Cambodia Benefits From Internationalizing Border Clashes

The situation of clashes at the Thai-Cambodian border in Surin is still very worrying. Both sides rushed to build up troops and transport heavy weapons to build up bases for launching full attacks. The bases have been built along over 15-km-long borderline from Ta Khwai Temple to Ta Muean Thom Temple.
Cambodia has deployed troops from the Special Taskforce 91, which is under direct command of Major General Hun Manet, favorite son of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.
Main Reason
I believe Hun Manet wants to show and prove his fighting skill to the Cambodian people. This was the main reason that the Cambodian troops crossed the border to try to seize the Ta Khwai Temple three times but they were bombarded by troops from the Second Army Region, causing them to flee back.
It should be noted that when the Thai and Cambodian troops bombarding each other with artillery, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung made two-day visit to Phnom Penh as a special guest of Hun Sen.
I believe Hun Sen and Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, who is a great ally of Cambodia, definitely held a closed-door meeting to discuss the Thai-Cambodian border clashes.
What should be monitored is whether Hun Sen would seek military help from Vietnam if the fighting drags on. It should also be monitored how Vietnam, which is a member of Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), will play its role regarding to this problem.
So far, what has become certain is that the Thai-Cambodian border clashes have been internationalized and sent to the United Nations very fast.
Maintaining Cease-Fire
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon issued a statement, demanding the two countries to stop using force to attack each other. The UN secretary general also called on the two countries to exercise restraint, so that they could hold negotiations to sustainedly solve the problem.
The UN secretary general also called on the two countries to come up with measures for effectively maintaining cease-fire, which should be verified immediately.
I see that the stand of the UN secretary general and ASEAN chairman, who called on the two countries to cease-fire and call for a measure for verifying ceasefire immediately, went along with the wish of Hun Sen.
Hun Sen wants third countries to get involved in the conflicts between Thailand and Cambodia.
This is a main problem that Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra must rush to solve.
As a result, Yingluck has made preparations to seek a talk with Hun Sen during an ASEAN Summit in Indonesia early May.
Negative Impacts
Yingluck raised a condition that such a talk must be a bilateral one without participation of any other country or organization.
The use of heavy weapons to bombard each other by the two countries has caused several negative impacts as following:
1. The longer the fight continues, the more casualties of troops of the two countries will happen. Although more Cambodian troops were killed than Thai troops, it was not an issue that we should rejoice.
2. The longer the clashes continue, the more budget will be spent.
3. Now that the situation in the bilateral ties has been under much tension, the hope has become diminished for two Thais, who have been detained by Cambodia on spying charges, to be released and sent back to Thailand.
4. More than 40,000 people in Surin and Buri Ram, including children and aged people, had to be evacuated and had to leave their homes and farmlands behind.
5. The border clashed prevented peoples living along the borderline from visiting each other like what they could do in the past.
6. The protracted fight will damage the border trades.
All in all, the border clashes had tremendous negative impacts.
Only a group of people do not care about the ongoing fighting.
They are Thai gamblers who continued to cross the border to gamble in casinos in Poipet.
As long as the casinos in Poipet are still open, the Thai gamblers will be willing to cross the border to fight against the casinos' owners.
And they will always return home empty-handed.

Vietnamese President Likely To Purse Continuity in 2nd Term

The world is about to meet the real Nguyen Tan Dung. The Vietnamese prime minister was formally elected to his second term at the end of August 2011 by the country's legislative branch, the National Assembly. His new cabinet was elected recently. It is a lineup that looks substantially loyal to its boss, strong on continuity, and focused on making existing policies work.
Some analysts argue that Dung is a staunch conservative in a reformer's clothes. Others see a strong nationalist dedicated to economic reforms and social controls. At the end of his last five-year term, the results will define who is right about Nguyen Tan Dung.
Consolidated Bureaucratic Power
At 64 years-old, Dung, the former medical officer and decorated war veteran from his country's most southern province, Ca Mau, has survived a rigorous review process within the Communist Party of Vietnam, and has been given the opportunity to pick his team. The country's success or failure rests on his shoulders now. That was less true in his first term, when he was given much more guidance and forced to try to manage some more established deputies and ministers. After two cabinet reshuffles in 2006 and 2007, and now the ability to name his team, Dung has essentially consolidated bureaucratic power and is accountable for Vietnam's policy direction through 2015.
The party, ever cautious and conscious of the need to maintain control, has carefully organized leadership to ensure that if Dung falters, levers can be pulled to guide him, primarily through positioning Truong Tan Sang as president.
The other check on power is the political evolution of the National Assembly. The legislature has become more powerful over the last decade, but its role is to influence, caution, and recommend. It does not wield decisive power and has yet to contest any ministerial or leadership candidate put forward by the party.
Priorities of Dung
On August 3, the National Assembly confirmed by vote the appointment of four deputy prime ministers and 22 cabinet ministers. Much like the election of the senior leadership a week earlier, there were no surprises. A close look at the new ministers reveals a great deal about the priorities of Dung and the government.
The most important characteristics of the new cabinet are streamlining, continuity, cohesion, and youth. This is Dung's team. The prime minister was able to make his selections with far more freedom than when he was first elected in 2006, suggesting a continued strengthening of the prime minister's office. While General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong of the Communist Party remains constitutionally the most powerful figure in the country, the dominance of the prime minister's office in the day-to-day affairs of government is set to continue.
Expect the new cabinet to demand the economy and state-owned enterprises to tighten fiscal controls and reform in its own image. The number of deputy prime ministers was cut from five to four and the number of ministries from 26 to 22. The stated purpose of these changes was to streamline the bureaucracy and eliminate redundancy among offices. These changes all reflect the government's goal of creating a more efficient and responsive executive branch.
Strengthening Regional Organizations
Continuity suggests a strong commitment to following through with existing policies dominated by economic reform, social control, and in foreign policy, strengthening regional organizations in Southeast Asia while deepening ties with strategic partners, such as the United States, India, and Europe.
Of the four deputy prime ministers, two are incumbents and two were promoted from posts as cabinet ministers in the previous administration. Seven of the ministers are incumbents and eight were promoted from the position of deputy minister. The remaining seven are anything but fresh faces. Five have moved from Communist Party posts to government positions, one was shifted from one ministry to another, and new transportation minister Dinh La Thang, 51, served most recently as chairman of state-owned PetroVietnam.
This is also the youngest cabinet in recent Vietnamese history, with an average age of 56. In his last term, Dung was among the younger half of the cabinet. While still relatively young, relative to his new team, he's now an elder.
A look at three key ministers--Thanh at Defense, Hue at Finance, and Minh at Foreign Affairs--reveals the pillars of Vietnam's policies going forward.
Incumbent minister of defense General Phung Quang Thanh, 63, received the highest vote total in the National Assembly with a resounding 97.4 percent. This support emphasizes an institutional deference to the armed forces and mandates a national resolve to take a strong stand on sovereignty issues in disputes with China in the South China Sea. Advancing defense and security ties with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and enhancing those linkages with the United States will be priorities. Vietnam has also just announced groundbreaking on a US naval research facility, the first new US military facility in Vietnam since the war.
Economic Adjustments To Rein in Inflation
Another theme is the National Assembly's growing concern with Vietnam's rising inflation and slowing economic growth. Legislators' anxiety was on display in the confirmation of former Finance Minister Vu Van Ninh, 56, as deputy prime minister with only 81.8 percent of the vote. This total was almost 10 percent lower than the next lowest candidate for deputy prime minister. Ninh's replacement at the Ministry of Finance, Vuong Dinh Hue, 54, received a strong 90.2 percent. As the former head of the Office of the State Audit, Hue is a no-nonsense leader, armed with facts and figures, mandated to correct the inefficiencies of large state-owned enterprises, prevent another debacle like the near collapse of state-owned shipping giant Vinashin, and oversee economic adjustments to rein in inflation and stabilize the dong. He will be joined in this effort by Nguyen Van Binh, 50, who was promoted from deputy governor to governor of the State Bank of Vietnam. Binh has made it clear that he'll continue the government's tight monetary policies, with reversing inflation his primary goal.
The new economic team may adopt severe short-term measures such as price controls. But such antimarket steps will need to be watched carefully as they could eventually undercut Vietnam's attractiveness as a destination for new investment.
Support for Rapprochement With US
One of the most critical appointments for US interests is the promotion of Pham Binh Minh, 52, to foreign minister. Minh received 94 percent of the National Assembly's votes. Minh is the son of Nguyen Co Thach, who served as foreign minister from 1980 to 1991 and was perceived to be an early leader in the support for rapprochement with the United States and economic reform. Minh inherited his father's pragmatism and openness to the West.
Minh's first posting in the Foreign Ministry was to the Vietnamese Embassy in the United Kingdom. In 1999, he was appointed deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, and from 2001 to 2003, he served as deputy chief of mission in Vietnam's embassy in Washington. All indications are that he will be a strong leader and advocate for continued deepening of ties with the United States.
Threats of Global Recession
As Dung and his new team begin to unveil their plans, they will be facing a challenging environment. Having plugged into the global trade and financial superstructure, Vietnam's relatively small economy (gross domestic product is near $100 billion) and developing institutions will be severely challenged by threats of global recession. Vietnamese citizens have benefited enormously from economic reform, and there is clearly no turning back.
Vietnam is also committed to leading within ASEAN and helping to support new regional security and trade architecture. Battles for influence and geostrategic hedging will whipsaw the process, and staying focused will a real test. The path ahead will be challenging. The true colors of Nguyen Tan Dung will be clear to see by the end of his second term.

Rising Inflation Raises Concern for Vietnamese Government

At the government's regular cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung requested that inflation be held to 12-13 percent this year. A few days earlier, the domestic market management group held a meeting and forecasted a consumer price index increase of 1.8 to 2 percent in May. If they are right, inflation will be approximately 12 percent for the first five months of the year.
Obviously it is difficult to restrain inflation to meet the prime minister's target. After all, high inflation is a consequence of shortcomings in the economy. So it is important to define and solve inflation at the roots.
Reasons for High Increase
At the meeting, members of the government analyzed the reasons for the high increase in the consumer price index in April 2011. According to the analysis, the main cause was an increase in world prices, putting a pressure on commodity prices in the domestic market. In addition, a chain reaction and the psychological impact of the decisions to increase the prices of some essential commodities such as electricity, petroleum, gas and coal for the electricity production sector, as well as exchange rates and credit interest rates contributed to the increase in consumer prices.
The above analysis is correct but it does not go far enough. In addition to the factors mentioned by government members, there is a very important reason concerning the matter of state-owned capital management and usage. Our current high inflation rate is the consequence of years of inefficient management and misuse of public investment capital. The report on supervision and assessment of investment in 2010, submitted to the prime minister by the Ministry of Planning and Investment, tells some of the story.
Impact of Slow-Moving Major Projects
The partial data from the Ministry of Planning and Investment indicate that more than 717 trillion Vietnam dong of state capital was invested in 2010, much higher than the figures released by the General Statistics Office in 2010. The concern is that only 58.8 percent of projects, using 30 percent of state capital, were supervised and audited. The slow progress has been improving, but there are 3,386 delayed projects, and investment capital for more than 3,400 projects needs to be adjusted.
It is noticeable that the proportion of slow-moving major projects (Group A) has not improved, and even doubled to 19.35 percent with 90 projects. All of those projects are important to the economy, so slow progress not only affects investment efficiency and but also contributes to inflation.
Capital Investment
In addition to tightening credit, the government has ordered decisive steps to reduce unnecessary and inefficient public projects in order to direct capital into important and urgent areas. This is what needs to do but not enough. Even efficient but urgent and important projects need strict supervision.
If supervision of projects using state capital remains as loose as indicated in the report by the Ministry of Planning and Investment, if slow progress continues to be widespread, especially in A group projects, and if state capital investment continues to be lost, even if the government manages to restrain inflation, the results will not be stable.
What the people and enterprises expect is not only temporary control of inflation but also long-term stability.

Ensuring High Growth and Contain Inflation for Vietnamese Economy

Recently, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has requested that State Bank needs to have consistent measures of positive monetary policy solutions, ensure macroeconomic stability, control inflation increase and boosting economic growth rates as Congressed had proposed.

Ensuring Macroeconomic Stability
At the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung chaired a meeting with the SBV on the implementation of directions given by the government and the prime minister, which aimed to ensure macroeconomic stability, control inflation increase and achieve the economic growth level of approximately 6.5 percent in 2010.

In attendance at the meeting, were the State Bank Governor Nguyen Van Giau, Finance Minister Vu Van Ninh, Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang, leaders of the government office, the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the Committee of National Finance Monitoring and other State-owned commercial banks.

Economic Growth Rate and GDP
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung highly praised the efforts of the entire banking sector, which have positively contributed to the economic growth rate with the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) reaching 5.83 percent in the first quarter of 2010, fundamental macroeconomic stability is firm, social security and people's lives have improved, and market rate premises are declining.

Emphasizing on future tasks, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung requested the banking sector to continue to try harder, thoroughly and firmly manage in a timely manner, base on the foundation of having a firm grasp of the reality to uniformly coordinate so that economic targets proposed by Congress can be implemented.

Measures To Improve Efficiency
The SBV was asked to have consistent measures of positive monetary policy solutions to execute comprehensively, practically, uniformly and effectively, to ensure that credit growth rate at about 25 percent and liquidity growth at approximately 20 percent. In addition, the SBV was asked to proactively apply necessary measures to improve efficiency, credit quality and financial capacity of credit institutions.

The prime minister also asked SBV to actively and flexibly manage, be cautious in the use of monetary policy tools following market principles, to ensure that they are consistent with development objectives and realistic circumstances of the financial market, the currency and the economy of our country.

Furthermore, the SBV was requested to pay attention in directing and guiding commercial banks to process loans according to the interest rate mechanism in agreement with production projects and efficient trading as outlined in the Resolution of Congress.

The SBV was asked to flexibly manage exchange rates and the foreign exchange market in relation to interest rates of the Vietnam Dong and foreign currencies, the consumer price index, trade balance and channel investments towards stability, contribute to encouraging exports and limit imports over exports.

Stability and Safety
In addition, the SBV was requested to strengthen the strict control of business activities of credit institutions; strengthen inspection and supervision to assess actual operation of each credit institution and the entire system of credit institutions, to gradually improve the competitiveness of domestic commercial banks, to ensure stability and safety of the financial and banking system.

In adjacent to that, the SBV was asked to be more proactive and active in providing official information, especially the financial sector, currency and price to guide public opinion, to contribute to fulfilling the duty of propaganda about the guidelines, policies, direction and operation of the government in the economic and social development. The prime minister had requested a monthly report by the SBV to the government on implementing measures of monetary policy.

Vietnam-China Strategic Cooperation Partnership

At the invitation of the Government of the People Republic of China and of the Shanghai and Jiangsu provinces, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung accompanied by his wife, today visits the 2010 Shanghai World Expo and on this occasion will visit Shanghai, Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces.

The visit of Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and his wife to the Opening ceremony of the 2010 Shanghai Expo and to the provinces of Shanghai, Zhejiang and Jiangsu will create a new momentum to deepen the Vietnam-China total partnership cooperation in every aspects in the time to come, especially during the "Vietnamese-China Friendship Year" and the year when Vietnam hold the ASEAN 2010 Chairmanship.

New Opportunities
The people rejoice at the great achievements made by China on its road of reform and open door policy during the last 30 years. The average annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth is over 9 percent and in 2009, has reached RMB 31,404.5 billion (approximately US$ 5,000 billion); the trade turn-over in 2009 has attained over $2,200 billion and foreign reserves now have reached $2.4 billion, the highest in the world. The 2010 Shanghai Expo, with the theme "For a greener city and a better life" is a big event in Asia attracting the attention of billions of people on the globe. The Chinese government has given special attention to this big scale non commercial exposition. General Secretary and Chairman Hu Jintao together with foreign leaders, heads of government and dignitaries will attend the opening ceremony. The expo will be an opportunity for countries and peoples in the world to exchange and learn from each other on culture, science and technology to increase mutual understanding and trust for a better life. The exposition attracts the participation of about 200 countries around the world. China has reserved for Vietnam an area of 1,000 m² to construct a Pavilion to introduce and promote image of the country and people of Vietnam.

The Hua dong region of China which includes Shanghai city, Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces with a population of 170 million inhabitants is one of the biggest economic centers and regarded as both the economic locomotive and most thriving financial center of China. These are the localities that have had good relations with Vietnam like the Jiangsu province has established direct ties with Dong Nai province of Vietnam. The visit to the 2010 Shanghai Expo and to Shanghai city, Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces of Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung this time once again reasserts that the Party, State, government and the people of Vietnam highly value the Vietnam-China total strategic cooperation partnership following the motto of "friendly neighbors, comprehensive cooperation, long term stability and looking towards the future" and the spirit of "good neighbors, good friends, good comrades and good partners" and continue to elevate this relationship to a new quality development level for the interests of the people of the two countries and at the same time contribute to the enhancement of the friendly and cooperative ties between Vietnam and these localities of China.

Comprehensive Strategic Partnership
The people pleased to see that the relationship between Vietnam and China has achieved important developments in recent times, particularly on the occasion of the China's visit of Party Secretary general Nong Duc Manh (May 2008), the two sides have unanimously agreed to develop the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries according to the 16 golden words and the four "good" spirit and to establish a hot line between the leaders of the two countries with a view to help the development of sustainable and long term bilateral relationship.

The two sides have successfully organized a series of important and practical activities to commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Vietnam, the first event to kick off the "China-Vietnam Friendship Year." The two countries maintain the good tradition and regularly exchange visiting delegations of high ranking leaders of the two parties and governments. During these visits, the leaders have stressed that the Vietnam-China friendship is a valuable asset of the two countries and peoples that should be carefully preserved and upheld; they pledged to spare no effort to consolidate and deepen this relationship to build trust and to support each other in the work of renewal, open door reform and building socialism in each country.

Enhancing Trade Ties
The economic and commercial relations between the two countries never cease to expand. China has become the top trading partner of Vietnam. In 2009, though affected by the global financial crisis and economic recession, the two-way trade turn-over still reached US$ 21.35 billion with an increase of 5.76 percent. The leaders of the two countries have spent time to mull over measures to implement the sustainable growth target of trade turn-over while improving the trade balance. The two sides have signed the two treaties on animal and plant quarantine cooperation and are working towards the completion of the "Five-year plan for Vietnam-China trade development". The two countries will further boost cooperation for big projects, especially the ones within the framework of the "two corridors, one economic belt" agreement. Exchanges between the two countries various ministries, departments and localities have expanded continuously. Vietnam and China have cooperated effectively on multilateral forums such as the UN, WTO, APEC, ASEM, East Asia Summit, ASEAN+3 and so forth.

The settlement of issues relevant to the borders between the two countries is progressing positively. The two sides have signed the Treaty on land borders demarcation (1999); the Treaty on the Gulf of Tonkin demarcation (2000); the Treaty on fishery cooperation in the Gulf of Tonkin (2000); the Protocol on fishery cooperation in the Gulf of Tonkin (2004). The two countries have completed the demarcation work on land borders and have organized a ceremony to mark this event at the Friendship border gate on 23 February 2009. The two sides pledged to carry on the smooth implementation of these two important treaties.

Increasing Friendly Relations
The visit of Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung to the 2010 Shanghai Expo and to Shanghai city, Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces is aimed at consolidating the trustful relationship among leaders of the two countries; increasing friendly relations and expanding cooperation between Vietnam and China in general and with the mentioned localities in particular; concretizing the total strategic partnership cooperation between the two Parties and States through important programs, plans and measures with a view to make the areas of cooperation more practical and effective, in particular in economic, trade, investment and tourism cooperation.

I wish the trip of Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung great success in achieving the promotion of the Vietnam-China comprehensive strategic partnership cooperation to a higher level for the happiness and prosperity of the two peoples and thus, contributing to maintaining of peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and in the world.

16th ASEAN and Mekong River Commission Summits

The 16th Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the first Mekong River Commission (MRC) Summits, held from 5 to 9 April, concluded in Hanoi (Vietnam). At this summit, ASEAN leaders discussed many topics relating to the development of the Mekong such as increasing infrastructure connectivity to boost sustainable development in the Mekong region and incorporating environment protection in lower Mekong region with efforts to address climate change.

At the summit, ASEAN members also welcomed the results of the first Mekong River Commission (MRC) summit that took place on 4-5 April. ASEAN expressed support for commitments from countries in the MRC to increase the cooperation in the sustainable usage, exploitation, and management of the Mekong river's resources. It could be said that the MRC summit was a success. The representatives from China and Myanmar at this summit also expressed their high level of agreement with the declaration of the summit.

Joint Response to Climate Change
ASEAN leaders have approved a statement on sustained recovery and development and a statement on joint response to climate change. ASEAN agrees to urgently implement the ASEAN Charter in a practical way which includes concentrated effort to perfect the organizational mechanisms, improve operational methods to improve the cooperation's quality and effectiveness, and complete all the supporting documents to provide a legal framework for the operation of ASEAN.

The maintenance of peace, stability and security, and safety in the East Sea is the common interest and also a major concern of ASEAN members and countries in the region.

Agreements and Cooperation Mechanisms
The related countries have built many agreements and cooperation mechanisms to ensure peace, stability and cooperation in the region like the Declaration of Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC).

DOC is an important document signed between ASEAN and China. All the involved parties have affirmed their adherence in the implementation of the DOC and have strived to implement this agreement. The officials from ASEAN and China have agreed to meet soon to discuss measures to implement the DOC.

ASEAN leaders strongly believe that with the goodwill from all side and for the common benefits of the region all the related parties will continue to observe the DOC and the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, thus contribute in a practical way to the maintenance of peace, stability, security and safety in the East Sea. This is for the common interest of countries in ASEAN and the region.

At this summit, ASEAN members affirmed their continued support for Myanmar's positive integration into the region and the world and willingness to help Myanmar when Myanmar makes a request in the spirit of ASEAN Charter.

ASEAN Regional Structure
Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said that the summit agrees to enhance the central role of ASEAN in an emerging regional structure.

At the same time, ASEAN agrees to increase ASEAN's connectivity, strengthen external relations with partners, and enhance the activities in existing regional forums in which ASEAN plays a key role such as ASEAN+3, East Asia Summit and ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF).

The East Asia Summit is an open and inclusive forum. ASEAN therefore will investigate practical ways for Russia and the United States to participate in this regional architecture, including the possibility of their involvement with the EAS through appropriate modalities.

The leaders of ASEAN also agree to organize an open ASEAN defense ministers' meeting in the format of ASEAN+8 that will help to increase the cooperative relations in defense and security between ASEAN and partners, and task ASEAN defense ministers to discuss its early implementation.

Strengthening Vietnam-Myanmar Friendship

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and his counterpart Prime Minister Thein Sein both stressed the consistent policy of the two governments to create favorable conditions for manufacturing and trade businesses to achieve success and to bring practical benefits to both Vietnam and Myanmar (Burma).

The working visit by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and the senior delegation of the Vietnamese Government to Myanmar from 2 to 4 April has been a successful visit that brings along positive outcomes in all fields of agriculture, trade, investment, and so forth.

Multifaceted Cooperation
The high-level talks and meetings between Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and Senior General Than Shwe, Prime Minister Thein Sein were conducted in an atmosphere of warm friendship that reflects the traditional and cooperative friendship in many facets between Vietnam and Myanmar.

In all the meeting Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung thanked his hosts for the solemn and hospitable welcome and reception that the Myanmar's Government and People had reserved for the high-level delegation of the Vietnamese Government.

While extending his sincere wish of success to the people of Myanmar who are implementing "the seven-step democratization" process and the organization of a free and fair general election, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung confirmed that Vietnam has always attached importance to the strengthening of the traditional friendship and the multifaceted cooperation with Myanmar. He also expressed his wish to see a new breakthrough in the quality of the cooperative relations between the two countries in economic and trade.

Pledge to Boost Coordination
Both Senior General Than Shwe and Prime Minister Thein Sein praised Vietnam's achievements during the renewal period, and asserted the belief that the visit would contribute to further developing the friendly relations and fine cooperation between the two countries. Senior General Than Shwe expressed his strong support for the Joint Declaration on the cooperation between the two governments, and suggested that relevant ministries, sectors and businesses from both countries to enhance their interaction and carry out measures to implement the agreements that were reached during this visit.

Leaders of the two countries also pledged to boost coordination with the cooperation frameworks of ASEAN and other sub-region cooperation frameworks including the CLMV, ACMECS, GMS and EWEC.

Cooperation in Essential Fields
One of the major objectives of the working visit to Myanmar by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and the senior level delegation of the Vietnamese Government is to create a breakthrough in cooperative relations between the two countries in economic, trade and investment activity.
Myanmar is a country with rich natural resources and fertile land, with the total arable land area of around 23 million hectares, of which only 50 percent of land have been used. The bilateral trade value between the two countries, which is only about $100 million a year at present, is not commensurate with the vast potential of both countries.

Addressing the issue, at their talks Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and Prime Minister Thein Sein agreed to boost cooperation in many important fields such as agriculture, industrial plantation, aquatic product, banking and finance, aviation, telecommunications, oil and gas, mining, manufacturing and supplying electrical appliances, manufacturing and assembling automobile, construction and cooperation in trade and investment.

The guiding agreement between the two prime ministers has been positively realized with concrete actions. At ministry-level, a series of agreements were reached between the two sides in regard to investment promotion, agricultural cooperation, marine product, banking and telecommunications.

Conference for Investment Promotion
At the Conference for Investment Promotion from Vietnam to Myanmar, Tran Bac Ha, chairman of the Association of Vietnamese Investors in Myanmar, revealed that Vietnamese enterprises will invest over $600 million in marine product breeding, rubber plantation and other industrial plants, exploitation of white granite, manufacturing electrical appliances, car assembly, telecommunications, oil and gas exploration and exploitation in Myanmar sea, and so forth.

Minister of Planning and Investment Vo Hong Phuc believed that Vietnam will become one of the major investors in Myanmar.

Practical Benefits
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and his counterpart Prime Minister Thein Sein both stressed the consistent policy of the two governments to create favorable conditions for manufacturing and trade businesses to achieve success and to bring practical benefits to both Vietnam and Myanmar.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and the high level delegation of the Vietnamese Government successfully concluded the Myanmar visit on 4 April. He left Yangon n 4 April for Hua Hin (Thailand) to attend the Mekong River Commission Summit.