Myanmar Prime Minister General Soe Win will attend the upcoming
commemorative summit to mark the 15th anniversary of the
establishment of Dialogue Relations between China and the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) later this month,
according to an official announcement Thursday.
The event is scheduled for Oct. 30 in Nanning City, capital of
Southwest China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
It will be the third time for Soe Win to join a China-ASEAN-
related function in China.
Soe Win attended the China-ASEAN Expo and the China-ASEAN
Business and Investment Summit in Nanning in November 2004 and
October 2005.
According to Chinese official statistics, China-ASEAN bilateral
trade grew 20 percent annually over the past 15 years, reaching
US$130.3 billion in 2005, up 23 percent from 2004 and 15 times from
1991.
At a time when the ASEAN Free Trade Area is being formally
implemented, the annual percentage of increase of bilateral trade
exceeded 20 percent, estimating that the trade volume for the
entire 2006 could attain a record high of about US$150 billion.
The Chinese statistics also show that China-Myanmar bilateral
trade hit US$1.209 billion in 2005, up 5.6 percent from 2004. Of
the total, China's exports to Myanmar took US$935 million, while
its import from Myanmar stood at US$274 million.
Of the bilateral trade, volume between Yunnan Province and
Myanmar, including the border trade, amounted to US$630 million
during the year, up 14.6 percent from the previous year. Yunnan's
exports to Myanmar reached US$400 million, while its import from
Myanmar was valued at US$230 million.
The latest figures from the Chinese Customs Department indicate
that China-Myanmar bilateral trade in the first half of 2006
amounted to US$662 million, a 10.8-percent rise compared with the
same period of 2005. Of the total, China's export to Myanmar took
US$549 million, up 30.5 percent, while China's import from Myanmar
US$114 million, down 35.9 percent. China realized a trade surplus
of US$434 million.
Myanmar official figures also reveal that the volume of border
trade between Myanmar and China transacting at the Muse trade point
alone amounted to US$311 million in the first half of 2006, up from
US$257 million in the same period of 2005.
The two countries have set a target for their annual bilateral
trade to reach US$1.5 billion.
Meanwhile, China stands as the 11th largest foreign investor in
Myanmar and has contracted to invest US$203.52 million in 25
projects as of 2005, according to Myanmar official sources.
(Xinhua News Agency October 26, 2006)