During the meeting, PM Dung thanked the government and people of Myanmar for their warm welcome and hospitability to his delegation.

The PM said he hoped Myanmar would successfully conduct its roadmap towards democratisation for the sake of its people and for peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region.

He said Vietnam always attaches importance to and wishes to develop its time-honoured friendship and multifaceted cooperation with Myanmar . The ongoing visit, he added, is expected to improve bilateral cooperation in economics, trade and investment.

Senior General Than Shwe warmly welcomed PM Dung’s visit to Myanmar , praising Vietnam for the achievements of its renewal process.

He said he believed the visit would help strengthen the bilateral relations.

Earlier on April 2, leaders of the two sides inked a joint statement on Vietnam-Myanmar cooperation, agreeing to fully tap available potential for further expansion of multi-faceted cooperation, especially in economy.

The Vietnamese and Myanmar Prime Ministers agreed on specific measures to boost bilateral cooperation in agriculture, industrial crops, aquaculture, banking-finance, aviation, telecommunication, oil and gas, minerals, production of electrical appliances, automobile assembly, construction, as well as trade and investment.

In agriculture, the two countries will focus on implementing effectively the Memorandum of Understanding on Agriculture between the Vietnam Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Myanmar Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation.

They will intensify effort to create high-quality varieties of rice, maize, coffee and tea for commercial use and promote investment in the field.

Regarding aquaculture, Vietnam and Myanmar agreed to encourage and facilitate the establishment of fishing and fish farming joint ventures, entailing the one between the A.S.V Holdings and suitable partners from Myanmar .

In aviation, the two sides will consider an agreement on granting visa exemption to flight crews of their airlines and possibilities for the formation of partnerships to exploit Myanmar ’s international flight routes. Vietnam also showed eagerness to partner with Myanmar in exploiting the latter’s domestic flight routes.

In oil and gas cooperation, Myanmar pledged to create mutually-beneficial conditions for the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) to explore and produce oil and gas offshore Myanmar . The Myanmar side agreed to consider the A.S.V. Holdings’ intention to explore and exploit oil and gas in Myanmar .

Referring cooperation in minerals, Vietnam praised Myanmar for permitting the SIMCO Song Da of Vietnam to mine a white marble mine in Patle-in area, Thabyaw Taung, in Mandalay while Myanmar agreed to offer suitable conditions for Vietnamese enterprises to conduct minerals exploration and exploitation there.

The two sides agreed to facilitate bilateral cooperation in commodities trade and services, encouraging trade promotion and exchanges between their businesses. Vietnam showed interest in wholesale and retail trade in Myanmar . The two countries also agreed to negotiate an agreement on mutual recognition of product quality.

Apart from these fields, the two sides reached consensus on boosting cooperation in culture, education, sports, tourism, land transport, forestry, security and defence

Both countries wish an early signing of an agreement on visa exemption for their ordinary passport holders in conformity with the ASEAN agreement on visa exemption for citizens holding ordinary passports./.