Myanmar leader Maung Aye to visit Bangladesh

Myanmar leader Maung Aye to visit Bangladesh
+ - 14:43, October 04, 2008
Vice-Chairman of the Myanmar State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) Maung Aye will pay an official visit to Bangladesh in the near future, said an official announcement issued from Nay Pyi Taw Saturday without giving the date of his visit.

At the invitation of Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed, Chief Adviser of the Bangladesh Caretaker Government, Maung Aye, who is also Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Defense Services and Commander-in-Chief of the Army, will pay the visit.

Maung Aye's trip will be another one to Dhaka by a Myanmar leader in more than three years since September 2005 when SPDC member General Thura Shwe Mann toured the western neighbor.


Maung Aye's planned visit came after Myanmar and Bangladesh signed an agreement in Dhaka in July 2007 to establish a 25-kilometer direct road link between the two neighbors to boost trade and tourism.

The 20 million-U.S.-dollar "Friendship Road" from Gundhum in Cox's Bazaar of Bangladesh to Baulibazar in Myanmar was also designed to connect China's Kunming under tri-nation road connectivity which will give further access to Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore and to the Asian Highway.

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, Bangladesh 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.

According to figures of the Ministry of Commerce, bilateral trade between Myanmar and Bangladesh stood over 60 million U.S. dollars annually with the balance of trade favoring Myanmar.

The two countries are striving to increase their bilateral trade to 100 million dollars, the sources said.

Source: Xinhua
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