Delegation of Yangon Municipal Government Visits China

At the invitation of the CPAFFC, a delegation of Yangon Municipal Government, Myanmar, headed by mayor of Yangon Brig. Gen. Aung Thein Lynn paid a visit to Beijing, Yangzhou and Shanghai from June 5 to 10, 2005.

Luo Haocai, vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), met with the delegation. The delegation paid an official call on Wang Qishan, mayor of Beijing, and attended the celebration of the 55th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Myanmar held by the CPAFFC. CPAFFC President Chen Haosu and Vice President Wang Yunze entertained the delegation. Ji Jianye, secretary of the CPC Municipal Committee of Yangzhou, Hong Jinghua, executive deputy mayor and Ji Chunming, deputy mayor of Yangzhou, held banquets in honour of the delegation. Zhou Muyao, vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the Shanghai Municipal People’s Congress and president of the Shanghai Municipal People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries met with and entertained the delegation.

In his meeting with the delegation Vice Chairman Luo Haocai said, the people of China and Myanmar have traditional kinship. In the early period after the two countries established diplomatic relations, the leaders of the two countries showed great foresight and laid good foundation for the development of bilateral relations. China, Myanmar and India jointly initiated the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, which are still very important principles guiding state-to-state relations today. In recent years, the high-ranking leaders of the two countries have frequently exchanged visits; political mutual trust has been further strengthened; economic and trade relations have been developing continuously, and cooperation in agriculture, building industry and other fields have become closer. As to the cooperation between localities of the two countries, Vice Chairman Luo praised Yangon for taking the lead in establishing friendship ties with Yangzhou, and initiating exchanges between the local governments of the two countries in 1997. He hoped that the two sides would further strengthen exchanges and cooperation between the local governments and promote development of the relations between the two countries. Brig. Gen. Aung Thein Lynn said, China and Myanmar have set an example for developing friendly relations among the countries. Now the two countries share a common border of over 2,000 kilometres.China not only politically supports Myanmar in implementing its seven-step process of democratization, but also provides precious technological support in agriculture and industry for Myanmar, and helps Myanmar build factories and bridges. China has become the largest investor in Myanmar. The government and people of Myanmar greatly appreciate China’s help. In the meantime, Myanmar consistently adheres to the one China policy.

Brig. Gen. Aung Thein Lynn is very friendly toward China. On different occasions he talked about kinship between the two countries since the ancient time. He said, Myanmar can treat China open-heartedly and needn’t keep any vigilance against China. In the last two years he had visited China four times. Every time he visited China, he felt as if he were at his own home. In Yangzhou the delegation presented a gift―a small jade Buddha to the Daming Temple. Mayor Aung Thein Lynn said that in the near future Yangon would present a big jade Buddha as a gift to the Daming Temple.

Myanmar attaches great importance to learning experience of development from China. During the delegations’ official call on Mayor of Beijing Wang Qishan, the two sides exchanged views on problems of common concern such as energy, traffic, environment, hygiene, etc. Aung Thein Lynn said, Yangon has also had energy problems such as serious shortage of electricity and difficulty in water supply. In Yangzhou the delegation had exchanges with Yangzhou Vocational College of Environment and Resources. Wherever they went, they took pictures of the things that they thought they could learn from. Aung Thein Lynn said, he liked to visit Chinese big cities for every time he could learn something from China’s experience in city management. As to the urban traffic problem, he said, though Beijing’s roads are very wide, there still exist traffic jams. Roads in Yangon are very narrow; it needs to make greater efforts to develop public transportation.

Myanmar urgently needs to conduct substantial cooperation with China. Mayor Aung Thein Lynn expressed his hope that more Chinese enterprises would invest in Myanmar, and willingness to have trade exchanges with China. During its stay in Beijing, the delegation had talks with the China International Enterprises Economic and Trade Co., Ltd. With regard to the Chinese enterprises’ request of importing rice from Myanmar, Mayor Aung Thein Lynn said, Myanmar will gradually relax its restriction on export of rice; but only the rice produced on the newly-increased cultivated land is allowed to be exported so as to ensure that the country’s original domestic rice market is not affected.