RANGOON — The Myanmar Investment Commission (MIC) was reshuffled on Tuesday to include 11 new members, the President’s Office announced on Wednesday.
Kyaw Win, Minister of National Planning and Finance, was appointed chairman, and Than Myint, Minister of Commerce, was appointed vice chairman.
Among the other members of the reconstituted MIC are Attorney General Tun Tun Oo and permanent secretaries from the commerce, national planning and finance, and resources and environmental conservation ministries. There is also one new member from the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI).
Aung Naing Oo, former secretary of the MIC, has been selected again for a similar post.
Since April, more than 100 investment proposals, for both foreign and local projects, have been awaiting approval due to the stalled reform of the MIC.
“We could only approve proposals once the MIC was reconstituted,” Aung Naing Oo said.
But Maung Maung Lay, vice president of the UMFCCI, said that this reshuffled MIC seems similar to its previous iteration—Burma’s Minister of National Planning and Finance has once again been selected for the chairman position—and he questioned whether the new MIC members would be able to avoid making the same mistakes as their predecessors.
“There should be more experts on the MIC, and I expected there to be greater representation from the private sector, but I’ve only seen one, from the UMFCCI,” he said.
The MIC played a key role in making small amendments to the Foreign Investment and Citizens Investment laws. A draft law which would merge the two and include new references to responsible business is currently on its fifth version, but has not yet been submitted to Parliament.
