ABSTRACT
The growth in Myanmar’s trade and foreign direct investment (FDI) has been one of the defining characteristics of the country’s political and economic transition since 2011 from military dictatorship to ‘discipline flourishing democracy’. The interest of international investors in Myanmar, from not only proximate Asian countries but also Western nations, has increased dramatically. Official trade has nearly doubled in the past half-decade. These changes are not an altogether surprising response to the liberalisation of a formerly oppressive and isolated economic system of a comparatively populous and well-positioned country. Rather, they signal Myanmar’s move towards becoming a more normal developing Asian country.
