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Joint
statement on Vietnam-Myanmar cooperation
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung paid a
three-day visit to the Union of Myanmar from April 2-4 at
the invitation of Prime Minister General Thein Sein. On the
occasion, Vietnam and Myanmar released a joint statement on
bilateral cooperation.
During his visit, PM Dung met with Senior
General Than Shwe, Chairman of the Myanmar State Peace and
Development Council (SPDC) and held talks with Prime
Minister General Thein Sein. He also attended a conference
on Vietnam investment promotion in Myanmar along with a
trade fair for Vietnamese products in Yangon and several
ceremonies to debut the Vietnamese Investors’ Association,
to open a direct air route between Hanoi and Yangon and to
inaugurate a representative office of the Bank for
Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV). A number of
cooperation agreements and business contracts were signed by
ministries, sectors and businesses from the two countries.
Leaders updated each other on the political
and economic situation in their respective countries and
discussed ways to promote the time-honoured friendship and
multifaceted cooperation between the two countries. Both
sides pledged to continue mutual support on issues of common
concern at regional and international forums. Talks were
held in an atmosphere of friendship, understanding and
mutual trust.
Myanmar congratulated Vietnam on its
assumption of the ASEAN Chair in 2010. PM Thein Sein briefed
his Vietnamese counterpart Dung on recent developments in
implementing the seven-step roadmap for democratization and
socio-economic development, including announcing election
laws and establishing an electoral committee.
The Vietnamese government leader expressed
his understanding and sympathy for the complex situation in
Myanmar and re-affirmed Vietnam’s support for the nation in
carrying out the roadmap. The Vietnamese PM encouraged
Myanmar to make a greater effort to ensure a free and just
election in 2010.
The two PMs noted with satisfaction the
positive development of bilateral cooperation in politics,
economics, trade, investment, telecommunications, civil
aviation, banking and agriculture while praising the fine
cooperation between the two countries at regional and
international forums.
They agreed to enhance all-round
cooperation, particularly in economics by effectively
tapping into the two countries’ growth potential. In that
sprit, the two PMs consented to boost cooperation in the 12
key areas with the following specific orientations:
Agriculture
The two countries will focus on effectively
implementing the Memorandum of Understanding on Agriculture
between the Vietnam Ministry of Agriculture and Rural
Development and the Myanmar Ministry of Agriculture and
Irrigation.
They will intensify efforts to create
high-quality varieties of rice, maize, coffee and tea for
commercial use and promote investment in the field.
The two sides will accelerate their
negotiations on the Memorandum of Understanding on
investment in rubber growing in Myanmar between the Vietnam
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the
Myanmar Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation. They will
strive to reach a trade target for growing rubber and create
favourable conditions for investment run by the Vietnam
Rubber Group, the HCM City Young Volunteers and the Hoang
Anh Gia Lai Group. They agreed to expand cooperation in
growing other industrial crops.
Aquaculture
Vietnam and Myanmar agreed to encourage and
facilitate the establishment of fishing and fish farming
joint ventures, entailing the one between the A.S.V Holdings
and suitable partners from Myanmar.
Banking- Finance
Both sides praised the opening of a
representative office of the Bank for Investment and
Development of Vietnam (BIDV) in Yangon and the signing of
the Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation between the
State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) and the Myanmar Central Bank
which will create a basic legal framework for banking
activities in the near future.
Aviation
Both sides highly valued the establishment
of a direct air route between Hanoi – Yangon and the opening
of a representative office of the Vietnam Aviation
Corporation there. They agreed to consider an agreement on
granting visa exemptions to the flight crews of their
airlines and the possibility of forming partnerships to
exploit Myanmar’s international flight routes.
Vietnam also showed eagerness to partner
with Myanmar in exploiting the latter’s domestic flight
routes.
Telecommunications
The two PMs praised the Vietnam Military
Telecommunications Group (Viettel) for its establishment of
a representative office in Yangon. Myanmar pledged to
considered investment projects submitted by Viettel and to
create better conditions for the Vietnam Post and
Telecommunications Group (VNPT) to run business in Myanmar.
Oil and gas
Myanmar vowed to create mutually-beneficial
conditions for the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam)
to explore and produce oil and gas offshore Myanmar. Myanmar
also agreed to consider the proposal by A.S.V. Holdings to
explore and exploit oil and gas in Myanmar.
Minerals
Vietnam praised Myanmar for permitting the
SIMCO Song Da joint stock company of Vietnam to mine white
marble in the Patle-in area, Thabyaw Taung, in Mandalay
while Myanmar agreed to offer suitable conditions for
Vietnamese enterprises to conduct mineral exploration and
exploitation there.
Electrical
equipment production
Myanmar allowed Vietnamese businesses,
including the Viet A Investment Commercial Industrial Group
Holdings Company and the Hanaka Group, to cooperate with
Myanmar firms to produce and supply electrical equipment in
Myanmar.
Automobile assembly
Myanmar encouraged Vietnamese businesses,
including Vinaxuki company, the Saigon Transportation
Mechanical Corporation (SAMCO) and the Vietnam Motor
Industry Corporation (Vinamotor), to invest in automobile
assembly and production in Myanmar.
Construction
Myanmar allowed Vietnamese businesses,
including the Hoang Anh Gia Lai Group and the SIMCO Song Da
joint stock company, to invest in projects to build hotels
and cultural and trade centres, as well as in other
development projects in Myanmar.
Investment and
trade
The two sides agreed to facilitate bilateral
cooperation in commodities trade and services, encouraging
trade promotion and exchanges between their businesses.
Vietnam showed interest in wholesale and retail trade in
Myanmar. The two countries also agreed to negotiate an
agreement on mutual recognition of product quality.
They pledged to boost trade promotion in
each country in accordance with the MoU on Trade Promotion
between the Vietnam Ministry of Planning and Investment and
the Myanmar Ministry of Planning and Economic Development.
They also praised the Bank for Investment
and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) for its plan to establish
the Myanmar Investment and Development Company (MIDC) in
Myanmar.
Cooperation in
other fields
In addition, the two PMs reached consensus
on strengthening cooperation in other fields, such as
culture, education, sports, tourism, transport, security and
national defence, as well as promoting negotiations on the
signing of the MoU on bilateral national defence.
They discussed measures to enhance
cooperation in forestry, including negotiations on the
Agreement on Forestry Cooperation.
Both sides were eager to see the early
signing of an agreement on visa exemptions for ordinary
passport holders in conformity with the ASEAN agreement on
visa exemptions.
A joint statement on the points above was
made in Naypyidaw on April 2, 2010.
PM pledges to
facilitate investment in Myanmar
05/04/2010 01:55 pm
ME - The
Government of Vietnam will facilitate and
create most favourable conditions for its
businesses to conduct offshore investment,
including investment in Myanmar, affirmed
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.
The Vietnamese government leader made the
affirmation at a conference to promote
Vietnam ’s investment in Myanmar held in
Yangon on April 3 as part of his on-going
visit to the country.
He expressed his hope that the Myanmar
government and State agencies would adopt
measures to encourage and assist Vietnamese
investors for mutual benefits.
He pledged that the two governments would
negotiate to solve policy hindrances between
the two countries in the spirit of
friendship, cooperation and most convenience
for two-way investment and trade.
PM Dung said over the past time bilateral
relations saw fruitful development, not only
in politics, diplomacy and culture but also
in trade, tourism and investment, bringing
practical benefits to both sides.
The two countries signed and implemented
numerous legal documents on bilateral
cooperation and set up necessary mechanisms
for coordination in development of their
ties.
According to the PM, despite many objective
difficulties in connecting the two
economies, bilateral economic and trade
relations constantly increased in recent
years. Two-way trade reached 97 million USD
in 2007 and hit 108 million USD in 2008.
He stressed that the signing of economic
cooperation agreements and contracts,
especially the open of a direct air route
between the two countries, were optimistic
signs, creating an important prerequisite
for development of tourism, trade and
investment relations in the coming time.
Addressing the conference, Myanmar Trade
Minister Tyn Naing Thein affirmed that
Myanmar was ready to support investment
projects and create favourable conditions
for Vietnamese businesses to invest in the
country, particularly in financial and
banking sectors, telecom, mining,
agriculture and fisheries.
After the conference, PM Dung and ranking
officials of Myanmar witnessed the granting
of investment license of the Vietnamese
Government to Vietnam ’s investment projects
in Myanmar and the debut of the Association
of Vietnamese Investors in Myanmar .
The same day, PM Dung and his entourage
attended the opening ceremony of the Fair of
Vietnamese products and the representative
office of the Bank for Investment and
Development of Vietnam (BIDV) in Myanmar.
Source: Vietnam Plus
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