Russia has joined China and India in promoting its interests in war-ravaged Myanmar, in particular the possibility of investing in the Dawei Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Tanintharyi Region in southern Myanmar.
On Tuesday, Russian Ambassador to Myanmar Iskander Azizov flew to Dawei, the capital of Tanintharyi Region, to discuss the implementation of the Dawei SEZ with junta-appointed Tanintharyi Region Chief Minister Myat Ko and the junta-appointed Dawei SEZ Management Committee chairman.
In March last year, junta chief Min Aung Hlaing told Russia’s ITAR-TASS media agency that his regime was seeking Moscow’s help to kickstart the port project in Dawei, which would have capacity for vessels exceeding 200,000 tons.
The Russian ambassador’s visit to Tanintharyi followed a recent flurry of junta meetings in which high-level regime officials called for the urgent expediting of China-backed SEZ and deep-sea port projects in Rakhine State’s Kyaukphyu, as well as the Indian ambassador’s visit to Rakhine’s capital Sittwe to review the India-backed Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project.
Earlier this month, Chinese Ambassador to Myanmar Ma Jia met Myat Ko in Tanintharyi’s Kawthaung to exchange views on promoting cooperation in investment, fisheries, electricity, tourism, vocational education and other fields, according to the Chinese Embassy.
The Russian ambassador also expressed Moscow’s interest in the investment and tourism sectors in Tanintharyi, inquiring about tourist hotspots in Myeik District like beaches and islands, the number of foreign travelers visiting those places, and local and foreign investment in hotel projects in the Myeik Archipelago.
On Jan. 14, at a meeting of the Myanmar SEZ Central Working Committee in Naypyitaw, the body’s chairman, Minister of Investment and Foreign Economic Relations Kan Zaw, touted the Dawei SEZ as a potential trade hub for Southeast Asia, urging that the project’s momentum be maintained and foreign investors wooed.
The SEZ sits on the Andaman Sea and is linked to the Gulf of Thailand by road via Thailand. It could potentially connect the Indian and Pacific oceans, linking Southeast Asia with South Asia and beyond.
It could also play a vital role in Japan’s Mekong Southern Economic Corridor, which aims to connect Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand to southern Myanmar.
The 196-square-km project includes a deep-sea port and is expected to help companies that need to transport goods, as it would be part of an envisioned transport network bypassing the crowded Malacca Strait. The planned project also includes high-tech industrial zones, information technology zones, export-processing, transport hubs, business services and other infrastructure.
The project was launched with a 2008 memo of understanding (MOU) between Thailand and Myanmar’s previous junta, which granted Thai firm Italian-Thai Development a 75-year concession to construct the port-SEZ and attract investment.
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 in January 2021, just one month before the coup in Myanmar.
In November 2022, junta boss Min Aung Hlaing visited the Dawei SEZ and called for its continued implementation. In early 2024, deputy junta chief Soe Win told a meeting of the Myanmar SEZ Central Committee that Myanmar must cooperate with the Thai government, which had shown renewed interest in the project.
Since then, Russia, a major ally and key arms supplier of the regime, has expressed interest in the long-delayed SEZ project.
Just as the Chinese-backed Kyaukphyu project in Rakhine is caught in the conflict between the regime and the ethnic Arakan Army, there are ongoing armed conflicts between the regime and revolutionary forces in Tanintharyi, resulting in skepticism about the junta’s ability to resume the stalled projects.
