"Ever since the National League for Democracy (NLD) was elected to government at the end of 2015, Myanmar’s economy has been opening up and quietly growing steadily. In an effort to open up its economy, the government in Myanmar has taken various steps in making the country more attractive to investors. Last year, Myanmar enacted an investment law that simplifies the investment process and allows the government to use incentives to bring in investors to various sectors of the economy. For Myanmar, foreign direct investments (FDI) play a major role in developing the economy. In 2016 to early 2017, Myanmar received about US$6 billion in FDIs. However, foreign investment for the past couple of years has dipped. To help boost FDI in the country, Myanmar enacted the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) law to pave the way for SEZs to be established in the country. The three SEZs which are currently under development are Thilawa, Dawei and Kyaukphyu. The Thilawa SEZ, located 25 kilometres south of Yangon, is Myanmar’s first modern industrial park. To date, only the Thilawa SEZ is open, with the rest still under development. The opening of Thilawa has been a success with total FDI in Zone A of the SEZ reaching up to US$1 billion with 95 percent occupancy. 79 firms have also decided to open up their factories or logistics hubs in this SEZ..."