Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing arrived in Yangon on July 27 in the evening to begin a 24-hour official visit to Myanmar, aiming to promote the traditional and friendly ties between China and Myanmar.

It is Li's reciprocal visit to the one to Beijing made by his Myanmar counterpart U Nyan Win last April.

Li will call on Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) Senior-General Than Shwe and Prime Minister General Soe Win separately.

Bilateral economic and trade relations between China and Myanmar have continued to develop in recent years. Meeting on the sidelines of the Asian-African Summit in Jakarta earlier in April, Chinese President Hu Jintao and Myanmar SPDC Chairman Senior- General Than Shwe agreed to carry on the traditional friendship and bring the bilateral relationship to a new high.

In the latest development, China and Myanmar held the first meeting of their Joint Committee for Economic, Trade and Technical Cooperation in Yangon in June to push forward the two countries' economic and trade relations as well as good-neighborly ties.

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 from 2003. Of the total, China's exports to Myanmar took 938 million dollars, while its imports from Myanmar represented 207 million.

The two countries target an increase of bilateral trade volume 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 as of the end of January this year.

Li came over from Vientiane after attending meetings of foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and its dialogue partners as well as visiting Laos.

During his Lao visit, Li met with Lao Prime Minister Bounnhang Vorachith and had discussions with Lao deputy Prime Minister Somsavat Lengsavad on expanding bilateral cooperation in various fields to boost the two countries' friendly ties.

Source: Xinhua