BUSINESS in BURMA THIS WEEK - Germany forgives 740m Burmese debt; shares for Thilawa SEZ to go on sale; offshore oil and gas bidders await anxiously; and Burma struggles to compete with neighbours in rice market.

Chinese dam-builders say resumption of the Irrawaddy seven-dam project will bring electricity, revenue, jobs and tourists to the region while a local NGO claims it will destroy the environment and livelihoods, and further fuel the conflict in Kachin State.

Japan's approach to foreign investment, characterised by poor transparency and an indifference to human rights, is becoming a threat to Burma's fragile reform process.

One of the main hopes for Burma’s recent political reforms has been for a vibrant, open and flourishing civil society – a vital component...

Internal report in 2009 financed by the company behind the controversial Myitsone dam had called for cessation of project

Cronies of the ruling junta in Burma have been richly rewarded by recent privatisation measures which look set to further blur the line between business and politics