Hanoi (VNA) – The official visit to Vietnam from April 19-20 byMyanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi will enhance bilateral friendship andboost cooperation in order to create a foundation to develop the two sides partnership,according to Vietnamese Ambassador to Myanmar Luan Thuy Duong.

This is the first official visit to Vietnamby Aung San Suu Kyi, who is also Myanmar’s Minister of Foreign Affairs andMinister of the President’s Office.

According to Ambassador Duong, during thevisit Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and the State Counsellor willhold talks and witness the signing of several important documents.

The two countries’ leaders will review thedevelopment of bilateral relations, especially since the establishment of thecomprehensive cooperative partnership in August 2017 during a State visit toMyanmar by General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Nguyen PhuTrong.

They are expected to discuss measures tointensify collaboration in politics, trade, investment, defence, agriculture,fisheries and forestry, energy, telecoms, tourism, education andpeople-to-people exchanges.

They will also exchange views on regionalissues, and discusses measures to strengthen cooperation at multilateral forumswhich help ensure each nation’s interests and contribute to peace, stabilityand development, Duong stated.

The diplomat continued by saying that overthe years, delegation exchanges have consolidated bilateral friendship andtrust.

Economic ties developed well, with two-waytrade hitting 828.3 million USD in 2017, up 51 percent from 2016. Vietnam isnow Myanmar’s ninth largest trade partner.

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Vietnam is the seventh biggest foreigninvestor in Myanmar with around 2.1 billion USD. Vietnam currently has 196commercial presences in Myanmar as representative offices, subsidiaries, jointventure companies and Vietnamese-invested companies, Duong shared.

She said that the two countries have boostedbilateral cooperation mechanisms such as the joint committee on bilateralcooperation and the joint sub-committee on trade.

Political consultations have also created anumber of common stances between the countries in regional and internationalissues, she stated, adding that they have supported each other at sub-regional,regional and international forums such as the United Nations, ASEAN,Cambodia-Laos-Myanmar-Vietnam cooperation, Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-MekongEconomic Cooperation Strategy and the Greater Mekong Sub-region.

Recent developments in bilateral defencecooperation have been appreciated, which is reflected through VietnameseDefence Minister Ngo Xuan Lich’s visit to Myanmar and the Vietnam visit byCommander-in-Chief of the Defence Services of Myanmar Min Aung Hlaing in 2017.

Last year, the two countries signed acultural cooperation programme for 2017-2020 during Party General SecretaryNguyen Phu Trong’s Myanmar visit.

They also inked a memorandum of understandingon educational cooperation.

The diplomat expressed her belief withefforts from both sides, bilateral friendship and cooperation will reap morefruits, thus bringing about benefits for the two peoples, and for peace,stability, development and prosperity in the region and the world.-VNA