The ruffled circumstances brewing in Myanmar have not refrained Japan from being a constant in Myanmar’s economic upliftment. Its cordial gestures have time and again surfaced to ameliorate Myanmar’s business landscape.

Being disconnected from the commercial segment for long, the need to be integrated and linked with the regions around is a must for the nation to prosper. To cultivate circumstances of cross- border trade, Japan’s delivery giant – Yamato, emerged to provide operational and logistic support solutions to Myanmar. Along with its subsidiary based in Singapore and Aye International Group Company, a joint endeavour called Yamato Global Logistics Myanmar Company was shaped last December. Its scheduled to begin its operations from April.

With the support and services offered by Yamato, the import and export logistics involved between both the countries and further with the South-East Asian countries, is expected to bring efficiency in the whole system.

With the intent to build and mature operations in Myanmar and integrate it with the regional supply chain, solutions being forwarded by the Yamato Group comprise cross- border transport, warehousing, freight forwarding services, home relocation services etcetera.

Yamato Group expressed, “Our main target will be the B-to-B market, such as production goods market, consumer goods market, and B-to-B logistics such as procurement and delivery. We think our challenge will be how we can differentiate ourselves compared to our competitor, by providing added value to our forwarding businesses.”

Yamato’s Singapore subsidiary -Yamato Asia owns 80pc stake, with the contribution of US$400,000, and the domestic firm Aye International Group (AIG) owns 20pc stake with the coverage capital of US$100,000.

Being in the immediate geographical space with Thailand which is the regional centre of industrial activities, Myanmar’s participation in the region’s cross-border trade and logistics market was deemed essential and imperative by the Japanese delivery giant. Thus, the cross-border opportunities enabled by being part of the regional supply chain will bolster the manufacturing scope of consumer and industrial goods, along with its procurement and delivery aspects.

Thereby, with its expansion plans to Myanmar and Southeast Asia, Yamato Holdings have put Myanmar onto the path of acceleration and integration with the regional and global economy.