Myanmar Prime Minister General Soe Win left Yangon Monday for Nanning to attend the Second China-ASEAN Expo and the Second China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit scheduled to open on Wednesday in the capital of Southwest China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Leading a 30-member delegation including Foreign Minister U Nyan Win, Minister of National Planning and Economic Development USoe Tha and Minister of Commerce Brigadier-General Tin Naing Thein, the Prime Minister is joining such event for the second time, the first being in November last year two weeks after he held the post.

Myanmar local products will be exhibited at the expo which include jewelry, garments, medicines, household goods, silver wares, wood carvings, handicrafts, tapestries, gemstone pictures and marine products, diplomatic sources said.

According to Chinese official statistics, China-ASEAN bilateraltrade reached 105.9 billion US dollars in 2004, breaking through the target of attaining 100 billion. Over the period from 2002 to 2004, China-ASEAN bilateral trade grew 38.9 percent annually. ASEAN has been China's 5th largest trading partner for 12 consecutive years.

The Chinese statistics also show that China-Myanmar bilateral trade, including border trade, reached 1.145 billion US dollars in2004, up 6.3 percent over 2003. Of the total, China's exports to Myanmar reached 938 million US dollars, while its imports from Myanmar 207 million.

Meanwhile, Myanmar official figures show that China's contracted investment in the country amounted to 130.92 million US dollars as of the end of 2004 since 1988.

Source: Xinhua