RI's Astra Graphia opens Yangon office

RI's Astra Graphia opens Yangon office

YANGON (DPA): Astra Graphia Company of Indonesia has opened a Yangon office to pioneer Maynmar's fledgling information technology market, news reports said yesterday.

A ceremony marking the opening of Myanmar-Astra Graphia Company Ltd, a subsidiary of Indonesia's Astra International group, was held Tuesday with the attendance of Myanmar National Economic Planning Minister Brigadier General David Abel, ASEAN Secretary-General Dato Ajit Singh and several Astra executives, said the New Light of Myanmar newspaper.

"Possession of information technology will help Myanmar (Burma) leapfrog into the era of industrialization at a much faster pace than would otherwise be possible," said Singh, the current secretary general of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Myanmar won full membership to ASEAN, despite strong protests from the West, on July 23.

Singh noted that ASEAN countries had accounted for 45 per cent of total foreign investments in Burma last year, and that Indonesia was now the eighth largest investor in the country with eight projects worth US$236.37 million.

U.S. President Bill Clinton slapped a ban on all new American investments in Myanmar last April to punish the military government for its poor human rights record and its refusal to acknowledge the outcome of the 1990 general election.

Minister Abel said Astra Graphia would soon bring in capital and state-of-the-art technology needed by Burmese businesses.

"Myanmar's initiative to sustain robust growth in the next years to come and to turn itself into an attractive investment base greatly requires, I believe, the development of several information technology infrastructures and the acceleration of technology transfer," said Astra Graphia Company President Inget Sembiring.