MYANMAR and Sri Lanka agreed to promote economic, cultural and defence ties during high-level talks in Colombo last week.

The agreements came during a three-day goodwill visit by the acting Prime Minister, Lieutenant General Thein Sein, that the Sri Lankan foreign ministry said had marked a new chapter in bilateral relations.

Three memoranda of understanding were signed by the two sides after talks between Lt Gen Thein Sein and the Sri Lankan Prime Minister, Mr Ratnasiri Wickremanayake, on August 27, the first day of the visit.

They included an MOU on promoting defence cooperation through training and intelligence sharing, the Sri Lankan foreign ministry said.

The other two memoranda, covering cultural cooperation between the predominantly Theravada Buddhist countries, concern exchange visits by Buddhist scholars and by young people.

The two prime ministers also discussed plans for celebrating the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations next year, the news release said.

Lt Gen Thein Sein headed a delegation that included six senior government ministers, including the Foreign Minister, U Nyan Win, and an 11-member business group.

The visit included a trip to Kandy on August 28, during which Lt Gen Thein Sein attended a ceremony marking the official handing over by Myanmar of two elephants donated to the Temple of the Tooth, one of the most revered Buddhist sites in Sri Lanka.

Elephants are used each year in a famous annual festival in the central Sri Lankan city, which features a procession of the tooth relic.

Lt Gen Thein Sein also met Sri Lankan President Mr Mahinda Rajapakse at his residence in Kandy.

On August 29, the delegation travelled to Anuradhapura, where it visited a hermitage established more than a century ago by a Buddhist from Myanmar.

The trip by Lt Gen Thein Sein is the latest in a series of high-level exchange visits since 2004, when Mr Rajapakse, who was then prime minister, visited Yangon to hold talks with Myanmar leaders. Mr Wickremanayake visited Nay Pyi Taw in Decem-ber, which was followed by a trip to Colombo by U Nyan Win the following month.

In Nay Pyi Taw in July, the two foreign ministers attended the first meeting of a joint commission established to promote bilateral relations.

The joint commission meeting produced agreements to promote trade, investment opportunities and cultural tourism.

U Sein Win Hlaing, a member of the business group that accompanied Lt Gen Thein Sein, was optimistic about the prospects for increased trade ties.

“We are expecting a trade delegation from Colombo in the third week of September,” said U Sein Win Hlaing, the general secretary of the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

More interaction with the business community in Sri Lanka would help to promote trade, he told The Myanmar Times on August 30. He said commerce ministry figures for the fiscal year ending on March 31 valued bilateral trade at US$7 million, with exports from Myanmar worth $5 million.

Sri Lanka was a good potential market for Myanmar beans and pulses and could also be a source of technology to help improve tea production, U Sein Win Hlaing said.

Sri Lanka was buying Myanmar beans and pulses through traders in third countries and “if we can have direct market access, we can sell more,” he said.
U Sein Win Hlaing said promoting business with countries in South Asia would also make it easier for Myanmar to better penetrate the booming markets in the Gulf.

“Our chamber intends to open public companies in Colombo and Mumbai to facilitate better trade with the Gulf countries, especially with United Arab Emirates,” U Sein Win Hlaing said.