Myanmar to delay investment law Myanmar will delay the implementation of a controversial foreign investment law passed this month but will step up reforms in areas including telecommunications, land use and streamlining of government structures, according to a senior minister. U Soe Thane, chairman of the Myanmar Investment Commission who also oversees 11 ministries as minister in the president's office, said President Thein Sein had decided to return the legislation to parliament for further amendment when it reconvenes late next month. The draft legislation, which has aroused concern among foreign and some domestic investors for various protectionist provisions, would automatically become law on Friday, 14 days after its passage through parliament, unless the president sends it back. Mr Soe Thane acknowledged growing impatience among would-be investors for clarity on investment rules but said the president was "more concerned about getting the law right" than rushing through an imperfect code. He pointed to the concerns about protectionist provisions among nearly 100 parliamentary amendments to the bill, including a so-called "50-50" provision that limits foreign investment in 13 vaguely defined areas including "agriculture" and business that "harms the environment or eco-system." Such restrictions and general concerns about investor protection dominated discussion last week among nearly 700 participants at a Euromoney investment conference in Naypyidaw. "This bill is an important yardstick for investors - we have to get it right," Mr Soe Thane said. Mr Thein Sein's decision to delay the legislation came on the eve of back-to-back visits to China - from Tuesday - and the US, from Sunday, where he will address the United Nations General Assembly in New York next week. His US visit highlights strong hopes that Washington will proceed with a proposal - now before President Barack Obama - to lift a ban on Myanmar imports, and that opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi will support the end of the embargo. Ms Suu Kyi, who arrives in the US on Monday to tour the country, has softened her earlier support for sanctions against the former military regime but has not explicitly called for a lifting of the import ban, imposed by US Congress in 2003 under the Burma Freedom and Democracy Act. A provision in the act enables the US president to use executive powers to waive the ban, although Mr Obama is seeking tacit support from Congress for such a move. Myanmar on Monday reduced the ammunition critics can use against it by granting anmnesty to 514 prisoners. It was not immediately clear how many of those were political detainees. Washington has indicated to Myanmar's government that Mr Obama will not waive the ban if Ms Suu Kyi opposes the action, however. Officials close to the opposition leader and some Myanmar officials have indicated that she is prepared to support lifting the embargo - a move that would provide a desperately needed boost to important export industries, such as garments and seafood processing. Myanmar's clothing exports to the US plunged nearly 40 per cent the year after Congress imposed the ban in 2003 and have declined steadily since, while nearly 100,000 jobs were lost as factories closed, according to western studies. Until Myanmar's law is amended, Mr Soe Thane said, the existing 1988 foreign investment law was "quite adequate." Foreign investors and legal experts have said the existing code is "better than the new draft with its amendments" - although some noted this week that the new legislation contains incentives including better terms on land leases and tax exemptions. It is unclear whether new investment under the existing framework would benefit from the new code once it is completed, although Myanmar officials said it was likely as Mr Soe Thane's MIC, the key foreign investment regulator, had been given a "great deal of discretion" to interpret the laws. Mr Soe Thane dismissed concerns that Ms Suu Kyi's US tour - which features an award ceremony in Washington to accept the Congressional Gold Medal awarded in 2008 for her pro-democracy work, dinner at the White House and numerous other speeches round the country - would upstage Mr Thein Sein's visit. Mr Thein Sein has not been invited to Washington, with US officials citing Mr Obama's election campaign commitments as the reason. However, the US president is expected to meet the woman he has described as one of his "heroes," possibly at a White House dinner featuring former president Bill Clinton and Microsoft founder Bill Gates. Relations between Ms Suu Kyi, who heads a minority opposition of just 43 MPs, and Mr Thein Sein have been "increasingly co-operative," Mr Soe Thane said. It's not an issue, she is doing her job, our president is doing his job . . . She will explain in America how we are aligned on issues ranging from peace efforts to economic development and general reforms. Aung Min, another reform-minded minister in the president's office, who is accompanying Mr Thein Sein to the US, said he would attend Ms Suu Kyi's congressional medal ceremony in Washington next week. "We are good friends; I want to be there to support her," he added.