“We hear frequently that the ongoing sanctions regime serves as a chill on investment from the United States and in some cases from other worldwide firms, and so we want to make sure that our sanctions are not preventing the type of economic development and investment that we believe can improve the livelihoods of the people of Burma”, Rhodes said Tuesday, adding that the administration’s decisions would be guided by consultation with Suu Kyi and her government.
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“It is the right thing to do in order to ensure that the people of Burma see rewards from a new way of doing business and a new government”, the president said.
A latest round of sanctions relief could ease restrictions on Myanmar’s military, which ran the country for decades and still controls important government functions like its borders and armed forces. Business groups in the USA have complained that sanctions hinder them from competing with major rivals in an economy that the Asian Development Bank projects will expand 8.4 percent this year and 8.3 percent in 2017, making Myanmar Asia’s best performer.
U.S. officials, who acknowledge Suu Kyi is working under some very tough political constraints, dare not push the military or the public too far or too fast. In theory, they should not be a major impediment to United States investment there.
She said that US sanctions helped drive the country’s military junta to surrender power, but that the time had come to lift them.
Suu Kyi will speak on her government’s priorities at a dinner Thursday organized by U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the U.S. -ASEAN Business Council – a group that supports American business ties with Southeast Asia.
A USA official said that by terminating the emergency, 111 Burmese individuals and companies will be dropped from a Treasury blacklist, and restrictions will be lifted on new investment with military and on the imports of rubies and jade.
“Just to be honest was somewhat shocked that. any official like her could be so dismissive of human slavery, so my antenna certainly has gone way up”, Corker said in an interview.
Caterpillar, a USA heavy machine giant, has pushed since 2012 for fewer restrictions on activity in Myanmar. As the generals loosened their grip in recent years, the US did likewise.
Ms Suu Kyi recently convened a major peace conference in Naypyidaw, the capital, to tackle the country’s decades-long ethnic conflicts.
Ahead of Aung San Suu Kyi’s visit, Human Rights Watch said the sanctions targeted military officials, and “shouldn’t be fully lifted until the democratic transition is irreversible”. She is considered to be the symbolic leader of the country and her official title is State Counsellor. Global Witness found ties between a Caterpillar dealership in Myanmar and a USA -blacklisted drug lord.
And yesterday, as she began her first trip to the USA as Myanmar’s leader, Ms Suu Kyi will be accountable for what her government has accomplished, and what it has not, since she took office six months ago. “By lifting sanctions, there will be better-quality import products. Its record on human rights has really been mixed”.
US economic trade sanctions on the once-isolated Southeast Asian nation of Myanmar are being eased to support the country’s transition toward democracy and a market economy.
Transparency watchdog Global Witness says Myanmar’s jade industry, based in a northern region plagued by civil conflict, is dominated by a military elite, US -sanctioned drug lords and crony companies.
The sanctions announcement drew swift condemnation from human rights groups, which said the move was made too quickly and forfeited remaining leverage on Myanmar’s military. An easing of economic penalties could potentially further aggrandize the military and its cronies who profit from the junta’s prominence in business and politics, Gardner told Reuters. “If you had predicted that five years ago that Aung San Suu Kyi would now be here sitting as the duly elected representative of her country, many people would have been skeptical”. She also met with democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi in Yangon. Sanctions could hamper those efforts, he said. During the meet, she described the United States as her nation’s biggest ally. That principle was at the heart of Obama’s agreement past year with Iran to relax sanctions in exchange for restraints on the country’s nuclear program, and has been the driving force behind the opening of a dialogue with Cuba.
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Kyaw Thu and Mike Dorning contributed.
