Business Alerts (Issue- May 23)

Kaung Kin Ko

Adani Group won approval to develop a new container terminal in Myanmar

Indian multinational conglomerate Adani Group has received approval to develop

a new container terminal in Myanmar, reported The Guardian.

This is Adani group’s second overseas venture after the Abbot Point terminal in
Queensland, Australia.

It said the investment does not breach Australian, US, UN or other international
sanctions against the Southeast Asian country.

“Adani rejects insinuations that this investment is unethical or will compromise

human rights,” said the grou. “As with all its international investments, the Adani
Group has been guided by the Securities and Exchange Board of India and other
key international guidelines and will inform the concerned authorities when we
firm up the agreements.”

The land where the port is proposed to be built has been leased from the Myanmar
Economic Corporation.

“An Adani Group company, the Adani Yangon International Terminal Co Ltd, has
received approval from the Myanmar Investment Commission for an investment in
a new container port in the Yangon Region,” the company said in a statement
without giving investment it is going to make in developing the terminal to receive
containers sailing on ships.

The investment committed by Adani at $290 million.

Assam police seizes illegal Myanmar-made cigarettes

Assam Police in India seized more than 21,500 illegal Myanmar-made cigarettes
valued at Rs 430,000 (US$ 6,174) from Guwahati, exposing the spike in smuggling
of contraband goods between Myanmar and India's northeastern region, reported
the Business Standard.

"We received a tip-off about the consignment and raided a house in Panjabari area
on Wednesday. We have recovered 43 cartons of Myanmar-made cigarettes. We
have also arrested one Md. Abdul Wahid of Manipur for his involvement in the
smuggling," said India’s Additional Director General of Police (CID) L.R. Bishnoi.

He said that cross-border smuggling of drugs becomes a matter of concern for the
police.

"The CID alone has registered over 450 cases under Narcotic Drugs and
Psychotropic Substances Act in 2018. This is just the tip of the iceberg as so many
agencies are working," he said adding that more than 3 million psychotropic
tablets, 125,000 bottles of cough syrup, 7 kg of heroin and over 10,000 kg of
cannabis were seized by the CID in Assam last year.

Smugglers normally bring these drugs by road from Myanmar, he said.

UN investigators urge countries cut off business with Myanmar’s military

UN fact-finding mission has urged that countries cut off all business with
Myanmar's military in order to hold the army accountable for human rights abuse,
the Bangkok Post reported citing a statement.

The independent investigators, working under a mandate from the UN Human

Rights Council, said in a statement that there has been no progress toward
resolving the crisis over Myanmar's Muslim minority in Rakhine, more than 1
million of whom have fled military clearance operations, the news agency
reported.

“The situation is at a total standstill,” Marzuki Darusman, chairman of the Fact-

Finding Mission on Myanmar, was quoted as saying.
Myanmar authorities razed deserted villages of the refugees, and members of the
minority remaining in the country live in displacement camps and in fear of further
military reprisals, according to the Bangkok Post.

“Due to the gravity of the past and continuing violations, attention must be given to
the political, economic and financial ties of the Myanmar military -- to identify
who and what should be targeted so we can cut off the money supply as a means of
increasing the pressure and reducing the violence,” Christopher Sidoti, a member
of the mission, said in the statement.