Myanmar Prime Minister General Soe Win left Yangon Tuesday for China on a five-day official visit to further push forward the development of the neighborly and friendly ties between China and Myanmar.

 

Seeing off Soe Win were Chairman of the Myanmar State Peace and Development Council Senior-General Than Shwe and other state leaders as well as Charge d' Affaires of the Chinese Embassy Yu Boren.

 

Accompanying Soe Win are Minister of Foreign Affairs U Nyan Win, Minister of Commerce Brigadier-General Tin Naing Thein, Minister of National Planning and Economic Development U Soe Tha, Minister of Energy Brigadier-General Lun Thi, Minister of Hotels and Tourism Brigadier-General Thein Zaw and Minister of Rail Transportation Major-General Aung Min.

 

At the invitation of Premier Wen Jiabao, Soe Win will visit Beijing, Shanxi Province in the north and Guangdong Province in the south of China.

 

Since assuming office in October 2004, Prime Minister Soe Win has attended twice the China-ASEAN Expo in Nanning and the 2005 Second Summit of the Greater Mekong Subregion held in Kunming.

 

According to Chinese Embassy figures, Myanmar-China 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 imports from Myanmar represented US$274 million.

 

Of the bilateral trade, Yunnan Province's trade with Myanmar, including the border trade, amounted to US$630 million, a 14.6-percent increase over the previous year.

 

(Xinhua News Agency February 14, 2006)