Myanmar today

Ever since the repressive military regime was disbanded in 2011, the people of Myanmar are looking up to promising changes ahead.
Despite being a resource-rich country, the nation has the world’s worst legal system for doing business, retaining a position it has held for the last five years despite recent reforms. But the reforms have caught the attention of foreign investors, eager to do business in the nation strategically placed between China and India.
With regards to the perpetual civil war Myanmar has struggled with, the new government has outlined a three-stage plan with all 16 of the country’s ethnic rebel groups, promising of village development projects like housing, roads, water electricity and resettlement of refugees and internally displaced people, in the hopes of permanent peace.

This photo shows a couple walking back to home at the end of the day in downtown Yangon.

This photo shows a customer waiting for his turn in front of a small barber shop in downtown Yangon.

Myanmar's landmark Shwedagon Pagoda is lit up during a preparation for 2,600 anniversary of its establishment, in Yangon, Myanmar. Vast crowds were gathering Wednesday at Myanmar's most sacred Buddhist shrine to celebrate a festival banned for more than 20 years under the former military government.  

Myanmar's devotees carry palanquins with the status of Buddha during the 2,600th anniversary celebrations of Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon, Myanmar. Gongs chimed as thousands of people in ceremonial costumes walked barefoot Wednesday through the marble walkways of Myanmar's most sacred Buddhist shrine.

Myanmar girls in ceremonial dresses wait to take part in the 2600th anniversary celebrations of Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon, Myanmar.

A Myanmar Buddhist monk sits in the compound of Shwedagon Pagoda on the eve of its 2600th anniversary celebrations in Yangon, Myanmar.

Myanmar's women in ancient dresses take part in the 2,600th anniversary celebrations of Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon, Myanmar.

Pilgrims worship in front of the Golden Rock in Myanmar's north eastern city of Kyaikhtiyo, some 160 kilometers from Yangon. 

A worshipper walks around the Golden Rock temple in Myanmar's north eastern city of Kyaikhtiyo, some 160 kilometers from Yangon.

Buddhist novice monks eat at a temple where local villagers meet representatives of the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC) and Myanmar's police in the village of Kyauk Ka Char, in the mountains of Shan State. Myanmar has dramatically escalated its poppy eradication efforts since September 2011, threatening the livelihoods of impoverished farmers who depend upon opium as a cash crop to buy food. With new ceasefires ending years of conflict between the government and ethnic insurgents, Myanmar police and United Nations officials are travelling through opium-rich Shan State to ask farmers what assistance they need. 

Ethnic Akha women wearing traditional clothes meet representatives of the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC) and Myanmar's police at the village of Kor Miang Pin, in the mountains of Shan State.

An ethnic Akha child wearing traditional clothes is seen as villagers meet representatives of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and Myanmar's police at the village of Kor Miang Pin, in the mountains of Shan State.

An ethnic Akha woman wearing traditional clothes decorated with colonial era coins is seen as villagers meet representatives of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and Myanmar's police at the village of Kor Miang Pin, in the mountains of Shan State.

A policeman holds poppy plants after a field was destroyed above the village of Tar-Pu, in the mountains of Shan State.

Moe Mohm, 48, an ethnic Pa-O widow with six daughters whose poppy field was destroyed, sits in her house in the village of Kyauk Ka Char, in the mountains of Shan State.

An ethnic Mon woman washes her children in the village of Ban Bor Yeepun near the Burmese border. Myanmar's new government signed a ceasefire deal with New Mon State Party and its military wing, the Mon National Liberation Army, on February 1 after decades of conflict and has outlined a three-stage plan for permanent peace with all 16 of the country's ethnic rebel groups, promising of village development projects like housing, roads, water electricity and resettlement of refugees and internally displaced people. It is in talks with investors to set up factories in former conflict areas once political deals are signed, with the promise of higher wages for the hundreds of thousands of people from Myanmar working across the border in Thailand.

Children gather in a school in the village of Tar-Pu, in the mountains of Shan State.  

Statues of Buddhist monks are lined near a temple in Payathonzu, near the Burmese border with Thailand.

HIV-positive patients pass the time at a HIV/AIDS hospice, founded by a member of the National League for Democracy (NLD) party, in Yangon. Tens of thousands of lives are at risk in Myanmar due to an anticipated funding shortfall to treat people living with HIV and tuberculosis, medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) warned, urging international donors to provide immediate support to the impoverished country. Myanmar is already facing "a devastating gap" between people's needs and access to treatment and a decision by the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to cancel funding for 2013 because of a lack of donor money could worsen the situation, the report "Lives in the balance: the urgent need for HIV and TB treatment in Myanmar" said.

Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi greets her supporters as she arrives to Pyar Pon at Irrawaddy delta region in Irrawaddy division. The Myanmar government assured EU development commissioner Andris Piebalgs during his recent visit that April's by-elections, which will herald the opposition's return to mainstream politics, will be democratic.