Check out the full article here

The abrupt exit of one of Myanmar’s leading reformist ministers from the helm of the government’s powerful investment commission has raised fresh questions about President Thein Sein’s ambitious reform agenda and unsettled investors.

U Soe Thane, a key figure in a small group of so-called “super ministers” in the president’s office, will be replaced as chairman of the Myanmar Investment Commission (MIC) by the finance minister, Win Shein …

Given Mr Soe Thane’s role as an interface with foreign investors, “more clarity about these changes – and how they affect the review and approval process for projects – would be very welcome”, said Romain Caillaud, managing director at Vriens & Partners, a Yangon-based consultant.

Check out the full article here

YANGON, Myanmar — The higher education system in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, was gutted during 50 years of military rule, which ended in 2011.

When student protests in 1988 spread across the country, the result was thousands of deaths and arrests at the hands of the military regime. The junta banished undergraduates from urban campuses to prevent more demonstrations.

Scholars lost touch with the outside world and were fired if they conducted research unacceptable to the state. The government nationalized universities, rendering administrations beholden to state ministries. Many campuses were allowed to decay, becoming overgrown with weeds ….

“Our staff is overloaded,” said Kyaw Min Htun, a retired prorector at the Yangon Institute of Economics. “Our campus has no division of labor.”

The education system in Myanmar has been isolated for so long that it may take time for students and educators to catch up to international standards.

Check out the full article here.

A bid by one of Myanmar’s tycoons to tap foreign capital through a backdoor listing in Singapore has been rejected by the Singapore Exchange. The SGX has cited the tycoon, U Zaw Zaw, being on the US sanctions list as reason for rejecting the $70-million reverse takeover deal …

Hans W Vriens, managing partner at Vriens & Partners, said: “This list is dynamic. Around 100 Myanmar businessmen are currently on the list, and quite a few are very busy trying to get off the list. Zaw Zaw, unfortunately for him, is the poster child for crony businessmen, or the ultimate crony businessman in Myanmar. But he’s clearly trying to change as well. And the fact that he was trying to get his listing in Singapore and launch a major PR campaign in Singapore shows you, if he wants to grow his business, he needs access to capital and needs to become somehow respectable.”

(Click on the images to enlarge)

Check out the full article here.

As Aung San Suu Kyi’s opposition party seeks to morph from a symbol of defiance into a party that can actually govern Myanmar, it finds itself hobbled by an aging leadership and sniping from former supporters over compromises it has begun to make. Starting Friday, the National League for Democracy will hold its first national congress since its founding in 1988, a huge milestone in the country’s shift from military dictatorship toward democracy. But the party that for decades operated under repression faces several challenges in the transition into a competitive political organization in time for 2015 elections, when Ms. Suu Kyi has indicated she will run for president…

“Decision-making and influence within the party has been very much centered upon one individual. Even very senior party members defer to [Ms. Suu Kyi], unwilling to take decisions without consulting her,” said Daniel Gelfer, a director at political consultancy Vriens & Partners in Myanmar.

Check out the full article here.

Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s party is on course to win Bangkok’s governor election for the first time, dealing a blow to opponents aligned with royalist groups who have held the capital since 2004 …

An election loss for Abhisit’s Democrats will trigger calls to revamp the party, according to Daniel Giles, a director at Vriens & Partners, a Singapore-based political risk firm.

“It should lead to some soul-searching,” he said. “The Democrats’ failure to reform and seeming lack of ability to widen their appeal is a big concern for the future of Thai democracy.”

Check out the full article here

Thein Sein has no position on changes to the constitution and would support whatever parliament decides, Ye Htut, his spokesman, said by phone. His Union Solidarity and Development Party also takes no position, lawmaker Win Myint said by phone. He noted that the rule affecting Suu Kyi has been in previous Myanmar constitutions and was used last year to block the vice- presidential nomination of Myint Swe, a military officer.

So far Suu Kyi appears to be “doing quite well” in convincing the military she doesn’t pose a threat, according to Hans Vriens, managing partner of Vriens & Partners, a Singapore- based political risk firm.

The talk and the following Q&A will observe the Chatham House Rule.

Date:                     Tuesday, 19^th February 2013

Time:                     07.45am – 09:00am

Cost:                     Complimentary – Tea, coffee, fruit juice and light snacks provided

Venue:                 By Invitation only

About the Speaker

Parag Khanna is a leading geo-strategist, world traveller, and author. He is Director of the Hybrid Reality Institute, Senior Research Fellow at the New America Foundation, Visiting Fellow at LSE IDEAS, Senior Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, Senior Fellow at the Singapore Institute of International Affairs, and Adjunct Professor in the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore. He is author of Hybrid Reality: Thriving in the Emerging Human-Technology Civilization (2012), the international bestseller The Second World: Empires and Influence in the New Global Order (2008) and How to Run the World: Charting a Course to the Next Renaissance (2011). In 2008, Parag was named one of Esquire’s “75 Most Influential People of the 21st Century,” and featured in WIRED magazine’s “Smart List.” Parag is regularly featured in media around the world such as the New York Times, TIME, Financial Times, and Wall Street Journal, and appears regularly on CNN, BBC, Al Jazeera, PBS, and NPR. He holds a PhD from the London School of Economics, and Bachelors and Masters degrees from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. Born in India, Parag grew up in the United Arab Emirates, New York, and Germany. He has travelled to more than 100 countries and is a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.

]]> http://www.vrienspartners.com/vp-breakfast-briefing-asia-for-asians-is-the-region-coming-together-or-falling-apart.html/feed 0 http://www.vrienspartners.com/reuters-mobile-revolution-in-myanmar-is-on-the-cards-but-too-slow-for-many.html http://www.vrienspartners.com/reuters-mobile-revolution-in-myanmar-is-on-the-cards-but-too-slow-for-many.html#comments Fri, 25 Jan 2013 09:54:25 +0000 admin http://www.vrienspartners.com/?p=816 Continue reading →]]> By Jeremy Wagstaff | 20 Jan 2013

Check out the full article here

Sources close to the ministry say [former Telecommunications Minister Thein Tun] departure had been rumored for several months, but the timing was unexpected, and raises questions about what might happen next.

“It’s been a bit of an earthquake; now we need to sit back and watch, see which buildings fall down,” said one source close to the ministry who, like others interviewed, declined to be named for fear of jeopardizing business relationships with the ministry and its companies.

Not everyone is concerned. Romain Caillaud, a Yangon-based consultant with Vriens and Partners, says both the notice and the resignation “should accelerate the liberalization and growth of the telecom sector.”

Major foreign telecommunications companies are likely to submit expressions of interest ahead of the deadline of January 25, say experts.

Check out the full article here

Myanmar’s government has begun the process of opening up the country’s telecoms industry, inviting foreign companies to submit expressions of interest for two national licences by January 25.

The licences, to be issued by June, will be the first of four telecoms licences planned for the sector and could run as long as 20 years with an option for renewal, the government said in a statement on Tuesday.

Yangon-based analysts said the progress of the telecoms tender would be an important signal for foreign investors. “How this process is handled by the Myanmar government and its tender evaluation committee will be an indicator and litmus test of what can be expected with further licensing processes,” said Romain Caillaud, managing partner in Yangon of consultant Vriens & Partners.