Party chief begins State visit to Myanmar

He was welcomed at the airport by Myanmar’s Minister of Transport and Communications Thant Sin Maung and other Myanmar officials.

This is the first visit of a Vietnamese Party General Secretary to Myanmar after the visit of Party General Secretary Do Muoi in 1997.

It aims to establish a more specific cooperation framework to create a breakthrough for the bilateral relations, especially in the fields of trade, investment, security and defence.

Vietnam and Myanmar established diplomatic ties four decades ago. Trade between the two nations hit US$536 million last year, exceeding their target and making Vietnam the ninth largest trade partner of Myanmar.

Two-way trade rose by 48 percent to US$250.2 million in the first four months of 2017 with Vietnam enjoying a trade surplus of US$133.3 million. Vietnam goods were worth US$191.7 million in the period, up 29 percent year-on-year, while imports almost tripled to US$58.5 million.