AEC Feed

More than 80 Vietnamese firms are participating in the Vietnam-Myanmar Trade-Service-Tourism Expo in Yangon, Myanmar.
The firms are exhibiting processed food and agriculture, consumer utensils, textiles and garments, electronics, footwear, chemicals and interior decorations, along with pottery, handicrafts, construction materials, industrial machines and equipment.
Besides marketing Vietnamese products to Myanmar consumers, the firms also expect to find partners for setting up a distribution network in Myanmar.
Nguyen Tuan, deputy director of the HCM City Investment and Trade Promotion Centre (ITPC), the expo’s organiser, said a conference on sharing information and experiences in doing business and investment in Myanmar will also be held on the side-lines of the event.
ITPC will organise fact-finding trips for the Vietnamese firms to Myanmar’s construction materials supermarkets and Bago’s agriculture produce market.
The expo will run until Sunday.
According to the Vietnam General Customs Department, two-way trade rose 26 per cent to US$548 million (Bt19 billion) last year, of which Vietnam’s exports jumped 22 per cent to $462 million.
A report from the Myanmar Department of Business Investment and Registration showed Vietnam ranked seventh among 49 nations and territories, with projects totalling $2 billion in registered capital in Myanmar. – Viet Nam News

Indonesia to put oil, gas data online 

Indonesia will follow in the footsteps of other countries like Mexico, Norway and Australia that make their oil and gas field data accessible online to registered viewers, said Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry’s oil and gas director-general IGN Wiratmaja Puja.
The open data system would be implemented through a ministerial decree that is expected to be issued this year.
“Right now, if a company is interested in one of Indonesia’s fields it must come here to sign up and buy the data. With the new decree, the government selects which data will be open and which will remain classified,” Wiratmaja told reporters on Wednesday.
“Even if a company is based in Chile, for example, they just need to register online, get verified and then they can obtain data by downloading it. 
“There will no longer be a fee and if they come to Indonesia after looking over the data, it means that they are really serious about investing here.”
The interest in the country’s oil and gas fields has decreased over the years, partly because of low global prices and costly exploration amid a low success rate of 31 per cent.
Upstream oil and gas investment has continued dropping – by 24.5 per cent last year to $12.01 billion from $15.9 billion in 2015, according to data from the Upstream Oil and Gas Special Regulatory Task Force.
Last year’s auction was no different with only one winner determined for 17 conventional and unconventional blocks offered. – The Jakarta Post