A Thailand-Myanmar Business Council (TMBC) delegation met with officials from the Thilawa Special Economic Zone Management Committee on 26 April.
According to state media, the meeting discussed potential investment opportunities, with Thilawa Special Economic Zone Management Committee Chairman U Yan Naing Tun explaining the economic incentives presented at the zone.
The TMBC delegation was led by Kich Aungvitulsatit.
Thailand is the third largest investor in the zone, after Japan and Singapore.
Businesses from 21 countries have received MIC approval for $2.2bn in investment in the zone.
The Thilawa Special Economic Zone (SEZ) attracted $6.2m in new investment in FY2023/24, the zone’s management committee said recently.
In FY2023/24, Thai businesses received MIC approval for $25.1m in total investment in Myanmar, well down on the pre-COVID-19 figure of $221.4m in FY2018/19.
In January, the Myanmar Special Economic Zone (MSEZ) Central Committee claimed that Thailand was interested in resuming development of the Dawei Special Economic Zone in Tanintharyi Region (see separate article).
About Thilawa SEZ
The zone is being developed by Myanmar Japan Thilawa Development (MJTD), a JV between a Japanese consortium including Sumitomo Corp, Mitsubishi Corp, and Marubeni, as well as Myanmar Thilawa SEZ Holdings (MTSH) and the Myanmar government via the Thilawa SEZ Management Committee Company (TSMCC).
Zone A (1,001 acres) became commercially operational in September 2015 and is reportedly 99% complete, while Zone B (440 acres) opened in 2019 and is being developed over four phases.
As of September 2022, some 122 businesses from 21 countries had received MIC approval for $2.2bn investment.
According to MTSH’s 2019/20 annual report, construction materials is the largest industry at the SEZ, accounting for 17% of tenants, with packaging (10%), food & beverage (10%), garments (9%), electronic parts (9%), automobile & parts (8%), agricultural products (8%) and logistics (8%), also major sectors.
Just 2% of tenants are local companies, with 49% from Japan, 23% from ASEAN, 18% from East Asia (excluding Japan), 5% from Europe and 1% from each of the US, Australia and India.