European Times: What are the current priorities of the Ministry of Information?
U Aung Kyi: We are trying to change our ministry from a government propaganda machine to a public service. To adopt media pluralism in our country, we are leading the shift from state-owned media to public-service media. We aim to have more commercial newspapers and broadcasters and also community-service and charitable organisations producing media in ethnic languages. All this is very different from the previous situation in Myanmar.
European Times: What are some of the ministry’s specific projects?
U Aung Kyi: In our drive to transform our media from authoritarian to socially responsible, we are using the EU model and promoting freedom of the press. We are changing our media laws and actively inviting foreign news agencies to Myanmar. Another priority for the Ministry of Information is to extend media coverage throughout the country. Only 1% of Myanmar’s population receives newspapers and we look to increase that to 3% or 4% in the coming years. My mission is to be able to close the knowledge gap between urban and rural areas. We also want to increase the number of Internet users, which now total less than 10% of the population.
European Times: What role is the Ministry of Information playing in attracting FDI to Myanmar?
U Aung Kyi: We want to provide accurate information to any entrepreneurs that want to invest in our country. Myanmar is in the midst of an unprecedented transformation, and we welcome international assistance and expertise to help us take advantage of our large labour force and turn Myanmar into an industrial power. The strategic location of Myanmar is very important to investors from the EU, and we also offer a large new market. Myanmar has recently been admitted to the EU’s Generalised System of Preference and has already used it to create at least 10,000 job opportunities in one year. We have invited two large international telephone operators to the country to help us transform our telephone systems, and we are looking for European expertise to help us develop our film industry.
European Times: What is your personal message?
U Aung Kyi: Myanmar is developing much later than most ASEAN countries, but we have been able to learn from their experiences and use that to our advantage. We aim to move forward even faster to help Myanmar be viewed in a better light by the international community.
