Myanmar Investment Commission has recently granted license to a joint venture formed by a local private company and France’s company to run agricultural businesses including a rice factory in Ayeyarwady Region, the delta region of the Ayeyarwady River.
The France’s company, Societe Industrielle Agricole Et Commercial D’ Outre Mer (SIACOM) will work with Myanmar’s XY Trading Company to operate their agribusinesses in Hinnthada Township in the region. The two have joined hands under the new company Shwe Zabar Co Ltd, which aims to set up rice mills for processing steam-rice and run other agricultural businesses there.
French investments re-entered Myanmar only in 2011 during the new government, investing US$469 million in two industry sectors that year though it had not made any business investment for over 20 years since 1988 when Myanmar enacted Foreign Direct Investment Law (FDI).
Foreign companies from 32 countries have been doing businesses according to FDI and their total investments reached over US$41 billion by this year’s June. France stands at No.8 among the countries which invested the most.
During President Thein Sein’s recent visit to Europe, he met with French President Mr. Francois Hollande in France to discuss bilateral trade cooperation between the two countries.