Lifting Myanmar sanctions

Here in Myanmar, where political change has been numbingly slow for a half-century, a new leadership is trying to embrace rapid transition from within. The government has freed political prisoners, held elections (with more on the way), begun economic reform, and is intensively courting foreign investment.

Understandably, the international community, which has long punished Myanmar's authoritarian regime with sanctions, remains cautious. Reforms are being introduced so fast that even renowned experts on the country are uncertain about what to make of them.

But it is clear to me that this moment in Myanmar's history represents a real opportunity for permanent change — an opportunity that the international community must not miss. It is time for the world to move the agenda for Myanmar forward, not just by offering assistance, but by removing the sanctions that have now become an impediment to the country's transformation.

So far, that transformation, initiated following legislative elections in November 2010, has been breathtaking. With the military, which had held exclusive power from 1962, retaining some 25 per cent of the seats, there were fears that the election would be a facade. But the government that emerged has turned out to reflect fundamental concerns of Myanmar's citizens far better than was anticipated. Under the leadership of the new president, Thein Sein, the authorities have responded to calls for a political and economic opening. Progress has been made on peace agreements with ethnic-minority insurgents — conflicts rooted in the divide-and-rule strategy of colonialism, which the country's post-independence rulers maintained for more than six decades. The Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi was not only released from house arrest, but is now campaigning hard for a parliamentary seat in April's by-elections.

On the economic front, unprecedented transparency has been introduced into the budgetary process. Expenditures on health care and education have been doubled, albeit from a low base. Licensing restrictions in a number of key areas have been loosened. The government has even committed itself to moving towards unifying its complicated exchange-rate system.

The spirit of hope in the country is palpable, though some older people, who saw earlier moments of apparent relaxation of authoritarian rule come and go, remain cautious. Perhaps that is why some in the international community are similarly hesitant about easing Myanmar's isolation. But most Myanmarese sense that if changes are managed well, the country will have embarked on an irreversible course.

There is much debate about what explains the rapidity of Myanmar's current pace of change. Perhaps its leaders recognised that the country, once the world's largest rice exporter, was falling far behind its neighbours. Perhaps they heard the message of the Arab Spring, or simply understood that, with more than three million Myanmarese living abroad, it was impossible to isolate the country from the rest of the world or prevent ideas from seeping in from its neighbours. Whatever the reason, change is occurring, and the opportunity that it represents is undeniable.

Whenever we withhold assistance or impose sanctions, we need to think carefully about who bears the burden in bringing about the changes that we seek. Opening up trade in agriculture and textiles — and even providing preferences of the kind that are offered to other poor countries — would likely benefit directly the poor farmers who make up 70 per cent of the population, as well as create new jobs. The wealthy and powerful can circumvent financial sanctions, though at a cost; ordinary citizens cannot so easily escape the impact of international pariah status.

We have seen the Arab Spring blossom haltingly in a few countries; in others, it is still uncertain whether it will bear fruit. Myanmar's transition is in some ways quieter, without the fanfare of Twitter and Facebook, but it is no less real — and no less deserving of support.

— Project Syndicate, 2012

Joseph E. Stiglitz is University Professor at Columbia University, a Nobel laureate in economics, and the author of Freefall: Free Markets and the Sinking of the Global Economy.