General Maung Aye to Arrive Tuesday in Bangladesh

Sources: Narinjara News

He will be visiting Bangladesh at the invitation of Bangladesh Chief Adviser Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed. He will be accompanied by his spouse, Daw Mya Mya San, and he will lead a 50-member delegation that includes Foreign Minister U Nyan Win.

General Maung Aye will hold talks with Fakhruddin on 7 October in Dhaka and attend a banquet at Sonargaon Hotel on the same day.

He will call on Bangladesh President Iajuddin Ahmed at Bangabhaban on 8 October and meet with Bangladesh Army Chief General Moeen U Ahmed on the same day.

Maung Aye's itinerary includes a visit to the National Mausoleum at Savar, the Military Institute of Science and Technology at Mirpur in Dhaka, and a tour of Rangamati in Chittagong Hill Tract. He will leave from Chittagong Hill Tract for Burma on 9 October.

His visit is taking place after Bangladesh and Burma signed an agreement in Dhaka in July 2007 to establish a 25-kilometer direct road link between the two neighbors to boost trade and tourism. The US $20 million "Friendship Road" from Gundhum in Cox's Bazar to Baulibazar in Burma's Maungdaw was also designed to connect with China's Kunming City under a tri-nation road connectivity plan that will give further access to Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore, as well as the Asian Highway.

During the general's visit, two officials from both countries will discuss issues related to business, including the border trade, hydro-power plant development, the double-taxation problem, and the leasing of farms from Burma to Bangladesh.

The relation of Burma and Bangladesh has been improving in the area of business since the last Khaleda Zia government in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh and Burma have maintained an exchange of high-level visits in recent years. In December 2002, Burma's SPDC Chairman Senior General Than Shwe visited Dhaka, while in 2003 Prime Minister Khaleda Zia went to Rangoon.

During Zia's trip, the two countries signed two memorandums of understanding on the establishment of a joint-trade commission, and an agreement on coastal and maritime shipping. The agreements have yet to be implemented, despite Khaleda Zia's government being out of office since 2006.