Gap enters Myanmar

High street giant Gap is to become the first American retailer to source garments made in Myanmar.

The US company said products made at two Yangon factories would be in Gap stores by this summer, in the latest sign of growing interest from multinationals in the fast-changing Southeast Asian country, AFP has reported.

- By entering Myanmar, we hope to help accelerate economic and social growth in the country - said one of Gap's officials.

Myanmar was left impoverished after decades of economic mismanagement under the former junta, as well as years of sanctions by the West imposed in protest at the government's dire human rights record.

Garment exports, which had hit a high of $850 million in 2001, plunged after the US toughened sanctions in 2003 in protest at the junta's detention of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, according to Myanmar textile industry figures at the time.

But a quasi-civilian regime that came into power three years ago has ushered in a broad spectrum of changes -- including welcoming Suu Kyi and her opposition party into parliament. The reforms have generated hopes of an investment boom in the resource-rich nation of about 60 million people.

US firms including drinks makers Coca Cola and Pepsi and carmakers Chevrolet and Ford have already established a sales presence in the country.