Today, the General Secretary departed for a state visit to Myanmar.

This is the first visit by the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam to Myanmar after 20 years since the visit of General Secretary Do Muoi in 1997.

Successfully concluding his official visit to the Republic of Indonesia, on the morning of August 24, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong departed for a state visit to the Republic of the Union of Myanmar at the invitation of Myanmar President Htin Kyaw.

This is the first visit by the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam to Myanmar after 20 years since the visit of General Secretary Do Muoi in 1997 and takes place at a time when Myanmar is entering a new period.

Today, the General Secretary departed for a state visit to Myanmar.

The visit is an important milestone, creating momentum to bring the traditional friendship and multifaceted cooperation between Vietnam and Myanmar to new heights.

Vietnam and Myanmar are two close neighbors in Southeast Asia, with many similarities in history and cultural traditions, sharing many benefits and having many potentials and strengths that complement each other.

Over the past 40 years since the official establishment of diplomatic relations, the traditional friendship and multifaceted cooperation between Vietnam and Myanmar, based on the foundation built by President Ho Chi Minh and hero Aung San, has continuously developed strongly and achieved many important results.

The two sides maintain delegation exchanges and contacts at all levels, contributing to enhancing political trust and mutual understanding.

Economic, trade and investment relations have developed steadily and are considered a bright spot in the relationship between the two countries.

Vietnam is currently Myanmar’s 9th largest trading partner and 7th largest investor. Two-way trade turnover in 2016 reached nearly 550 million USD, an increase of more than 22% compared to 2015, fulfilling the target set by the two countries’ senior leaders. The two sides are currently maintaining the annual meeting mechanism of the Joint Subcommittee on Trade.

Regarding investment, as of January 2017, Vietnam has 59 licensed investment projects in Myanmar with registered capital of 1.42 billion USD. Among them are some typical projects such as Hoang Anh Gia Lai Complex Center, Granite mining project of Song Da Joint Stock Company, Joint venture between Viettel Military Telecommunications Group and Myanmar partner to invest in providing telecommunications network in Myanmar...

As ASEAN member countries, Vietnam and Myanmar have many similar interests and great potential for cooperation.

In recent years, Myanmar's economy has grown strongly thanks to economic reform policies, with GDP growth rate in the 2016-2017 period expected to reach about 8%.

Myanmar advocates encouraging foreign investment, focusing on building infrastructure for transportation, electricity, information; developing modern agriculture...

These are also areas that Vietnam is interested in and has strengths in. This will create an increasingly stronger connection between the two economies.

Besides, Vietnam and Myanmar have regular and close cooperation at regional and world forums such as ASEAN, the United Nations, the Non-Aligned Movement, etc.

The two sides pledged to coordinate with other ASEAN countries to promote efforts to build the ASEAN Community, emphasizing ASEAN's central role in regional structures.

General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong's visit to Myanmar this time consistently demonstrates Vietnam's foreign policy of peace, independence, cooperation and development; affirming Vietnam's policy of continuing to value and strengthen traditional cooperative and friendly relations with neighboring countries in the region, especially ASEAN countries.

The visit takes place at a time when Myanmar is entering a new period of development. The visit will mark an important milestone, aiming to establish a framework for cooperation, determine the direction of direction, and create a breakthrough for cooperation in many fields between the two countries, especially trade, investment, security and defense.../.

According to VOV