OREANDA-NEWS. Hitachi, Ltd. announced today that it is hosting its very first event in Myanmar as part of its business expansion plans in the country. Named "Hitachi Social Innovation Forum 2015 in Myanmar," the forum will be held today at the capital city of Nay Pyi Taw. It will showcase a broad range of solutions in Hitachi's "Social Innovation Business", which combines infrastructure and advanced information technologies. Customers, business partners, and major stakeholders in Myanmar will be able to have a better understanding of Hitachi's key business fields such as Information & Telecommunication Systems, Railway Systems, and Power Transmission & Distribution Systems. Through our Social Innovation Business, Hitachi aims to expand our business in Myanmar and increase mainly the number of local employees five times - from 200 to 1,000 - by 2020.

In its 2015 Mid-term Management Plan, Hitachi targets to increase its overseas sales ratio to more than 50%. Myanmar is well-recognized as an emerging market with high growth potential, and is one of the important focus markets for Hitachi's business in this region. Myanmar is putting in place urban infrastructures and measures aimed at promoting trade with other countries, to support the development of science and technology as well as growth in the manufacturing industry. These new social infrastructure systems are expected to stimulate economic growth. Urban centers, in particular, are likely to see dramatic economic growth, as Japanese companies and other foreign capital companies continue to set up establishments in Myanmar.

Hitachi has long been involved in the development of Myanmar. Hitachi's first large-scale project in Myanmar was the supply of generators to Baluchaung No. 2 Hydro Power Plant, the country's largest power plant in 1958. Just last month, Hitachi signed a 2.4 billion yen contract with Myanmar Railways to provide a signaling system along a 140 km route connecting Yangon Central Railway Station and Pyuntasa Station, in the Bago region. Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems, Ltd., a joint venture between Hitachi and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, has also received an order for H-25 type gas turbine generators for the Thilawa Special Economic Zone. Through "creative collaboration'', which are solutions to social issues created jointly with the customers, Hitachi aims to propel growth and economic development in Myanmar by resolving social issues and improving their quality of life.