The long-standing trade sanctions against Myanmar from the United States will soon be lifted, according to United States President Barack Obama, who feels that the country has taken significant steps towards democratic reform. The current POTUS feels that lifting these trade sanctions with Myanmar will give both US businesses and non-profit institutions “greater incentive” to seek partnership with the nation, with a likelihood for prosperous results to be seen. US officials said 111 Myanmar individuals and companies will be dropped from a Treasury blacklist and restrictions will be lifted on new investment with military and on imports of rubies and jade.
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“The United States is now prepared to lift sanctions that we have imposed on Burma for quite some time”, Obama said, speaking in the Oval Office with Aung San Suu Kyi at his side.
Yesterday’s (09/14/2016) meeting in Washington was the first by Aung San Suu Kyi as Myanmar’s leader since her pro-democracy party won a stunning victory over the country’s military rulers in elections past year.
US companies and banks have remained leery of involvement in one of Asia’s last untapped markets.
Myanmar was removed from GSP benefits in 1989 following pro-democracy uprisings a year earlier that were brutally suppressed by the ruling military junta.
Ms Suu Kyi called on the US Congress to eliminate all remaining sanctions against Myanmar. They have introduced at least two pieces of legislation seeking to give lawmakers some influence on the process of easing sanctions.
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.
For two decades, USA presidents have renewed an executive order declaring a “national emergency” with respect to Myanmar annually.
A senior administration official said the removal of sanctions would not apply to military-to-military assistance.
Washington will lift trade sanctions against Myanmar that have been in place for almost 30 years. There is also a continued visa ban, preventing both current and former Myanmar military members from traveling to the United States. But the military still retains major political and economic interests, and some rights groups said the USA should continue applying pressure on Myanmar to change.
“It benefits largely them, and few others, and certainly not the people of Burma in general”.
Not everyone is happy regarding the budding relationship between Barack Obama and Aung San Suu Kyi, however, as the 71-year-old has been accused by various human rights groups for not intervening enough when it came to the Rohingya conflict. The Rohingya are not recognized as any of the nation’s 135 ethnic groups, and are therefore stateless. Seen as illegal immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh, they are deeply disliked by many in Myanmar.
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“We want to make sure that everybody who is entitled to citizenship is accorded citizenship as quickly and as fairly as possible”, Suu Kyi said. The military still retains power in the government, in part through a constitution that effectively bars Suu Kyi from the presidency. Instead, she serves as the country’s de facto leader by holding the positions of foreign minister and state counsellor.
