Who is he?
Zeya Aung was Myanmar’s minister of transportation from March 2011 to July 2013. Prior to his position in the cabinet, Zeya Aung was a major general in the Myanmar army and commander of the Northern Regional Military Command in Kachin State.
Minister U Zeya Aung (right), with Norwegian state secretary Torgeir Larsen. Source: Utenriksdept’s flickr photostream, used under a creative commons license.
Why is he in the news?
President Thein Sein appointed Zeya Aung minister of energy on July 26 in his second major cabinet reshuffle since taking office in March 2011. Zeya Aung replaces Than Htay who was reassigned as minister of transportation. Than Htay and his deputy were reportedly ousted from the Ministry of Energy because of complaints about poor transparency in the awarding of exploration licenses.
What can we expect from him?
In his new capacity, Zeya Aung will be at the forefront of decision-making on issues related to energy investments in Myanmar, and will play a critical role in the government’s quest to tap into its natural resources to help fuel economic development. As minister of energy, he will be a member of Myanmar’s Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) Leading Authority, a high-level, inter-ministerial committee chaired by Minister Soe Thane in charge of overseeing preparations for implementing the country’s commitments under the EITI.
Zeya Aung comes into office just as the energy sector in Myanmar is beginning to heat up; the International Monetary Fund predicts government revenues from natural gas will likely increase by 85 percent over the next three years. The Shwe gas pipeline connecting Myanmar’s Rakhine State to China’s Yunnan Province started delivering gas to China on July 29, and the state-owned Myanmar Oil & Gas Enterprise is expected to award licenses to foreign investors seeking to explore offshore oil and gas blocks in early 2014.
