http://myanmargarments.com/content/2012/04/Myanmar-garment-production-set-for-revival<p><span class="matter_new">Myanmar&rsquo;s garment industry is set for revival, including <br />creation of new jobs, as the European Union has announced lifting of the <br />sanctions that it imposed on Myanmar since late 1990s, owing to recent political <br />reforms carried out in Myanmar.<br /><br />Following the imposition of the <br />sanctions, Myanmar lost its General System of Preferences (GSP) status with the <br />EU, which allowed garment producers of Myanmar to export their goods to the EU <br />market duty free. This resulted in a rise in cost of doing business in Myanmar, <br />which ultimately led to reduction in trade.<br /><br />The removal of sanctions by <br />the EU is expected to bring back some of the 80,000 garment industry jobs that <br />were lost over the past decade in Myanmar, as it would pave way for several new <br />contracts and orders. <br /><br />This would lead to generation of around 25,000 <br />jobs in the Myanmarese garment industry this year itself, according to Myanmar <br />Garment Manufacturers association.<br /><br />Although the sanctions or trade <br />embargoes were imposed by the EU to punish the Southeast Asian nation&rsquo;s former <br />military rulers for their misrule and human right abuses for years together, it <br />proved to be far more detrimental for the poor unskilled workers than for the <br />rulers, as a lot many of these workers lost their jobs. <br /><br /></span></p></br>