ABSTRACT: "Multilateral development banks and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in particular, have not provided direct assistance to Myanmar (Burma) since the mid-­1980s, largely as a concession to global disapprobation of its ruling military regime. Through its Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) project, however, the ADB still provides indirect assistance to Myanmar and direct assistance to the authoritarian single party states of Laos and Vietnam. The aim of the GMS East-­West Economic Corridor (EWEC) is to facilitate trade and investment across the GMS but the Myanmar leg of the road corridor, from Mawlamyine (Moulmein) to the Thai border at Myawaddy, traverses Karen State, which has been fraught with civil conflict since 1948. The ruling military regime along with its allies, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), nominally controls this route but in mid-­2010 there were serious defections from the DKBA to the opposition Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) over the military regime?s Border Guard Force (BGF) leading to increased tension in the area. The regime then closed the border at Myawaddy, ostensibly over a dispute with Thailand but more likely due to domestic political concerns, resulting in a large build-­up of goods on both sides of the border. The risks of greater civil conflict in this region are exacerbated by the revenue raising opportunities that various competing groups can derive from increased border trade while the risks of forced labour are ubiquitous for major development projects in Myanmar. The ADB acknowledges that the early stages of the EWEC will be funded by public sources but it clearly sees its role as guarantor of long-­term stability for the project to minimise the risks faced by private investment. The very nature of the project itself, however, which ignores domestic political issues, is likely to result in heightened risks of insecurity for the oppressed ethnic minorities who inhabit the region."