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MCRB Briefs Rakhine Advisory Commission on Prospects for Responsible Investment in Rakhine State
Members of the Rakhine Advisory Commission invited MCRB and other non-governmental and civil society organisations to brief them on economic opportunities and challenges in Rakhine State on 16 January prior to their visit to Kyaukphyu.
The Advisory Commission, which is chaired by Kofi Annan and comprises 3 international and 6 Myanmar members, was established in 2016 by the Ministry of the Office of the State Counsellor of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, in collaboration with the Kofi Annan Foundation, to be a neutral and impartial body which aims to propose concrete measures for improving the welfare of all people in Rakhine state.
In its work, it considers humanitarian and developmental issues, access to basic services, legal questions including citizenship and the assurance of basic rights, and security to all people in all communities. It will submit its final report and recommendations to the Government of Myanmar in the second half of 2017.
Vicky Bowman, Aung Kyaw Soe, Thein Than Htay and Liya Mo of MCRB briefed on Rakhine’s positive and negative attributes for attracting investment, current regulatory reforms with an impact on investment, and prospects and issues concerned with the oil and gas, and tourism sector.
The presentation highlighted:
the importance of regional consultation prior to Myanmar Investment Commission approval of major projects, and the need to address this through implementation of the 2016 Myanmar Investment Law and its implementing rules, currently in draft, and the 2015 Law protecting the Rights of Ethnic Nationalities
the need for transparent and effective implementation of the Environmental Impact Assessment process and Environmental Management Plans
prospects for offshore gas discovery and production, the need for commercial viability and reduced political risk for the investments to proceed, and the need to address local concerns about benefit sharing, employment, environmental and social impacts and transparency, which were raised in MCRB’s Oil and Gas Sector Wide Impact Assessment;
the importance of encouraging responsible tourism which was respectful of local culture and involved communities in decision-making. The most important priority for promoting tourism in Rakhine should be the cultural/environmental protection and destination management of Rakhine’s two main tourism assets, Ngapali and Mrauk-U. The nature of the CBT market meant that the Rakhine Government’s desire to encourage community-based tourism (CBT) would only be viable if linked closely to those destinations. MCRB presented key issues which were raised in the May 2016 multistakeholder workshop on tourism in Ngapali, including sandmining (see also Sandwatch Myanmar), and choices around Ngapali’s future as a high-rise mass market destination, or maintaining the low-rise/high-end beach tourism market (see ongoing visitor survey).
