H.E. Mr.Chen Hai, Chinese Ambassador in Myanmar
Small Coffee Drives a Big Industry
When walking down the streets of Yangon, coffee lovers can always find nice places for having a cup of coffee, such as the Strand Hotel in a century-old building, the Shwe Pu Zun which is popular among Myanmar citizens and the chain coffeehouse Gloria Jean's which you can find almost everywhere. I recently discovered a new coffee shop Original in the Central Boulevard. This coffee shop, run by young Hong Kong entrepreneurs, aims to promote improved and authentic Burmese coffee. From the cultivation, picking, roasting of coffee beans to the making of pour-over coffee, the aroma and taste of a cup of coffee can tell the natural environment of the coffee producing area and the craftsmen's efforts for making quality coffee. At the moment when Arabica beans in northern Myanmar and Robusta beans in Irrawaddy Region touched my taste buds, an idea hit me: Given the chance, I must invite more friends to taste the coffee in Original so that they can also get to understand and fall in love with Burmese coffee.
As far as I know, Myanmar has been growing coffee for a long time, but the industrialization of Myanmar coffee and its emergence in the international market in only a matter of recent years. About 50,000 acres of coffee is cultivated in Myanmar, 80% of which is Arabica. They are mainly produced in Shan State, Chin State and Mandalay Region with an annual output of 1,200-15,000 tons. As Myanmar's coffee industry seeks development, a China-Myanmar project, namely Improvement of Coffee Production and Coffee Quality in Mekong-Lancang Region under the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) framework was launched in Myanmar in 2018. Based on the geographical endowment and development needs of coffee industry in Myanmar, we conducted 12,110 times of coffee picking, pruning and production trainings through cooperation and donated 12 pulpers, 12 smalllot coffee guidebooks and 113,300 coffee seedlings to farmers. The small-lot coffee project has created more opportunities for local socio-economic development and farmers' income increase. In the 2018-2019 fiscal year, Myanmar exported 1,119.4 tons of coffee beans to 31 countries and regions with an export value of nearly 2.65 million US dollars. Thailand, the United States and China ranked among the top three destinations for Myanmar's exported coffee beans. China has already become the fastest growing coffee consuming market in the world. It is believed that China and Myanmar are strengthening the promotion and innovation of high-quality coffee, sharing our experiences, connecting our markets and making use of our advantages, which is sure to help Myanmar's coffee industry achieve better and faster development.
Small Projects with Big Prospects
In November 2014, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang proposed establishing the LMC mechanism while attending the 17th China-ASEAN Leaders' Meeting in Myanmar. In March 2016, leaders of China, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam attended the 1st Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Leaders' Meeting in Sanya, Hainan Province and started the LMC in an all-round way. At present, the LMC has formed a "3 + 5 + X" framework, with political security, economy and sustainable development and social humanities as three pillars, giving priority to cooperation in promoting mutual connectivity, capacity, cross-border economy, water resources, agriculture and poverty reduction and integrating other fields according to the actual needs of the partner countries.
The agricultural cooperation represented by coffee industry is an epitome of the LMC. LMC, initiated and promoted by China, aims at meeting the needs of people's livelihood development through small and medium-sized projects. China has set up a RMB10 billion yuan concessional loan, a US$10 billion credit line and a US$ 300 million LMC Special Fund to support cooperation. Over the past four years, the six countries have implemented more than 410 cooperation projects in the areas of connectivity, capacity cooperation, cross-border economy, water resources management, agricultural and rural development, poverty alleviation and cultural tourism. As a key country supported by the LMC Special Fund, Myanmar has received support for 51 projects over the past four years with a total funding of more than 16 million US dollars.
Cooperation between China and Myanmar under the LMC mechanism is expanding from priority areas such as water resources management, agricultural development and poverty reduction to medical and health, science, education and culture and capacity building. A number of landmark projects have been successfully implemented. "The Feasibility Study on Myanmar Wan Pong Port Improvement Project" and "Reconstruction and Upgrade Project of the Wan Pong Maritime Regional Division" have played an important role in improving Myanmar's law enforcement capacity and shipping level on the Mekong River. Agricultural projects such as "Breeding Elite Rice Varieties and Optimizing their cultivation in Myanmar", "Rural Development and Vegetable Cultivation Technology transfers in Mekong–Lancang Region", "Improvement of Quality Assurance Systems for Small and Medium sized Traditional Fish Product Processing Establishments in Myanmar", "Establishment of Sericulture Research and Development Center" have provided support for Myanmar's basic agricultural research and development. Cultural exchange projects such as the "Workshop on Heritage Sites Management in Lancang-Mekong Countries", "Lancang-Mekong Cultural Exchange Youth Camp", "Seminar on Innovation and Young Entrepreneurship for Regional Development" have raised the awareness of LMC among all the six countries along the Lancang-Mekong River, which is conducive to the inheritance of the history and culture of the Lancang-Mekong countries and promote the people-to-people bonds among these countries. In the past four years, all sectors in Myanmar are developing stronger sense and awareness of LMC. A cooperation structure with allround cooperation and broad participation is taking shape, bringing about new vitality to the development of relevant fields in Myanmar and tangible benefits to the people of Myanmar.
Practice has proved that LMC is rooted in traditional friendship and based on common interests of relevant countries. It conforms to the trend of the times and is welcomed by the people. Such cooperation can be firm and lasting. The three pillars of LMC are highly aligned with the three pillars of the ASEAN Community building, which is conducive to reducing the internal development gap in ASEAN and advancing the ASEAN integration process. Besides, it will help evolve a benign interaction between China and ASEAN, creating better prospects for regional cooperation.
New Age Calls for New Actions
Myanmar is not only where LMC was first initiated, but also the co-builder and contributor of "Lancang-Mekong Efficiency" featuring progress and results being delivered daily and monthly and a Lancang-Mekong culture of equality, sincerity, mutual assistance and affinity. This year marks the 4th anniversary of LMC, and Myanmar is about to co-chair the LMC with China. I want to congratulate on this achievement.
At present, the international situation is complex and volatile with abnormal changes in the global financial and crude oil markets and the spreading of COVID-19 pneumonia globally. Uncertainties with the international political and economic prospects is presenting new challenges to the Lancang-Mekong countries in developing the region in a steady way. All countries should further enhance cooperation and overcome the difficulties together.
At the beginning of this year, Chinese President Xi Jinping paid a successful historic visit to Myanmar. China and Myanmar are jointly building a China-Myanmar community with a shared future and advancing the building of the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor, "a road of gold and silver" in the new era. China is willing to work with Myanmar to actively implement the consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, coordinate the response to the pandemic and promote bilateral cooperation, go along with Myanmar to promote bilateral relations and make the LMC mechanism to achieve new progress, bring more benefits to the people in Myanmar and other regional countries build a community with a shared future among the Lancang-Mekong countries.
(The views expressed in this article are those of the author, the Chinese Ambassador to Myanmar)
