Ministry of Industry

HISTORY

With the intention of developing Myanmar into an industrialized country from an agricultural country via an agro-based industrialized one, many heavy and small mills and factories, which manufacture basic human needs: food, shelter and clothing; machines; machinery and spare parts, have been set up throughout the whole country. The mills and factories are in three categories of state-owned, corporatized and privatized.

After the independence of the nation, in spite of standing as an individual ministry to manage and control the industrial sector, ministries of combined sectors like Ministry of Industry and Trade, Ministry of Industry and Labour, Ministry of Industry and Mines were formed consecutively until 1952. In 1952, according to the Constitution of the Union of Burma, the Ministry of Industry (စက်မှုလက်မှုဝန်ကြီးဌာန) was separately established with a department, a board and (8) corporations to expand the work area of the industrial enterprises.

In 1972, in line with the new administration system of the Union Revolutionary Council, the name of the ministry was changed into Ministry of Industry (စက်မှုဝန်ကြီးဌာန) organizing with (16) corporations by the Notification No. (1) dated 16.3.1972. Then, in 1975, the Government of the Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma reorganized the Ministry of Industry into the Ministry of Industry - 1 and the Ministry of Industry - 2 on 1.4.1975 by the Notification No. (3) dated 29.3.1975 in order to implement the tasks of industrial sector more effectively.

   The Ministry of Industry - 1 and the Ministry of Industry - 2 were reconstituted as the Ministry of Industry by the Notification No. (95/2011) dated 2.12.2011 of the President’s Office of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar. The Ministry was organized with 12 Departments; Union Ministerial Office, three Directorates, six Enterprises and two Centers as follow:
   (1)   Union Ministerial Office
   (2)   Directorate of Industry
   (3)   Department of Industrial Planning
   (4)   Directorate of Industrial Supervision and Inspection
   (5)   No. (1) Heavy Industries Enterprise
   (6)   No. (2) Heavy Industries Enterprise
   (7)   No. (3) Heavy Industries Enterprise
   (8)   Textile Industries
   (9)   Pharmaceutical and Foodstuff Industries
   (10)  Paper and Home Utilities Industries
   (11)  Central Research and Development Center
   (12)  Small and Medium Enterprise Development Center

   As there are Directorates of the same functions under the Ministry of Industry; constitutions of some departments need to be expanded for the development of private industrial sector and Small and Medium Enterprises; and some organizations were abolished due to Public Private Partnership (PPP) programmes, the Ministry was reorganized on 1.4.2014, with the approval of the Union Government Meeting No. (3/2014), with ten Departments; Union Ministerial Office, two Directorates, six Enterprises and one Center as follow:
   (1)   Union Ministerial Office
   (2)   Directorate of Industry
   (3)   Directorate of Industrial Supervision and Inspection
   (4)   No. (1) Heavy Industries Enterprise
   (5)   No. (2) Heavy Industries Enterprise
   (6)   No. (3) Heavy Industries Enterprise
   (7)   Textile Industries
   (8)   Pharmaceutical and Foodstuff Industries
   (9)   Paper and Home Utilities Industries
   (10)  Central Research and Development Center

In order to adapt the governance reform plans of that time, the government organizations need to be restructured to cope with the modern system. In this regard, the Union Ministerial Office was redesigned to be expanded; the Directorates were renamed and scaled down; some Enterprises were consolidated; and the Center was abolished.

   The new organizational structure of the Ministry of Industry - redesigned as mentioned above - was reorganized on 1.4.2015, with the approval of the Union Government Meeting No. (7/2015), with seven Departments; Union Ministerial Office, two Directorates and four Enterprises as follow:
   (1)   Union Ministerial Office
   (2)   Directorate of Industrial Collaboration
   (3)   Directorate of Industrial Supervision and Inspection
   (4)   No. (1) Heavy Industrial Enterprise
   (5)   No. (2) Heavy Industrial Enterprise
   (6)   No. (3) Heavy Industrial Enterprise
   (7)   Myanma Pharmaceutical Industrial Enterprise

In the structure mentioned above, No. (18) Heavy Industry (Inn Gone) under No. (1) Heavy Industrial Enterprise was handed-over to Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation.

No. (11) Heavy Industry (Yangon), No. (12) Heavy Industry (Htone Bo), No. (13) Heavy Industry (Magway) and No. (25) Heavy Industry (Myaing) were also handed-over to the Ministry of Defence with the approval of the Union Government Meeting No. (2/2016) dated 13.1.2016. After that, with the approval of the Union Government Meeting No. (15/2016) dated 10.11.2016, the Ministry of Industry was resized.

By the Notification No. (123/2019) dated 28.11.2019 of the President’s Office of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Planning and Finance were merged as the Ministry of Planning, Finance and Industry. As No. (7) Industrial Training Center (Thahton) and No. (8) Industrial Training Center (Monywa) were newly added, the allowed organization capacity of the Ministry was redesigned.

By the Order No. (117/2021) dated 3.5.2021 of the State Administration Council of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar in accordance with Section 419 of the State Constitution, the Ministry of Planning, Finance and Industry was reformed as the Ministry of Planning and Finance and the Ministry of Industry.

VISION

“Creation of Industrially Developed Country”

MISSION

To make the State-owned mills and factories, which should be in the hand of Government, commercially viable; and to promote the partnership of State-owned Enterprises with private enterprises.
To make Industrial Zones, private industries and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises develop in the sustainable manner.
To cooperate with international organizations for the development of industrial sector.

POLICIES

To achieve the success of State-owned mills and factories; and to invite and cooperate with technical know-how and know-how on skills, and investments to be able to promote Private Sector and Public-Private Partnership.
To promote the value-added industries by effectively utilizing the natural resources in the country as raw materials; and to boost import substituted commodities and export product by establishing Heavy Industrial Enterprises.
To encourage Research and Development Activities and to ensure the Development of Human Resources in order to promote the quality of industrial goods and to make innovation.
To give emphasize on the promotion of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.
To ensure the development of the Industry Zones around the country systematically.
To implement green industries for the safety of environment; to use renewable energy; and to make the use of energy efficient and effective.
To make Electric Vehicle Manufacturing and related industry develop in order to reduce greenhouse gas emission.
To promulgate and implement policy, frameworks and standards for the development of industrial sector.
To achieve the technology and assistance to elevate the quality of domestic industrial sector by participating in local, regional and international cooperation.

WORK PROGRAM

The Ministry ensures the success of the State-owned Enterprises by increasing the productivity, and by making research, innovations, and market promotion programmes to comply with the market requirement.
The Ministry will monitor the State-owned mills and factories, which are in cooperation with private enterprises, whether they are running in accordance with the terms and conditions of the contracts; negotiate and cooperate between public and private organizations for the sustainability of the enterprises by evaluating their productivity and profitability.
It will find out possible means to re-operate the temporarily ceased State-owned mills and factories by analyzing the technology, financial investment, market requirement, availability of inputs and economic viability.
It will ensure the sustained development of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises with the market, technical and capital assistances from the State and international organizations.
The Ministry will give support for the successful operation of the existing and new Industrial Zones.
It will supervise, register and reinforce the industrial enterprises in accordance with the issued laws, rules, policies and procedures to ensure public safety and to get statistical data in industrial sector.
It will formulate policies and work programmes to help electric vehicle manufacturing and related industries flourish, and to establish the transportation system with zero greenhouse gas emission; and implement them in cooperation with relevant ministries, organizations and private investors.
It will give regular trainings in Industrial Training Centers (ITCs), Mobile Industrial and Vocational Trainings and Competency-based Short Courses to meet the requirement of skilled workers in the country; to support the trainers from the ITCs to be able to attend the Trainings of Trainers (ToTs) to build up their capacity; and upgrade the curriculums and give more trainings.
It will reform the Industrial Training Centers to be certified as Assessment Centers of respective subjects by National Skill Standard Authority (NSSA), Myanmar for ensuring the ones who finished the trainings for quality assurance, competency assessment and competency certificates.
The Ministry will take necessary actions for emerging national level laws and frameworks on energy efficiency and conservation; and implement related activities including utilization of renewable energy.
It will establish a primary laboratory to be able to issue the internationally accredited recommendations for import and export chemicals and related substances in time; and set up the measures for protection against damage to ecosystems and human health due to chemical wastes.
It will draw up Performance Improvement Plans related to Human Resource Development.
For the development of industrial sector, it will promulgate necessary laws, rules and procedures and update the existing ones to be in line with the current status of the State.
The Ministry will set the standards in the related areas.
In implementing the projects for the development of industrial sector, it will cooperate with local and international organizations of the respective areas.