Myanmar Foreign Minister U Nyan Win left Yongon Wednesday for Beijing to begin his four-day visit to China, aimed at promoting traditional and friendly ties between the two countries.

It is Nyan Win's first visit to China at the invitation of his Chinese counterpart Li Zhaoxing since he became foreign minister in September last year.

Days before Nyan Win's Beijing trip, Myanmar Chairman Senior-General Than Shwe met with Chinese President Hu Jintao on the sidelines of the recent Asian-African Summit in Jakarta. The two sides agreed to carry on the traditional friendship and bring the bilateral relationship to a new high.

Bilateral economic and trade relations between Myanmar and China have continued to develop in recent years.

According to Chinese official statistics, Myanmar-China bilateral trade, including the border trade, reached 1.145 billion US dollars in 2004, up 6.3 percent over 2003. Of the total, China'

s exports to Myanmar reached 938 million dollars, while its imports from Myanmar represented 207 million dollars.

China has proposed an increase of bilateral trade volume with Myanmar to 1.5 billion dollars by the end of this year.

Meanwhile, Myanmar official figures show that China's contracted investment in Myanmar amounted to 191 million dollars in 25 projects by the end of January this year.