Myanmar president leaves for state visit to India

Myanmar President U Htin Kyaw left Nay Pyi Taw on Saturday on a four-day state visit to India, official sources said.

It is his first official visit to India after he became president of Myanmar in April this year.

He is accompanied by his wife Daw Su Su Lwin and several ministers and top officials.

U Htin Kyaw is expected to have talks with his Indian counterpart Pranab Mukherjee on bilateral relations and cooperation.

During his visit, the Myanmar president will also visit places of historical and cultural importance of India and the visit will help further strengthen and expand traditionally close ties between the two countries, Indian External Affairs Ministry said.

Days before U Htin Kyaw's India visit, Indian External Affairs Minister Sushama Swaraj came to Myanmar, during which Swaraj met with the Myanmar president and focused their talks on the promotion of bilateral trade ties, cooperation in transport, health and energy sectors.

The Indian side offered to provide technical assistance to the development of Myanmar's agricultural sector.

Myanmar and India have vowed to cooperate on border security, pledging not to tolerate any rebel group active on its soil.

According to official figures, India's investment in Myanmar amounted to 732.64 million U.S. dollars as of the end of July 2016, standing the 9th in Myanmar's foreign investors line-up since late 1988 when the country opened to such investment.

Bilateral trade between the two countries reached 1.711 billion U.S. dollars in the fiscal year 2015-16, of which Myanmar's export to India amounted to 904.16 million dollars, while its import from India reached 807.35 million dollars.

The two countries target to increase their bilateral trade volume to 10 billion U.S. dollars by 2020. Enditem