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NEWS - Thai PM to visit Myanmar jun
- Subject: NEWS - Thai PM to visit Myanmar jun
- From: Rangoonp@xxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 26 Aug 1999 01:34:00
Subject: NEWS - Thai PM to visit Myanmar junta
Thailand-Myanmar-visit
Thai PM to visit Myanmar junta
BANGKOK, Aug 25 (AFP) - Thai Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai will visit
Yangon, the Myanmar junta announced Wednesday, adding a date had yet to
be
fixed.
The announcement followed meetings in Myanmar between Thai Foreign
Minister
Surin Pitsuwan and a range of senior officials, including his
counterpart Win
Aung and the junta's powerful First Secretary Lieutenant General Khin
Nyunt.
"The two sides agreed that the visit to Myanmar of Thai Prime
Minister
Chuan Leekpai will take place at a mutually convenient time," the junta
statement said.
Surin, leading a senior delegation, returned to Bangkok Wednesday
evening
from a two-day trip to Yangon.
The statement said Myanmar and Thailand had vowed to strengthen
border
cooperation and cooperate in an anti-drugs drive aimed at clamping down
on the
illicit cross-border trade.
"We have agreed that suppression of the production and trafficking of
narcotic drugs is of the highest priority on both sides," the statement
quoted
Surin saying.
"We have expressed our concern and our readiness to work closely in
order
to contain and eradicate illegal activities ... such as gambling and
smuggling
of gems, artifacts and women and children."
Myanmar, which forms part of the "Golden Triangle" opium growing
region --
along with Thailand and Laos -- has been accused by the international
community of tolerating and even profiting from the drugs trade.
Surin was also quoted as hailing growing economic cooperation between
the
two countries.
The statement said that in the first half of 1999, trade between the
two
nations grew by 27 percent to 267.9 million dollars.
Thailand and Myanmar also agreed to build a second bridge over the
Mae Sai
river, on the border of Thailand's northern Chaing Rai province and
Thachilek
in Myanmar.
de/agr/ajp