The Embassy of Myanmar in Berlin

Both the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic opened official relations with Myanmar in the 1950s, a few years after the independence of Myanmar from the United Kingdom. But after the repression of the democratic movement led by Aung San Suu Kyi by the military junta in 1988 and the flagrant violations of human rights in the country, the European Union imposed an embargo on Myanmar. In 2007 the military junta started opening the country, and the new Constitution of 2008 that transfers the power to a part-civilian government.

The normalization of the situation and the transition toward democracy in Myanmar, pushed the European Union to lift the sanctions against Myanmar in 2013. Since, the relations between Germany and Myanmar have intensified. Federal President Gauck visited Myanmar in 2014 and met with President Thein Sein and Aung San Suu Kyi.

The economic relations between Germany and Myanmar are still tainted with the former embargo and remain at a very low level. However, Germany is the most important European trade partner for Myanmar.

Since the 1960s, Myanmar has been one of the principle partner countries of German development cooperation. The main areas of cooperation are sustainable economic development, funding to small and medium-sized businesses and the promotion of trade and industry. This makes Germany the second largest foreign donor of Myanmar after Japan. However, the cooperation has been suspended between 1989 and 2011. In 2012, following the visit of Federal President Gauck to Myanmar, a debt remission agreement has been signed.