Vietnam, Myanmar agree to increase trade ties

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and Myanmar President Thein Sein

The agreement was reached between Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and Myanmar President Thein Sein during their talks in the Myanmar capital city of Nay Pyi Taw on December 21.

PM Dung was on an working visit to Myanmar at the invitation of President Thein Sein and attended the fourth Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS-4) Summit.

President Thein Sein expressed his belief that the visit will significantly contribute to consolidating and further enhancing the traditional friendship and multifaceted cooperation between the two countries, especially in trade, investment, tourism, environment and health care, while strengthening ties between GMS nations.

The President congratulated Vietnam on the country’s achievements in renewal, national development and international integration, considering this a good model for Myanmar.

He spoke highly of Vietnam ’s prestige and role in the region and thanked the country for its support for Myanmar at regional and international forums, especially the country’s bid for chairmanship of ASEAN in 2014.

The Myanmar side will encourage Vietnamese businesses to invest in areas such as agriculture, especially rice and rubber cultivation, aquaculture, new industrial zones, transport infrastructure, hotels and mining and offshore fuel exploitation, he said.

For his part, PM Dung congratulated Myanmar on the country’s achievements in the renewal process, national concord, development and international integration.

He expressed his belief that Myanmar will successfully assume the ASEAN Chair in 2014.

The two leaders affirmed their resolve to bring bilateral relations to a new height in a more practical and effective manner and agreed to continue prioritising 12 fields identified in the joint statement issued in April, 2010.

They will assign relevant ministers to draw up cooperative projects in areas of the two sides’ strengths.

Both agreed to uphold current cooperative mechanisms such as the Vietnam-Myanmar Joint Committee for Trade, annual political consultation meetings between the two foreign ministries, and cooperation between Ho Chi Minh City and Yangon city, while promoting cooperation in other areas such as aviation, tourism, telecommunications, foreign affairs, security and defence.

During the talks, the two leaders exchanged their views on regional and international issues of mutual concern. They affirmed their resolve to continue close cooperation in ASEAN and GMS cooperative frameworks.

They reached consensus on coordinating with relevant countries in utilising Mekong River water. They voiced their support for the strict and full implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) towards the building of a Code of Conduct (COC) in the East Sea , for peace, stability and maritime security and safety in the region.

PM Dung conveyed greetings of Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and President Truong Tan Sang and invited President Thein Sein to visit Vietnam. The Myanmar President accepted the invitation with pleasure and asked the Vietnamese Prime Minister to convey his invitation to Party leader Trong and President Sang to visit Myanmar at a convenient time.

Following the talks, PM Dung and President Thein Sein witnessed the singing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on agriculture and rural development between the two countries’ agriculture ministries and a MoU on non-refundable technical aid worth $250,000 between the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam for the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation of Myanmar.

Earlier, the two leaders made a fact-finding tour of an experimental rice field planted by Viet Trang Import-Export JSC (Viettranimex) and Vietnam Central Seed Company (Vinaseed), which is the outcome of cooperation between the two agricultural ministries.