DHL to quit Myanmar joint venture

Deutsche Post AG’s DHL affiliate will end its joint venture with an entity linked to Myanmar’s military dictatorship when the current contract expires at the end of 2006, the Burma Campaign UK said.

DHL’s partner in Myanmar is the regime-owned company Myanma Post and Telecomms. The two companies started cooperating in Jan 1998, the Campaign said in a statement. No financial details were reported.

‘This is a welcome but long overdue move by DHL,’ said Yvette Mahon, director of Burma Campaign UK.

In 2002 the regime expelled Federal Express, UPS and TNT and other smaller parcel carries, leaving DHL the sector’s sole player in the country. None of the other companies operated joint ventures

The Burma Campaign UK has overseen the departure from Myanmar of more than 100 companies, including British American Tobacco, Premier Oil and PrivewaterhouseCoopers.