The Myanmar Investment Commission (MIC), under the stewardship of new chair U Thaung Tun and U Set Aung, who is deputy minister for planning and finance, will implement a slew of changes aimed at reducing red tape and facilitating ease of doing business in Myanmar, MIC secretary U Aung Naing Oo told the media on Monday.
“After the top positions were changed in the MIC, the new chair set instructions to make as many relaxations in the procedures and regulations to doing business as possible within our legal framework,” U Aung Naing Oo said.
Among the MIC’s priorities will be to reduce the time taken for businesses to submit proposals to the commission and for the latter also to shorten the time taken to approve the proposals and issue new business permits.
Under the Myanmar Investment Law, the MIC has the right to take up to 60 days to review new business proposals, 30 days to approve the proposals submitted and 10 days to issue a permit for new firms to start operations. The MIC has promised to reduce the number of days needed to conduct all three procedures.
Meanwhile, firms will soon be able to combine their company registration and tax registration numbers to facilitate tax payments. Companies will be able to re-register free or charge for this purpose.
All administration matters between firms and the Directorate of Investment and Company Administration will be conducted online from August 1 onwards, U Aung Naing Oo said. This will include company registrations, name changes, information updates, submission of financial reports and other necessary reports necessary under the law and inquiries about investment opportunities.
The MIC will also strengthen and improve the current system of coordination between the MIC and government ministries. “Despite companies having obtained MIC approval, there are still delays for them to commence operations as they still have to receive permission from the relevant ministries,” U Aung Naing Oo said.
“We understand that businesses have difficulties communicating with the government ministries. To settle this, we will work with the government for their standard operating procedures in approving new permits so that we can facilitate this process on behalf of businesses,” he added.
This will include obtaining useful details such as the names of persons authorised to make decisions, estimated time taken and cost breakdowns. The data acquired will be uploaded online.
By implementing these changes, the MIC hopes to attract more foreign direct investments into Myanmar going forward, said U Aung Naing Oo.
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