McCain urges US to keep sanctions on Burma's energy sector

By Julian Pecquet - 06/15/12 11:28 AM ET

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is urging the Obama administration to retain sanctions against Burma's state-controlled oil-and-gas sector, echoing similar statements from human-rights activist and newly elected parliamentarian Aung San Suu Kyi.

“Daw Aung San Suu Kyi made a very important statement today that I call on the Administration and our European allies to heed,” McCain said in a statement. “She urged foreign governments not to allow their companies to enter into new partnerships at this time with the Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise, or MOGE, the state-owned enterprise in Burma that controls all foreign investment in the country’s oil and gas industry. I share Daw Suu’s concerns that MOGE’s operations lack transparency, that it remains overly influenced by the Burmese military, and that the large amounts of foreign investment flowing into MOGE are not yet sufficiently accountable to the Burmese parliament and people.”

Suu Kyi, who is on her first European tour after two decades of house arrest, told the International Labor Organization in Geneva that the mechanism controlling foreign participation in the energy sector “lacks both transparency and accountability at present.”

“The government needs to apply internationally recognized standards such as the IMF code of good practices on fiscal transparency,” she said. “Other countries could help by not allowing their own companies to partner with MOGE unless it was signed up to such codes.”

The State Department is currently weighing when and how to lift sanctions against Burma, also known as Myanmar, following a slew of political reforms — including democratic elections — this year. Some lawmakers have balked at the proposed sector-by-sector approach, calling it a "strategic mistake."

"We understand that as part of its review of sanctions policy, the administration is considering lifting sanctions sector by sector, with the possibility that sanctions may be retained on individual industries such as petroleum," Sens. Jim Webb (D-Va.) and James Inhofe (R-Okla.), the top Democratic and Republican senators on the East Asian affairs subpanel, wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last month. "The United States should not be picking winners and losers in our economic engagement abroad, but rather should be encouraging the business community as a whole to take on the risk of investing in human development in Burma.”