Through his working visit to Myanmar, PM Nguyễn Tấn Dũng wants to consolidate the bilateral relations in such fields as economics, trade, and investment as well as solidify cooperative linkages between the business communities of Việt Nam and Myanmar.

Over the last time, Việt Nam and Myanmar have spared no effort to cement and deepen their traditional friendly relations and multifaceted cooperation while undertaking reciprocal visits at all levels.

In regional and international arenas, Việt Nam always stands by Myanmar, especially during the latter’s accessions to ASEAN and ASEM. In addition, the two countries have also been proactively partaking in cooperative activities within ASEAN, Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS), the Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS), and the summits of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Việt Nam (CLMV).

In economic term, the two-way trade turnover between the two Southeast Asian countries recorded an encouraging result of US $108.2 million in 2008 and slightly dropped to US $99 million last year due to the global financial turmoil and economic recession.

During the sixth session of the Việt Nam–Myanmar Joint Committee in June 2008, the two sides agreed to enhance bilateral cooperation in agriculture, fisheries, healthcare, culture, tourism, automobile industry and other domains that both sides have potentials.

For sustainable development of the Mekong River

Right after his trip to Myanmar, the Vietnamese PM and his entourage will take part in the first MRC Summit in Hua Hin, Thailand.

The event will bring together leaders of lower Mekong basin countries - Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Việt Nam, senior officials from the People’s Republic of China and the Union of Myanmar, along with donors and water resource experts.

The conference reviews the 15-year MRC cooperation and will set up major orientations for the MRC towards the preservation of the region's most important river basin. The leaders plan to conclude the first MRC summit with the Hua Hin Declaration on “Meeting demands and maintaining balance for the sustainable development of the Mekong Delta.”

The MRC Summit is expected to be held every four years in alphabet rotation. Việt Nam will host the next MRC Summit in 2014.

By Kim Anh