President U Win Myint and First Lady Daw Cho Cho hosted a luncheon in honor of a Viet Nam friendship delegation led by Prime Minister Mr. Nguyen Xuan Phuc of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam at the Presidential Palace yesterday noon.
Present at the luncheon along with President U Win Myint and First Lady Daw Cho Cho were State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Vice President U Myint Swe and wife Daw Khin Thet Htay, Vice President U Henry Van Thio and wife Dr. Shwe Hlwan, Union Ministers, Nay Pyi Taw Council Chairman, Central Bank of Myanmar Governor, Deputy Minister for Transport and Communications, Myanmar Ambassador to Viet Nam and officials.
At the luncheon President U Win Myint and Prime Minister Mr. Nguyen Xuan Phuc of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam delivered messages of greetings.
In his speech President U Win Myint said Myanmar-Viet Nam friendship and cooperation started during the period of striving for independence. Through friendship and close cooperation between the two governments, efforts were being made toward development and flourishing of bilateral understanding and trust. Therefore, it was a pleasure to state that at the moment the bilateral friendship and cooperation between the two countries has been strengthened further than the past periods.
Myanmar and Viet Nam were member countries in many regional and international organizations. The two countries were supporting and assisting one another in organizations like ASEAN, GMS, CLMV and UN.
He said the Union government has been serving the country for more than three years and during this period much progress has been achieved. At the same time, many obstacles were also encountered. He firmly believed these could be overcome with the understanding and support of regional and international friends.
He wish to express his deep appreciation to the government and people of Viet Nam on behalf of the government and the people of Myanmar for the support, understanding and for standing with Myanmar in the regional and international fronts throughout Myanmar’s efforts towards socio-economic development.
Starting from 1975 when diplomatic relation was established between the two countries, a true friendly relationship, close cooperation and mutual understandings were established and maintained. The two countries had similar traditions and cultures and were members of ASEAN. As such, the present bilateral cooperation is believed to develop and strengthen.
At the moment, Viet Nam had become Asia’s most transparent and economically fastest developing country. This accomplishment was commended with pride and happiness.
Cooperation in bilateral trade and investment sectors were achieving momentum. It was a pleasure that Viet Nam had become Myanmar’s ninth biggest trading partner country and the seventh biggest investing country in Myanmar. The discussions between the two countries this morning on all round cooperation in many sectors for the benefit of the two countries and its people was also a matter of great satisfaction. With regard to friendly relations on all round cooperation established in 2017, it was his full and firm belief that bilateral relations and cooperation would be further strengthened.
He said that the Vietnamese Prime Minister’s first visit to Myanmar was a milestone in the history of bilateral relations. The visit would significantly support the implementation of bilateral all round cooperation and aims of friendly relations.
In conclusion President U Win Myint expressed his good wishes for the good health and well-being of the Vietnamese Prime Minister and guests attending the luncheon. He expressed his wish for Myanmar-Viet Nam friendship to flourish and strengthen. He ended by saying that he wished to pray together with the visiting Prime Minister for Viet Nam to continue to prosper and develop and for the happiness of the Vietnamese people.
In his speech Prime Minister Mr. Nguyen Xuan Phuc said Myanmar had a long history and cultural heritages while possessing a beautiful and scenic land. It had ancient pagodas constructed by great monarchs and kings as well as having numerous architectural heritages.
Furthermore, it was a country that produced good leaders like father of Myanmar’s independence Bogyoke Aung San and Asia’s first UN Secretary General U Thant.
Ever since gaining independence in 1948 it had achieved good development results. Taking opportunity of this moment, the President, the country’s leaders and the Myanmar people are congratulated on achieving such important and good results.
Under the outstanding efforts, vision and leadership of the President and the State Counsellor, Myanmar’s reform work processes and economic development would achieve more success while possessing stability and prosperity.
As the two countries were Southeast Asia countries, they had many similarities in history, culture and traditions. During the period of striving for independence in the past to the present effort of national defence and development, the two countries have been supporting one another as well as cooperating closely together.
Even before official diplomatic relations were established in 1975, friendship between the two countries had developed on the firm foundation laid by national leader Bogyoke Aung San and President Mr. Ho Chi Minh.
The two countries were same in eating rice as a staple food as well as belief in Buddhism, cherishing freedom, peace and tranquillity. Direct flight connection between the two countries had resulted in about 100,000 people from the two countries visiting one another. The majority of the visitors were Buddhists who visited Shwedagon Pagoda, ancient cultural heritage region of Bagan and economic cities of Yangon and Mandalay.
In the year 2020, ceremonies will be held to commemorate the 45th anniversary of the establishment of Myanmar-Viet Nam diplomatic relations. During the past years, Myanmar-Viet Nam relationship had developed with great momentum and it was a pleasure to note that the relationship was upgraded to all round friendly cooperation level in 2017.
In 2019 the bilateral trade reached US$ 1.05 billion and compared to 2010, it was a 6.5 fold increase. In 2020, the bilateral trade already surpassed the target of US$ 1.5 billion. More than 220 Viet Nam businesses had entered the Myanmar market and Viet Nam had become Myanmar’s seventh biggest investor country. 18 Viet Nam projects implemented in Myanmar totals nearly US$ 2.2 billion and the most obvious was a successful joint venture for mutual benefit of Viet Nam’s communication company Viettel with Myanmar’s joint venture company. The joint venture Mytel now had more than 7 million subscribers making it the third biggest mobile service provider. It was a pleasure to know that Mytel’s internet service was upgraded to 5G level on August 5. Utilizing such high technology was an opportunity to increase the development momentum during the fourth industrial revolution era.
It was a pleasure and of a great satisfaction to meet and discuss with State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in bilateral meeting and with President U Win Myint. It was firmly believed that with the aims set by the leaders of the two countries, cooperation of the people and firm decisions made, Myanmar-Viet Nam all round cooperation and friendly relationship would strengthen on a new a foundation and beneficial and effective progress and development would continue.
In his toast the Vietnamese Prime Minister expressed his wish for a beautiful future for the people of the two countries. He also prayed for the prosperity and development of Myanmar and for the people to be happy and in good health. He prayed for all round cooperation and friendly relations between Myanmar-Viet Nam to be long and strong. Lastly, he prayed for the good health and happiness of President U Win Myint, the State Counsellor, and Myanmar leaders; after this he prayed for the good health and happiness of all the guests present at the luncheon.
Afterwards, President U Win Myint and First Lady Daw Cho Cho, State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Prime Minister Mr. Nguyen Xuan Phuc of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam and invited guests had lunch together.
After the luncheon President U Win Myint presented Prime Minister Mr. Nguyen Xuan Phuc of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam with a photo album containing photographs taken during the visit. — MNA (Translated by Zaw Min)
