YANGON, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- A total of 17 countries and regions involving 79 companies have invested in Myanmar's Thilawa Special Economic Zone (SEZ), official report quoted the economic zone authorities as reporting Sunday.
Foreign investment in the Thilawa SEZ also hit 838.3 million U.S. dollars as of July with Singapore-based companies topping the investors in the SEZ with 372.147 million U.S. dollars, disclosed the Directorate of Investment and Company Administration (DICA) of Myanmar.
The Thilawa SEZ, located at 2,400 hectares' land in the outskirt of Yangon, represents the very first of its kind being developed in Myanmar with the other two, namely Dawei and Kyaukphyu SEZs being in progress.
Myanmar and Japan entered into an agreement on Oct.29, 2013 to implement the Thilawa SEZ with Zone-A being brought into operation on Sept 23, 2015 and construction of Phase-1 of Zone-B is expected start in November 2016.
Zones A and B, when both completed, will be able to house up to 150 factories and employ 40,000 workers, according to the SEZ authorities.
The Thilawa SEZ has been operated by Myanmar-Japan Thilawa Development Company, a joint venture between Myanmar and Japan, since 2013, formed by two Myanmar companies and two Japanese companies sharing a ratio of 51 to 49.
