Myanmar Monitor Weekly

Photo via The Straits Times

Society

Myanmar most generous country in the world
Myanmar has been named the most generous country in the world for the third consecutive year, according to the latest Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) World Giving Index. The annual index, which compiled an average of 1,000 responses each from 140 countries, looked at three major yardsticks: helping strangers, donating money and volunteering time.
Read More >

Politics

President’s Office Rejects UN Call for Action on Alleged Rights Abuses in Rakhine state
Myanmar’s President Office spokesperson has denied accusations of human rights violations being carried out by security forces in northern Rakhine State, saying they haven’t done anything lawless. United Nations human rights experts called on the government to take action against alleged arbitrary arrests, extrajudicial killings and burning of mosques and homes by authorities.
Read More >

Investment Law Rules and Regulations Released by March
The government has announced that the rules and regulations for the newly enacted Myanmar Investment Law will be released in three months at the earliest and by the end of March next year at the latest. The law, enacted by President U Htin Kyaw last week, combines the Myanmar Citizens Investment Law and the Foreign Investment Law.
Read More >

Economy

Yangon Electricity Tender Awarded to Murky Consortium
A consortium with links to a Myanmar company previously on the US blacklist and including an international energy company affiliated with the former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright won a Yangon electricity tender. The consortium is led by National Infrastructure Holdings to generate an extra 300 megawatts of electricity for five years to prevent the city’s frequent blackouts.
Read More >

Myanmar to ramp up gem exports post-sanctions
Only a few weeks after Washington removed all remaining sanctions on Myanmar earlier this month, a delegation from the American Gem Trade Association has already visited the country. Myanmar’s high-quality jade and rubies are highly valued on the global market and expectations are growing among Myanmar businesses for the reopened window to the US, the world’s largest gem market.
Read More >

Foreign Affairs

Dozens of refugees in Thailand returning to Myanmar
Dozens of Myanmar refugees in Thailand are expected to return home on 26 October under a voluntary repatriation process for people displaced by decades of fighting between Myanmar’s military and ethnic armed groups. The pilot group is unlikely to be followed immediately by large numbers of returnees, given that conditions remain “unstable” within Myanmar, say human rights groups.
Read More >