US technology giant General Electric (GE) may soon expand its Myanmar presence. Wouter Van Versch, President and Chief Executive of GE Asia Pacific, told the Myanmar Times that the company is weighing further investments in power infrastructure as well as healthcare services through its subsidiary, GE Healthcare.
“Myanmar has huge potential in terms of revenue and orders for GE. Myanmar needs healthcare and a lot of electricity. There are good prospects in natural gas production and solar energy sector,” Van Versch told the Times. “In the future, GE may come to Myanmar to invest in factories to support its expansion into healthcare and electricity production from natural gas,” he added.
Any new GE projects would build on a robust existing portfolio in Myanmar. Following the lifting of US sanctions in 2012, GE supplied the state-owned Myanmar National Airlines with jet engines. The company has also sold equipment to several gas-fired power plants around the country. “The region needs much more infrastructure in aviation, energy and healthcare. In the next 20 years, we expect spending on aircraft, energy and healthcare facilities to rise two folds compared to now,” Van Versch continued.
Van Versch told the Myanmar Times that GE also plans to supply more healthcare equipment to Myanmar hospitals. Currently, the Myanmar healthcare system uses the GE Revolution ACT, a high efficiency CT scanner, and the Lullaby phototherapy system, which helps detect signs of infant mortality and prevent it.