WELCOME SPEECH
BY
HE DR. AHMAD FAISAL MUHAMAD,
MALAYSIAN AMBASSADOR TO MYANMAR
AT THE
MATRADE'S SPECIALISED MARKETING MISSION
FOR OIL AND GAS SECTOR
PARKROYAL HOTEL, YANGON, MYANMAR
29 NOVEMBER 2011
Mr. S. Jai Shankar
Trade Commissioner
MATRADE Bangkok
Distinguished Speakers,
Mr. Hazanie B. Jamian, General Manager of Petronas Myanmar,
Mr. Myo Aung, Head of Contracts & Procurement Total E&P Myanmar, Mr. Tin Win, Managing Partner of U Tin Win Group,
Mr G. V. Suresh, General Manager of ESSAR (INDIA)
and Mr. Gilbert Lee from Malaysian Myanmar Business Council
Delegates from Malaysia,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Mingalabar and a very good morning.
1. Firstly, l would like to thank all of you for being here this morning. Indeed, your presence here today is a testimony of your commitment towards establishing a long term and active involvement in the oil and gas sector of the Myanmar economy. I hope your desire to equip and prepare yourselves with the necessary insights into this country’s oil and gas industry will be fulfilled to a certain extent during this event.
2. Secondly, I would like to record my appreciation to MATRADE for inviting me to grace this occasion. MATRADE Specialised Marketing Mission (SMM) is one of the many efforts undertaken by the Malaysian Government to strengthen Malaysia’s external trade through the promotion of Malaysian products and services globally, according to specific niche industries.
3. I would also like to commend the Malaysian Myanmar Business Council (MMBC) for rendering active support to MATRADE to ensure the success of this event. For your information, MMBC is the newly formed business council that aims to promote the interests of Malaysian companies in Myanmar.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
4. I hope all of you have benefited from the visit to MOGE yesterday, as well as the visit to the Thanlyin oil refinery. The objective of both visits was to provide delegates with direct contact with the people and places that are key to the Myanmar oil and gas sector. Similarly, the objective of today's briefing session is to provide Malaysian delegates with the information on the opportunities that are available in Myanmar's oil and gas sector and the challenges that may exist.
5. Myanmar has been active in oil and gas production since the British era. What makes Myanmar such an attractive market currently is the fact that market is slowly but surely liberalising on many fronts, which opens up greater opportunities for foreign companies. For example, recently the Myanmar Government has decided to offer foreign companies the opportunities to conduct oil and gas exploration onshore. This is a significant departure from their previous policy of limiting access to foreign companies to only offshore fields.
6. The country is also on the verge of what would be a rapid industrialisation process, which will inevitably entail higher energy consumption. The oil and gas sector will not only be one of Myanmar’s main export earners but also a critical and growing need of the economy due to its national development aspirations. Domestic demand for oil and gas products and services will definitely increase in the country in the near future. Hopefully, this upward trend will translate into more opportunities for Malaysian companies, in related upstream or downstream industries.
Ladies and Gentlemen
7. Now is absolutely the right time for Malaysian companies to come in and seriously look at the opportunities available in Myanmar. Malaysia and Myanmar have always enjoyed very strong bilateral relations. This has helped build the foundation for concrete trade and investment ties. Malaysian companies have always been welcomed in this country. This is not only because of the unilateral trade sanctions imposed by certain countries on Myanmar. Indeed, due to the sanctions, Myanmar has found it extremely challenging to establish collaboration with foreign companies. As a result, the country so far has been constrained in terms of finding potential willing partners. However, with the positive development that is currently taking place in the country, things may change in the near future. Malaysian companies must prepare themselves from now, for the bigger and fiercer competition that will no doubt take place in this country very soon.
8. Currently, Malaysia is the 7th largest foreign investor in the Myanmar. This equals to 2.7 per cent of Myanmar’s total Foreign Direct Investment. We are ranked below China, Thailand, South Korea and Singapore. The official trade figures also show that Malaysia is not one of Myanmar’s major trade partners. I personally find this to be very puzzling, bearing in mind the extremely good political relations between Malaysia and Myanmar and the goodwill that Malaysia enjoys amongst Myanmar people. So, I do hope that the Malaysian private sector, including those in the oil and gas sector, will be more active in Myanmar and that the bilateral trade and investment figures will increase exponentially in the future.
9. Here, I would also like to highlight that Malaysia is one of the few countries that have concluded the Avoidance of Double Taxation Agreement with Myanmar. In addition, both are ASEAN members, which means that Malaysian exporters stand to gain once AFTA is implemented fully in 2015. These facts should further encourage Malaysian companies to intensify their activities in Myanmar.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
10. Let me once again thank MATRADE and all of you for your support towards making this programme a success. I am confident that all your efforts and time spent here today will be worthwhile. I hope you will have insightful discussions that will enhance your knowledge and understanding of the Myanmar market in general, and its oil and gas industry, more specifically. I also look forward to learn from all of you and will be listening to all comments, ideas and recommendations during all the sessions.
11. On that note, I am very happy to hereby officiate MATRADE’s Specialised Marketing Mission (SMM) for the Myanmar’s Oil and Gas Sector for 2011.
Thank you.