Myanmar new Prime Minister Lieutenant-General Soe Win left Yangon Tuesday for Nanning, capital of southwest China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, to attend the Business and Investment Summit of China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

This is Soe Win's first trip abroad to attend such a business and investment summit as prime minister after he replaced General Khin Nyunt two weeks ago.

Soe Win, leading a 55-member delegation including the economic, commerce and foreign ministers, will also participate in the first China-ASEAN Expo in Nanning which will run from Wednesday to Saturday.

The China-ASEAN business and investment summit is attached with the China-ASEAN Expo set to be held annually from now on.

Myanmar products to be displayed in the China-ASEAN trade fair mainly include jewelry, garments, medicines, household goods, silver wares, wood carvings, handicrafts, tapestries, gemstone pictures and marine products, according to an official of the Ministry of Commerce.

Chinese official statistics show that China-Myanmar bilateral trade, including border trade, reached 1.07 billion US dollars in 2003 with China's exports to Myanmar amounting to 900 million dollars and its imports from Myanmar 170 million dollars. China has proposed an increase of bilateral trade volume to 1.5 billion dollars by 2005.

According to Myanmar official figures, during the first half (April-September) of the fiscal year 2004-05, Myanmar-China bilateral trade volume reached 423.15 million dollars, equally shared in normal and border trade.