U Maung Maung Win, Deputy Governor of Central Bank of Myanmar in an interview with China Economic Net, February 15th, 2012. (Photo provided by GRGBanking)

By Lijingjing 

"The financial sectors of China and Myanmar should work closely to promote better cooperation between the two economies," U Maung Maung Win, Deputy Governor of Central Bank of Myanmar said during an interview with China Economic Net after his presentation at China ATMs 2012 Forum in Beijing on February 15th.

China is now the largest investor in Myanmar. According to Maung Maung Win, China and Myanmar cooperate in various areas, such as gas pipelines, railway projects and hydro power plants. The deputy governor suggested that the financial sectors of the two nations should work closely to promote better cooperation. He said that China is Myanmar's long-time friend and good neighbor. Myanmar can learn the best practices of China such as central banking, foreign exchange management, international reserves management, payment systems etc.

Last November, A new ATM appeared in Myanmar for the first time since 2003. The ATM is part of the Myanmar Payment Union(MPU) project, which is Myanmar's national financial switching, as well as, bankcard and payment card systems approved by the Ministry of Finance and led by the Payment Committee of the Central Bank of Myanmar. The project is developed by the Chinese company GRGBanking, a provider of currency recognition and cash processing solutions, and Myanmar Information Technology(MIT).

According to GRGBanking, the MPU project is to build a national financial switching system interconnecting all ATM& POS systems in particular of Myanmar's banks and all payment card systems in general. MPU will be Myanmar's only official national financial switching network, working with banks in the country to develop and launch card-based services enabling cardholders to initiate transactions anytime, anywhere in Myanmar and in the world at later phase of the project. Currently, Myanmar has no financial switching or card payment network.

Maung Maung Win pointed out that building MPU will have a positive impact on the tourism industry of Myanmar, especially in 2013 and 2014 when Myanmar hosts Southeast Asian Games and ASEAN Summit. Visitors will be able to use payment cards in Myanmar conveniently as they travel and shop in the country.

The US and the European Union are taking steps to ease some sanctions on Myanmar as the country continues to undertake political reforms. The EU also promised to boost assistance for poverty-alleviation programs in Myanmar. Maung Maung Win welcomes this move and believes in positive impacts from this- faster growth and greater economic development. He further said that the lifting of sanctions will also have a positive affect on economic cooperation with ASEAN as well as China."For example, the current problems in banking transactions between Myanmar and China's banks due to the sanction will be solved once the sanction is lifted," he added.

Apart form the political reforms, Myanmar also passed a labor law, lowered taxes on foreign trade and tried to fix the currency system. Last week, several local banks were given the right to trade Myanmar's kyat for foreign currencies.

The deputy governor considers it as the beginning of a significant development in the financial sector in accordance with the nation's objective towards an open economy."It is indeed the desire of the people as well as the government that Myanmar can keep abreast with advancements in the financial sector and payment systems as well as to catch up with the global standards," he said.

Maung Maung Win said that they are working on exchange rate unification and amending foreign investment laws concerning tax exemption and special economic zones to attract more foreign investment.

He admits that there are some obstacles for foreign investors but he believes that now is the right time to invest in Myanmar. He urged investors to visit Myanmar and search for opportunities with the help of the Myanmar Investment Commission.

First ATM in Myanmar since 2003, produced by Chinese ATM vendor GRGBanking. (Photo provided by GRGBanking)