Laos, Myanmar vow to cement ties, sign three cooperation deals
The governments of Laos and Myanmar agreed yesterday to enhance bilateral ties and cooperation during Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith’s official visit to the country.
Mr Thongloun and his delegation are visiting the Republic of the Union of Myanmar from January 15-16 at the invitation of President U Htin Kyaw, the Lao Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a press release.
The two sides signed three cooperation documents shortly after their high-level talks in order to broaden cooperation between the two Asian nations.
The documents comprised a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on electricity cooperation, MoU on Science and Technology Cooperation, and an MoU on Anti-corruption Cooperation.
President U Htin Kyaw and PM Thongloun said they valued the good relations and cooperation between their two countries, with leaders maintaining regular contact and exchanges of visits.
Premier Thongloun expressed heartfelt thanks to the president, government and people of Myanmar for their warm hospitality.
He congratulated the Myanmar government and people on the achievements they had made in national development.
Mr Thongloun conveyed warm greetings from President Bounnhang Vorachit to President U Htin Kyaw.
Welcoming the Lao premier, President U Htin Kyaw said he highly valued the visit by PM Thongloun, adding that the visit would further enhance the relations and cooperation between Laos and Myanmar.
This is the first visit to Myanmar by Mr Thongloun since he assumed office as prime minister in April 2016.
Through PM Thongloun, President U Htin Kyaw conveyed his warm greetings to President Bounnhang.
On the same day, the Lao prime minister held talks with Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi.
They highly valued the bilateral cooperation between Laos and Myanmar over the past years, notably in the fields of politics, national defence and security, transport, electricity, education, science and technology, trade and investment among others.
The two sides agreed that Laos and Myanmar have untapped potential to broaden their cooperation, especially in the field of tourism.
As Visit Laos Year 2018 gets underway, both sides agreed to encourage more people-to-people visits.
The two parties also briefed each other on the socio-economic development situation in their respective countries.
Laos and Myanmar have signed more than 30 cooperation agreements and MoUs.
In this regard, both sides agreed to work together to push the relevant ministries and sectors of the two countries to intensify action to implement the documents for greater achievements, while exploring new areas of cooperation.
After their talks, PM Thongloun and Aung San Suu Kyi witnessed the signing of the MoUs.
PM Thongloun invited Aung San Suu Kyi to pay an official visit to Laos to enhance further the bilateral ties and cooperation between the two countries.
Laos and Myanmar established bilateral relations on July 12, 1955.
Editor: John Li