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Thein Sein meets Singapore Prime Minister |
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by Mizzima News
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Wednesday, 18 March 2009 14:51 |
New Delhi (Mizzima) - Burmese Prime Minister General Thein Sein and host Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Tuesday agreed to strengthen bilateral trade and cooperation between the two countries.
During an official dinner hosted by Lee Hsien Loong, both Prime Ministers discussed bilateral relationship and potential areas of cooperation and collaboration, according to the Singaporean Foreign Affairs Ministry.
Thein Sein, who arrived in the City-State on Tuesday, also met Singapore’s former Premier Goh Chok Tong and briefed him on Burma’s political and economic developments.
“They agreed that it was important to maintain links and contacts in the run-up to as well as after the elections in Myanmar [Burma] in 2010,” a statement by Singapore’s Foreign Ministry said.
During the dinner meeting, Lee Hsien Loong assured Thein Sein that “Singapore would continue to provide humanitarian assistance for [Cyclone] Nargis recovery.”
Meanwhile, reports, quoting Singapore’s Information Ministry said, Prime Minister Lee, during the dinner party, urged Thein Sein to come to a reconciliation with the opposition and take bold steps towards a national reconciliation process.
Sources in Naypyitaw said, Prime Minister Thein Sein’s visit to Singapore and Indonesia is to brief the two Southeast Asian Nations on the junta’s roadmap to democracy and its fifth step of holding general election in 2010.
Both Singapore and Indonesia are two influential countries in the ten-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which Burma is a member. And Burma has often been told by international communities to take examples from Indonesia’s transition.
Singapore has rarely criticized Burma’s military-rulers and has been advocating constructive engagement with the Southeast Asian nation. It has strongly opposed the views of the west and criticized the policy of sanctions.
Singapore is a country where most of the Burmese Generals’ have their bank accounts.
Thein Sein, who is being accompanied by five other ministers and two deputy ministers, is on a two nation – Indonesia and Singapore – tour, which will end on Wednesday.
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