Myanmar’s Investment Treaties: A review of legal issues in light of recent trends

The report analyzes Myanmar's investment treaty landscape, noting a significant disparity between its older bilateral investment treaties (BITs) and more recent ASEAN-related agreements. It highlights risks associated with investor-state arbitration, most-favoured nation (MFN) clauses, and the potential for costly legal claims due to vaguely worded protections. The author suggests that Myanmar should clarify its treaty objectives and potentially use the ASEAN Comprehensive Investment Agreement as a template for future negotiations to ensure more balanced and precise obligations.

• Myanmar has seven investment treaties in force, with an eighth (the Myanmar–Japan BIT) pending entry into force, covering relationships with 15 countries across East, South-East and South Asia and Oceania.
• There is a high degree of variation between Myanmar's ASEAN-negotiated treaties and its BITs regarding the types of provisions included and their drafting, which complicates the government's compliance tasks.
• Most-favoured nation (MFN) clauses in Myanmar's treaties may force the state to grant a combination of benefits to foreign investors that is more generous than any single treaty provides individually.
• Except for the Myanmar–Philippines BIT, all of Myanmar's investment treaties allow foreign investors to bring claims directly to investor–state arbitration, resulting in binding monetary awards against the state if the investor is successful.
• Myanmar's older BITs generally use broad, vaguely worded 'fair and equitable treatment' (FET) obligations, whereas the ASEAN CIA and other ASEAN+1 agreements link FET to international law and specifically include the obligation not to deny justice.
• The Myanmar–Japan BIT is notably more restrictive of Myanmar's policy space than other treaties, as it prohibits a broad range of performance requirements (including technology transfer and R&D) and allows these to be challenged via investor–state arbitration.
• The Myanmar–Japan BIT provides Japanese investors with greater rights of establishment than the ASEAN CIA provides to ASEAN investors, and its pre-establishment MFN provision is significantly more extensive due to a lack of listed reservations and sectoral limits.
• Myanmar's investment treaties generally lack 'survival clauses' in the ASEAN framework, meaning withdrawal could have immediate effect, whereas its BITs often include survival clauses that protect existing investments for 10 to 15 years after termination.
• None of Myanmar's existing investment treaties impose obligations on foreign investors, although the Myanmar–Japan BIT prohibits the states themselves from lowering labour or environmental standards to attract investment.

APA

Bonnitcha, J. (2014). Myanmar’s Investment Treaties: A review of legal issues in light of recent trends. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/myanmar_investment_treaties_review_legal_issues.pdf

Chicago

Bonnitcha, Jonathan. Myanmar’s Investment Treaties: A review of legal issues in light of recent trends. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2014. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/myanmar_investment_treaties_review_legal_issues.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Bonnitcha |first1=Jonathan |title=Myanmar’s Investment Treaties: A review of legal issues in light of recent trends |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=June 2014 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/myanmar_investment_treaties_review_legal_issues.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{bonnitcha2014myanmars, author = {Bonnitcha, Jonathan}, title = {{Myanmar’s Investment Treaties: A review of legal issues in light of recent trends}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2014}, month = jun, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/myanmar_investment_treaties_review_legal_issues.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }