Vietnam – Myanmar Relations

1.Political Relations:
Vietnam established relations with Myanmar very early as it opened its representative agency in Yangon in 1947 and upgraded their bilateral ties to ambassadorial level on May 28, 1975.
Over the last years, Viet Nam-Myanmar traditional friendship and multi-faceted cooperation have been consolidated and developed. The two countries have also actively exchanged delegations at all levels.
a.Vietnamese leaders’ visits to Myanmar:
Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet (May 1994), VCP Secretary General Do Muoi (May 1997), Prime Minister Phan Van Khai (May 2000), President Tran Duc Luong (May 2002) and Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung (August 2007).
b.Visits to Vietnam by leaders of Myanmar:
President Than Shwe (March 1995, March 2003), Prime Minister Khin Nhunt (August 2004) and Prime Minister Soe Win (April 2005).
The two countries celebrated the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations establishment on May 28, 2005, and have since conducted annual political consultations between their Ministries of Foreign Affairs.
Vietnam supports Myanmar’s regional and international integration and is known as the place where Myanmar was admitted to ASEAN and the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) in the most difficult times.

2.In the fields of Economics, Science, Technology and Culture
The bilateral economic and trade ties have also grown and flourished over the years, with the two-way trade reaching US$70 million in 2006, up 21.1% against 2005. Their trade value rose to US$70 million in the first ten months of 2007 and is expected to hit US$100 million by the end of the year. The two countries’ Sub-committees on Trade met January 2007 to identify measures to promote the bilateral trade.
In the past six months, several delegations of Vietnamese enterprises visited Myanmar to explore the possibility of economic and trade cooperation between the two countries. Myanmar handed Vietnam a draft programme on caged fishing and requested Vietnam to help Myanmar plant and process medicinal herbs. Myanmar also proposed opening a direct air route between Hanoi and Yangon and other countries in the region in the framework of the Ayeyawady - Chao Phraya - Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS). The direct air route is due to open in November 2007.
The two countries have conducted five sessions of the Vietnam-Myanmar Joint Committee, outlining areas of special cooperation in trade, agro-forestry and fisheries, industry, health care, tourism, post and telecommunications and aviation. They have also coordinated closely at regional and international forums such as the Greater Sub-Mekong region and ACMECS.

(2007)