A slew of dignitaries at the Myanmar Investment Seminar led by Deputy 

Prime Minister Hyun Oh-seok and Chmn. Kim Yong-hwan of Korea Exim Bank.

  The Korea Export and Import (Exim) Bank held the Myanmar Investment Seminar at the International Conference Room of the Korea Federation of Banks on Sept. 12 to build a network for Korean businesses that want to advance into the southeast Asian country, the bank said on Sept. 13.

The roughly 300 participants in the event included Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Strategy and Finance Hyun Oh-seok, Myanmar Ambassador to Seoul U Nyunt Hlaing, and Exim Bank Chairman Kim Yong-hwan.

Chairman Kim said in his opening speech at the event that the Exim Bank will do everything to help Korean firms advancing to the southeast Asian country and secure enough funds either by offering direct loans or other financings to such projects as natural resources exploration, SOC construction, and other investments, and from such financial institutions as banks, insurance firms, and private funds.

Chairman and CEO Kim Yong-hwan of Korea Export and Import Bank delivers his speech at the 

Myanmar Investment Seminar at Korea Federation of Banks on Sept. 12

 hosted by the bank for potential Korean investors in the S.E. Asian country. (photos: Exim Bank)

The bank will also strengthen the connections between conditional and unconditional aid, seek out PPP projects and the participation of SMEs in EDCF (economic development cooperation fund) projects with small loans to pave the way for the overseas advancement of Korean firms, the chairman said.

Myanmar is considered to have great growth potential with its abundant natural resources and cheap labor, as well as the new Myanmar government’s efforts to ease restrictions put on by foreign governments and organizations in order to improve investment conditions for foreign investors in 2011.

At the seminar, Exim Bank experts explained the financial support that the bank can offer and the workings of the EDCF system, along with Myanmar’s foreign investment regulations, investment climate, and the direction of EDCF support to Myanmar, in addition to the strategy to set up an industrial complex in the southeast Asian country.

The event also was an opportunity to examine the first Korea-Myanmar Economic Cooperation Joint Committee talks held in June in Myanmar. The government promised to build a friendship bridge between Korea and Myanmar with EDCF loans at the joint meeting.

The projected bridge is designed to connect Yangon and the Dala area to the south of the capital, which will cut logistics costs and help revitalize the local economy in that region.

The Exim Bank has also been considering a plan to develop areas near Dala and to establish an industrial complex for Korean firms. The bank is ready to provide a project-financing package totaling $1.1 billion for the construction of the projected Hantawadi Airport, as agreed to in the joint economic committee so that Korean firms can win the project.

In the end, the Incheon International Airport Corp. won the airport project thanks to a letter of intent submitted by the Exim Bank in connection with its provision of project financing in August paving the way for the Korean airport corporation to be named the priority bidder.

The Exim Bank will submit the ideas and the answers to the questionnaires on investment in Myanmar as well as provide a list of the Korean firms that want to set up facilities in the proposed industrial complex in Myanmar to the government.

Officials of the Exim Bank said the culture and tradition of both Korea and Myanmar are so similar that President U Thein Sein wants to follow Korea’s economic development experiences in developing Myanmar’s economy.

“With the steadily growing friendly relations with Myanmar, we don’t have much trouble in exploring the Myanmar market through close cooperation between the business sector and the government and beat out advanced countries in competition,” they said.