Top business groups to sign pact on scheme to ease entry to 'last frontier'
By Andrea Ong, The Straits Times, 4 Apr 2013
YANGON - The top business chambers of Singapore and Myanmar will sign an agreement today to develop a programme for executives from Singapore to learn more about the intricacies of doing business here.
The programme, announced by the Singapore Business Federation (SBF) yesterday, will involve a week-long immersion stint in Yangon, where participants will get to build contacts and learn first-hand about a market which has been described as the last investment frontier of Asia.
SBF chairman Tony Chew said in a statement that he is happy about working with the Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry on this scheme, which is co-funded and supported by International Enterprise (IE) Singapore and falls under its International Business Fellowship, IE Singapore's overseas training programme.
The programme to help Singapore businesses venture into Myanmar was made public on the day President Tony Tan Keng Yam met about 200 Singaporeans who have already made the leap.
Speaking at a dinner reception in Yangon hosted by Singapore's ambassador to Myanmar, Mr Robert Chua, Dr Tan noted that Myanmar remains a challenging environment although its prospects as a "frontier economy" have attracted much excitement and visitors.
Before the guests tucked into Singapore fare like laksa and chicken rice, Dr Tan applauded the Singaporean community in Myanmar for "venturing out of their comfort zone to work and live here" while bringing the Singapore spirit of gotong-royong (Malay for community help) with them.
But Dr Tan also urged the community to stay connected to home.
He said: "All of you are integral to Singapore. All of you are important to Singapore. I encourage you to remain connected to home while you're here and to keep up to date with the latest developments in Singapore."
The SBF scheme comes in the wake of a surge of interest by Singapore companies in investing in Myanmar after its government introduced major political and economic reforms from 2011. Last year, SBF held three business missions to Myanmar involving 260 participants from 178 companies.
Yesterday, Mr Chew led a delegation of 32 chief executives from companies interested in venturing into Myanmar who arrived in Yangon on SBF's highest-level mission to the country thus far.
Straits Trading CEO and SBF delegate Sheikh Babu Nooruddin, 49, said the new training scheme by the two countries' business federations is a good way of getting Singaporean executives in touch with the realities of doing business in Myanmar.
Having lived in Myanmar for 24 years, he said he was fortunate as his Myanmarese wife could explain the red tape and complexities of the local market to him.
On his first day in Yangon, Dr Tan also laid a wreath and paid his respects at the Martyrs' Mausoleum, which was built as a tribute to Myanmar's founding fathers, who were assassinated in 1947.