Russia’s visiting minister for Economic Development, Maxim Reshetnikov, on Sunday signed an agreement to kickstart the stalled Dawei Special Economic Zone (SEZ) and port project in Myanmar’s southern Tanintharyi Region.
The memorandum to construct a port, coal-fired thermal power plant, and oil refinery in Dawei was signed by Reshetnikov and Kan Zaw, junta minister for investment and foreign economic relations, on the sidelines of the Myanmar-Russia Intergovernmental Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation, in Naypyitaw, according to Russian news agency Interfax.
The agreement comes one year after junta chief Min Aung Hlaing declared last March that his regime was seeking Moscow’s help to kickstart the Dawei deep-sea port project for vessels exceeding 200,000 tons.
Russia, a key ally and arms supplier to the junta, has been ramping up plans for investment in Myanmar. On January 21, Russian Ambassador to Myanmar Iskander Azizov flew to Tanintharyi’s capital to discuss implementation of the Dawei SEZ with the region’s junta-appointed chief minister, Myat Ko, and its Dawei SEZ Management Committee chairman.
Interfax quoted Reshetnikov as stating that the memorandum outlines the basic parameters of large infrastructure and energy projects being jointly implemented with Russian companies in Myanmar.
The Russian minister said a feasibility study for the cargo port is underway, and work on the thermal power plant is ongoing, with a feasibility study agreement being drafted.
“[T]he Myanmar side wishes to have its own oil refinery,” he said, adding that Russian companies were studying the economic viability of investing in a refinery. “We’re making requests, requesting additional consultations to understand the size of the market, what its defense is like, what export capacities are like.”
Located on the Andaman coast close to the Gulf of Thailand, the stalled Dawei Special Economic Zone (SEZ) and port project aims to turn a 196-square-kilometer zone in Yebyu Township into Southeast Asia’s largest industrial and trade zone.
The project launched in 2008 with a memorandum of understanding between Thailand and Myanmar, wherein the previous junta granted Italian-Thai Development a 75-year concession to construct and attract investment to the port-SEZ.
Another MoU was signed in July 2012 and the two countries agreed later that year to complete the project by 2015.
However, after numerous delays, the Dawei SEZ Management Committee announced the cancellation of contracts with Italian-Thai Development in January 2021, just one month before the coup in Myanmar.
Before signing the fresh MOU, the Russian minister met junta chief Min Aung Hlaing for talks on economic cooperation in all sectors.
Since the coup, Russia has emerged as the junta’s main international ally, strengthening energy cooperation via projects such as a Yangon-bound gas pipeline and plans for a Russian-built nuclear research reactor.
However, the latest MOU between the two regimes is overshadowed by ongoing fighting between junta troops and resistance groups in the Dawei SEZ-port project area.
