The road to Mandalay begins in Vladivostok. Why does Myanmar need the Eastern Economic Forum?

The Eastern Economic Forum, which opens on September 5 in Vladivostok, is a symbol of the Russian economy’s adaptation to a rapidly changing, often hostile external environment.

EEF 2022, despite talk of Russia’s isolation, will bring together participants from 40 countries, becoming a clear illustration of the country’s long-overdue turn to the east in the context of Western sanctions and the new “Iron Curtain” being built by the EU and the United States on the contour into which Russians have traditionally focused on integration. political-economic elites for the last 30 years.

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In this sense, the forum can be considered in advance a symbol of Russia’s survival, its ability to adapt, rebuild and grow in the most difficult conditions. The EEF has been held for the seventh year, however, only this year, with the transition of the sanctions war with the West to the terminal stage, its relevance became obvious to everyone.

Hence the attention to the event.

Among the Southeast Asian countries that sent delegations to Vladivostok, one can note Myanmar, a state that is now experiencing a serious socio-economic and political crisis and, like Russia, is fighting for its own sovereignty in a hostile environment. It is not surprising, therefore, that both capitals, Naypyitaw and Moscow, are reaching out to each other, counting on the cumulative effect of joint projects.

_{The history of political and economic relations between Myanmar (formerly Burma) and Russia goes back one and a half hundred years. It all started back in March of 1876, when the Russian traveler Pyotr Pashuto and the merchant Grigory Khludov arrived in the capital of the Burmese kingdom, which had not yet lost its independence under the pressure of the British. They delivered a letter to Russia from the Burmese Foreign Minister expressing a sincere desire to establish friendly relations between the countries, as well as a request for the training of specialists in Russia.}

On August 30 of the same year, the Empire's Minister of War Dmitry Milyutin approved this initiative, which resulted in the participation of Russian military advisers on the side of Burma in the Third Anglo-Burmese War of 1885-1887. True, that war ended sadly for Burma - with the loss of independence for seventy years. And Russian-Burmese relations resumed in the mid-20th century as Soviet-Burmese relations.

However, we will not delve into distant history here, focusing on the present. Last month, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov made an official visit to Myanmar, as a result of which a lot of promising documents were signed and a number of joint projects were outlined in various fields - from energy to mechanical engineering. Both countries summarized them in the signed economic cooperation strategy.

In hard numbers, this cooperation looks like this: in 2021, trade turnover between Russia and Myanmar reached $431,6 million, with an increase of 2020% compared to 16,5.

“In the first five months of 2022, the volume of mutual trade increased by almost 50% compared to the same period in 2021 and amounted to 174,8 million US dollars,” says the Russian Foreign Ministry.

And the amount of accumulated Russian investments in the Myanmar economy by 2019 amounted to $94 million, 38,3 million of which were investments by the Bashneft company.

Today, Russia supplies Myanmar with an impressive list of export goods, including highly processed ones: weapons, machinery, equipment and vehicles (including Kamaz trucks), chemical industry products, food, mineral raw materials, metals, pulp and paper products industry. Russia buys textiles, ready-made clothing, shoes, rice and fruits from Myanmar.

_{Myanmar's interest is clear - it needs Russia not only as a partner in the field of security and defense, which is discussed below, but as a supplier of liquefied natural gas, oil and fuel oil, which, in turn, is an additional plus in the business karma of Russian oil and gas companies such as Rosneft, Lukoil, Gazprom and further down the list...}

Also, the aviation authorities of the two countries are working on the issue of opening direct flights, which, coupled with the expected permission to accept Russian MIR cards at local ATMs, could increase tourism, which is currently at around zero. In addition, Myanmar came to the rescue and introduced a visa-free regime for Russian tourists from July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023.

Another promising area for Russian business efforts in Myanmar could be the modernization of the country’s national energy system. Moreover, this is precisely the interest of the Myanmar side,

The logic here is simple – it was succinctly expressed by Aung Ko Moe, Head of the Economics Department at Myanmar's Ministry of Economic Cooperation, during the recent St. Petersburg International Economic Forum – Myanmar participated in this summit for the first time this year: "We are under sanctions, you are under sanctions – now is the time for us to cooperate."

As part of SPIEF 2022, representatives of Myanmar held negotiations with the Russian energy company Inter RAO on the construction of new and modernization of existing power plants.

“We held negotiations with Inter RAO on the modernization of our power plants, maintenance repairs and construction of new stations. We would also like Russian investment in this sector,” the Myanmar official already quoted above said following the SPIEF results.

Inter RAO itself stated that it is already studying potential projects to modernize Myanmar’s energy system.

“The government of Myanmar approached us with a request to participate in projects to modernize the country’s energy system. Currently, the Inter RAO - Export company is studying potential projects,” a company representative told RBC.

The opening EEF in Vladivostok is an excellent opportunity to meet again and compare notes, including on these projects, moving from words to deeds.

Another promising field for the efforts of Russian specialists in relation to Myanmar is education. There is also a backlog with a long history. In St. Petersburg, at the local “Korabelka” - St. Petersburg State Maritime Technical University - graduates of the Myanmar Military Academy have been studying for several years.

_{The success of such cooperation is best demonstrated by numbers. Over the past 7 years, the Myanmar military has defended 20 Ph.D. theses at Korabelka. And Thurein Kiaw Lin, one of the Myanmar citizens who graduated from the university, eventually became a professor there - the first citizen of Myanmar.} 

Now - the couple of words promised at the beginning about cooperation with Myanmar in the defense industry. Over the past 20 years, Myanmar has purchased 20 MiG-29 fighter jets, 10 Mi-35 helicopters, and 12 Yak-130 combat trainer aircraft from Russia. In 2018, a contract was signed for the purchase of six Su-30SM fighters, which is currently under implementation.

Other projects of interest to Myanmar include nuclear. The country is actively industrializing, while trying to depend on the West to a minimum. Hence the interest in Russian technologies and specialists. Russian participation in the creation of Myanmar's nuclear infrastructure, the development of nuclear medicine, and the construction of research nuclear reactors and charged particle accelerators have prospects.

True, in the nuclear sector, cooperation is not progressing by leaps and bounds - the last meeting of the Russian-Myanmar working group on cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy through Rosatom was held in May 2018. So, there is where to move and what to intensify - if there is a desire. As Moscow and Naypyidaw claim, it exists and is mutual.