Also Wednesday, the US lifted separate emergency sanctions against the Ivory Coast earlier Wednesday, citing progress made there “in restoring peace and democracy and developing its political, administrative, and economic institutions”, according to the State Department.
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During a visit Wednesday with Myanmar’s leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, President Obama announced he would “soon” be lifting economic sanctions imposed against the country decades ago.
Myanmar’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi steps from her vehicle as she arrives at the West Wing of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2016, for a meeting with President Barack Obama in the Oval Office.
The US is working on increasing aids to Myanmar to help grow the economy. A US official said that 111 Myanmar 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.
The United States is to lift trade sanctions against Myanmar.
Global Witness told AFP Wednesday the announced changes were “a major setback for efforts to clean up Myanmar’s notoriously corrupt and abusive business environment”.
In November, when Suu Kyi was elected to her post, the USA removed certain government-run businesses and some banks from a blacklist in an attempt to jump-start trade.
She is barred from the role of president under the country’s constitution – instead holding the title of state counsellor – but is widely seen as the country’s leader in all but name.
For Obama to lift sanctions, he would need to issue an executive order ending the national emergency declaration on Myanmar, first issued in 1997, which underpins sanctions, and revoke previous country-related sanction orders.
US sanctions now bar the import of jade and gemstones from Myanmar.
Last week, a commission established by Aung San Suu Kyi and led by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan travelled to Myanmar for the first time to investigate the Rohingya issue and make recommendations to the government.
In her remarks, Suu Kyi said the end of USA sanctions will help the country develop its material resources.
“I think this will give the United States, our businesses, our nonprofit institutions, a greater incentive to invest”, Obama said. Suu Kyis latest visit to Washington signals her transformation from long-imprisoned heroine of Myanmars democracy struggle to a national leader focused on economic growth.
In restoring Myanmar to the status of “least-developed beneficiary developing country” – a designation shared by countries like Cambodia, Haiti and Uganda – Obama dropped tariffs imposed on Myanmar in 1989 when the military government imposed martial law.
There is still no civilian control of the military and officers are guaranteed a quarter of legislative seats.
The democracy icon, however, has been criticized by human rights groups for failing to address the plight of the country’s stateless Rohingya Muslim minority.
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But the move was quickly criticized by leaders of some human rights groups, who said they anxious that eliminating sanctions was premature given the slow pace of change in Myanmar, also known as Burma, where the military still controls a large portion of parliamentary seats and important government ministries.
