief ‘shocked’ by top Myanmar general’s comments on Rohingya
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres expressed “shock” at comments by Myanmar’s military chief in which he said the Rohingya minority shared nothing in common with the rest of the population and that their demand for citizenship had stoked recent violence.
— Channel NewsAsia 

China freezes Myanmar traders’ accounts
Chinese authorities have frozen seven bank accounts owned by Myanmar traders who do business along the border in northern Shan state, claiming that the funds they contain are linked to illegal gambling activities, RFA reported on 26 March.
— Mizzima

Torching hornets nest causes 20 rai forest fire in Mae Hong Son
Two men from Myanmar have been arrested for inadvertently causing a forest fire that damaged some 20 rai of forest in the Khun Yuam district of Mae Hong Son province.
— The Thaiger 

Myanmar still ‘super challenging’
Family-run firms, a lack of transparency and murky money networks in the former junta-led country continue to make doing business in Myanmar “super challenging”, a new study mapping the country’s top companies said on Monday.
— The Manila Times 

Myanmar agrees to take back Rohingyas from Bangladesh, says envoy Syed Muazzem Ali
Following intense engagement and continuous global pressures, Myanmar last week entered an agreement with Bangladesh to repatriate, in phases, the Rohingyas who took refuge there, Bangladesh High Commissioner to India Syed Muazzem Ali said on Tuesday.
— Financial Express 

IFC proposes to invest $15m in KM Terminal and Logistics’ port projects in Myanmar
KM Terminal and Logistics Limited Myanmar (KMTL), backed by Hong-Kong based Asian third-party logistics firm, Kerry Logistics Network (KLN), is likely to receive an investment of $15 million from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private lending arm of the World Bank Group, to undertake development of green field dry ports in Myanmar.
— DealStreetAsia 

Business communities of Myanmar, China exchange views on bilateral economic cooperation
Business communities of Myanmar and China exchanged views on bilateral cooperation in economic, trade and investment here on Monday.
— Global Times 

Basic Energy expects to finalize Myanmar solar power deal in April
De Venecia-led Basic Energy Corp. is targeting to seal a deal by April to invest in two Thai firms that clinched the contract for a 220-megawatt (MW) solar power plant project in Myanmar.
— The Manila Times 

Mobile money services make waves in Myanmar
Brad Jones wasn’t sure what to expect when he moved to Yangon in early 2015 to become chief executive of a two-year-old fintech outfit with high hopes of revolutionizing mobile financial services in one of Asia’s poorest countries.
— Euro Money 

‘I feel helpless’: Abuses plague Myanmar’s Kachin conflict
It is Armed Forces Day in Myanmar, which marks the beginning of the military’s resistance to Japanese occupation in 1945.
— Al Jazeera 

Thai court orders UK activist defending Myanmar workers to pay company
A court in Bangkok on Monday ordered a British labour rights activist to pay 10 million baht (US$321,000) in damages to a company that filed a civil defamation suit after he helped expose alleged human rights violations at its factory.
— The Myanmar Times

Suspects in Myanmar Warehouse Theft Tortured by Local Police
Two fishermen accused of stealing money and supplies from a warehouse in Myanmar’s Irrawaddy division have been tortured under questioning by police, with both men suffering burns to their genitalia and injuries from blows to their face, a rights worker says.
— Radio Free Asia 

39 companies eye Yadanarpon Cyber City project
Thirty-nine local and foreign companies have expressed interest to build the New Mandalay Resort City project, also known as Yadanarpon Cyber City, in Pyin Oo Lwin township, the region’s Housing and Urban Development Department said.
— The Myanmar Times

Tatmadaw Chief Calls on All Citizens to Show ‘Myanmar Spirit’ on Armed Forces Day
Myanmar’s military, the Tatmadaw, is sincerely working with hope and respect to achieve lasting peace and strengthen the country’s system of multiparty democracy, Defense Services commander-in-chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing said on Tuesday to mark the 73rd Armed Forces Day.
— The Irrawaddy

Price of higher-end vehicles fall after tax reduction
Some high-end cars are looking a little cheaper following a reduction in taxes on special goods under the new 2018 Union Tax Law, which was signed into legislation on March 20.
— The Myanmar Times 

Feature photo Christopher Michel

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Myanmar morning news by AEC News Today is your one stop source for Myanmar news on matters of governance and policies affecting Asean business communities. It is published M-F by AEC News Today: Governance, not government; policies not politics.

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Leakhena Khat

Leakhena is a junior journalist at AEC News Today who is also currently studying International Relations, which she finds adds perspective to her work reporting on the Asean Community. “I love what I am doing so much as it gives me a lot of great experience and provides challenges to my mind set.

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