A total of 25 foreign-owned garment factories running under the nominal Myanmar nationals have been converted to foreign direct investment (FDI) businesses in accordance with Myanmar's new foreign investment law, official media reported Monday.

Minister of National Planning and Economic Development Dr. Kan Zaw gave the clarification when asked by a parliament member at the current session of the House of Nationalities (Upper House).

Meanwhile, more and more foreign garment manufacturers from Asian countries are seeking to invest in Myanmar in light of the country's changes and the introduction of the new foreign investment law.

The leading foreign investors in Myanmar's garment industry are from Japan, China's Hong Kong, South Korea and Germany.

Myanmar's garment export amounted to $496.46 million in the first five months (April-August) of the fiscal year 2012-13, nearly half of the export in the previous fiscal year.

Myanmar garment export outlook is encouraging as the United States has eased import ban on Myanmar.

There are 205 garment enterprises in Myanmar.