Interconnecting energy systems across international frontier requires the participating countries to adopt compatible technical standards, targets and regulatory regimes.

With the opening up of its economy, Myanmar is having new opportunities to achieve its target for sustainable development, greater competitiveness for its local industries and securing energy supplies to on-grid and off-grid communities. In this context, energy cooperation between Thailand and Myanmar drew special policy attention, as it is a win-win economic relationship. In order to understand the current energy situation and identify potential barriers in energy trade between Myanmar and Thailand, a stakeholders workshop was held in Bangkok on April 4. 2014.

Jointly organized by the Energy Research Institute (ERI) of Chulalongkorn University and the Policy Alternatives Research Institute (PARI) of the University of Tokyo, about 45 representatives from academia, the private sector and policymaking community discussed the technical, institutional, political, economic and environmental barriers associated with Thailand's FDI in Myanmar. Mr. Shimpei Yamamoto, the Research Coordinator, and Dr. Venkatachalam Anbumozhi, ERIA energy economist, represented ERIA in the stakeholders meeting. In his opening remarks, Mr. Yamamoto outlined the key features of the Myanmar Comprehensive Development Vision (MCDV), and stressed the need for stronger bilateral cooperation between Myanmar and Thailand to attain sustainable economic growth. In his keynote address, meanwhile, Dr. Anbumozhi provided insights on the South East Asia Energy Outlook and mapped the lessons learned from the NT2 dam project, a bilateral power trade agreement between Laos and Thailand. He also emphasized the need for Myanmar to take a multi-pronged bilateral cooperation strategy for rural electrification through policy and institutional reforms. The participants later spilt into two groups to devise strategies to remove the identified barriers. The outcome of the workshop will be reported to stakeholders in Myanmar by organizing a similar event in a few months' time and will form a critical part of the policy report to be submitted to the Government of Myanmar at the end of the Study.