Myanmar's PM to visit Thailand to promote bilateral cooperation

China View 2008-04-29

YANGON, April 29 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar's Prime Minister General Thein Sein is due to leave the new capital of Nay Pyi Taw for Bangkok later Tuesday to pay an official visit to Thailand, aimed at promoting ties and cooperation between the two countries.

Thein Sein's three-day trip is to be made in return to that by his Thai counterpart Samak Sundaravej last month.

During Samak's Nay Pyi Taw visit, Myanmar and Thailand signed an agreement on promotion and protection of investments between the two countries

Myanmar-Thailand bilateral cooperative ties have maintained a good momentum in recent years and Thailand has become Myanmar's biggest foreign investor and trading partner.

With huge investment of 6.311 billion U.S. dollars pouring in Myanmar's electric power sector alone, Thailand's investment has accounted for 7.3 billion dollars or over 53 percent of Myanmar's total foreign investment received.

The Thai investment prompted Myanmar's contracted foreign investment to hit 14.736 billion U.S. dollars in 19 years as of the end of 2007 since the country opened to such investment in late 1988.

With regard to trade sector, Thailand stood as Myanmar's top trading partner as well as top exporting country during the fiscal year 2006-07 with a bilateral trade volume of 2.659 billion U.S. dollars of which Myanmar's export to Thailand amounted to 2.409 billion dollars. The bilateral trade accounted for over 30 percent of Myanmar's total foreign trade which reached nearly 8 billion dollars in the year. Myanmar gained a trade surplus with Thailand for exporting natural gas during the year.

In 2006-07, Thailand also had 248 million dollars worth of border trade volume with Myanmar.

Meanwhile, Myanmar is working for the formal opening of its second border trade zone of Myawaddy in southeastern Kayin state opposite to the neighbor's Maesot and preparations are underway for the move. The trade zone, which is to highlight export of Myanmar marine products, started building in 2006 in a bid to push transformation of border trade into normal trade.

The Myawaddy trade zone is to stand the second largest zone of its kind in Myanmar after the Muse 105th Mile Border Trade Zone with China's Ruili in southwestern Yunnan province which opened in April 2006.

Besides Myawaddy, Myanmar also trades with Thailand at Tachilek, Kawthoung and Meik (Free on Board) under the border trade system.

Under a latest proposal of Thailand, a prospective border trade zone, the Phaya Thonzu, in Mon state's Thanphyuzayat township connecting Thailand's Kanchanaburi province, will be established as another one of its kind after Myawaddy's.

Latest official figures indicated that in the first half (April-September) of 2007-08, Myanmar-Thailand bilateral trade reached 1.943 billion dollars, of which Myanmar's export to Thailand took 1.694 billion.

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