Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong pays a state visit to Myanmar

This is the first visit to Myanmar by a Vietnamese Communist Party leader in 20 years since Party General Secretary Do Muoi’s trip in 1997. The visit takes place amidst rapid developments of the Vietnam-Myanmar relationship.

Effective cooperation across fields

This year Vietnam and Myanmar celebrate the 42^nd anniversary of diplomatic ties and the 70^th anniversary of Vietnam’s first representative office in Myanmar. The two countries have regularly exchanged visits, especially at a high-ranking level. Myanmar President Htin Kyawa and the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces Min Aung Hlaing visited Vietnam last year and in March. Vietnamese National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan visited Myanmar in 2016 while attending the 37^th ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly.

The two countries have strengthened bilateral cooperation in 12 areas such as agriculture, finance, banking, aviation, telecommunications, gas, mining, manufacturing, construction, and trade. Their bilateral trade totaled 550 million USD last year. The two sides established the Association of Vietnam Investment in Myanmar (AVIM) and the Hoang Anh-Gia Lai Complex Center in Yangon. Vietnam Airlines launched the Hanoi-Yangon direct flights. They are working on oil and gas exploration projects, and a project on production and distribution of medicines of the Anh Sao Viet Pharmaceutical Company and a project on granite development by Song Da Joint Stock Company. Last March, Myanmar licensed the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) to open its branch in Myanmar. Early this year, Mytel, a joint venture between Viettel and two Myanmar partners was set up with total investment of 1.8 billion USD. When inaugurated, Mytel will be the biggest network supplier in Myanmar covering 90% of Myanmar’s population - 55 million people. Viettel projects have raised Vietnam’s prestige in Myanmar.

As of last February, Vietnam was Myanmar’s 9^th biggest trading partner and 7^th biggest investor with investment totaling more than 2 billion USD. Myanmar is refining its laws and incentives including the Law on Foreign Investment and Corporate Law, to attract more investors.

Vietnam and Myanmar have set up annual dialogues on politics and security. Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security and Myanmar’s Ministry of Home Affairs have organized a deputy-minister level dialogue on security, shared information, boosted cooperation within the framework of the Anti-Crime Agreement signed in 2014, and exchanged minister-level delegations on a biennial basis.

Prospects for better cooperation

Vietnam and Myanmar intend to boost cooperation in agricultural production, technology, vocational training and health care. They plan to establish joint cooperation committees for these areas.

During Party leader Nguyen Phu Trong’s visit, the two sides will discuss new directions for their bilateral friendship and multifaceted cooperation and establish more specific mechanisms to deepen ties, especially in trade, investment, security, and defense.