Business in Burma and Predictions of Western Lackeys at Home

An interesting article was published in groundviews.org titled doing business with Myanmar http://www.groundviews.org/2007/08/31/doing-business-with-myanmar. In that article, the writer mentions that Sri Lanka has made an error in doing business with Myanmar/Burma. "The vice chairman of the CCC is reported to have addressed the visitors with the words, 'This is an opportunity to extend our friendship for a fruitful partnership'. The writer says he "wondered if those attending realized who they were befriending, and the possible consequences of this attempted friendship".

The article goes on to claim that Sri Lanka has been 'opportunistic' in seeking business partnerships with Myanmar and that we should guard ourselves against this because 'The West is Watching'. The writer further claims that western governments are "frustrated by opportunistic Asian countries that continue to coddle the Junta, and that Sri Lanka has been scurrying to join that opportunistic bandwagon."

The writer is full of fear that the business deal with the Junta would invoke the wreath of the Western Powers by "getting in to bed with Myanmar’s Junta". He says that "in the US Congress..one mention on the congressional floor of our “friendship and fruitful partnership” could well destroy the hard earned and much deserved chances of the Apparel sector."

This is a pathetic analysis, to say the least. It is true that the United States has enforced economic sanctions on Myanmar, including a ban on the importation of Burmese products to the US and a ban on US persons providing financial services to Burma. However, there's another side to this story. International Financial Institutions (IFIs) like the IMF and ADB have continued to invest in Myanmar. They have not heeded warnings by Human Rights organizations against investing in Myanmar. There is a simple explanation to this. Firstly, IFIs are profit motivated. Secondly, Myanmar is a natural resource rich nation. These natural resources include petroleum, natural gas, timber, tin, antimony, zinc, copper, tungsten, lead, coal, some marble, limestone, precious stones, and hydropower.

The other important issue is that International Financial Institutions are operated, funded and staffed by the same powerful western states that are campaigning for Human Rights in Myanmar and have imposed economic sanctions on it to appear politically correct, whilst indirectly profiting from the same Chaos. But perhaps the most unfortunate situation of all is to find Sri Lankan Pundits trying to be lackeys of the West by quickly ringing alarm-bells as soon as Sri Lanka, who has not had the best of luck recently in terms of economics, tries to enter into legitimate business deals with Myanmar!