Myanmar leader Vice Senior-General Maung Aye's recent three-day goodwill visit to Bangladesh helps cement bilateral friendship and boost bilateral cooperation in the economic sector, said the official newspaper New Light of Myanmar Saturday.
"Myanmar and Bangladesh are two developing countries facing same economic challenges. So, the two neighbors will be able to enjoy fruitful results if they work more closely in border trade and investment," the paper said in its editorial.
Plans are underway to sign more agreements in addition to the one on avoidance of double taxation between the two countries inked during Maung Aye's Dhaka visit from Oct. 7 to 9, the editorial noted.
Maung Aye, who is Vice-Chairman of the Myanmar State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), is also Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Defense Services and Commander-in-Chief of the Army.
During Maung Aye's trip at the invitation of Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed, Chief Adviser of the Bangladesh Caretaker Government, the two countries also touched upon a wide range of issues from trade and business to construction of a direct road link and cooperation in various sectors.
The two sides decided on purchase of 100,000 tons of rice from Myanmar by Bangladesh and expedite steps in terms of energy cooperation, construction of trans-border road, delimitation of maritime boundary and import of pharmaceuticals from Bangladesh.
The two sides agreed to start the construction work of a 25-km road connecting the two neighbors soon with 23 km inside Myanmar and 2 km on Bangladesh's territory.
The two sides also expressed wishes to increase their bilateral trade volume up to 500 million dollars in the next fiscal year 2009-2010 from the current 140 million dollars.
Myanmar and Bangladesh have maintained exchange of high-level visits in recent years. In December 2002, Myanmar SPDC Chairman Senior-General Than Shwe visited Dhaka, while in 2003, Bangladeshi Prime Minister Khaleda Zia came to Yangon, during which the two countries signed two memorandums of understanding (MoUs) on the establishment of a joint trade commission and an agreement on coastal and maritime shipping.
In September 2005, Myanmar SPDC member General Thura Shwe Mann also toured the country.
Source: Xinhua
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