VO VAN KIET TO VISITS BURMA

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The Nation
Thursday May 12, 1994
Reuters

VO VAN KIET FOR BURMA

Hanoi -- Vietnamese Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet left yesterday for talks 
with Burmese leaders in Rangoon, the highest-level contact in recent 
years.

The foreign ministry said the visit, during which agreements on trade 
and tourism are due to be signed, was a landmark in relations.

Vo Van Kiet, the first Vietnamese prime minister to visit Burma, is 
accompanied by Foreign Minister Nguyen Mahn Cam and the 
ministers of information and forests.

Deputy ministers of defence, trade, industry, agriculture and tourism 
are also in the delegation.

Neither Vietnam nor Burma is a member of the six-member Association 
of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

But Vietnam, unlike Burma, is already an official observer and has said 
it wants to join ASEAN "at an appropriate time". It has held top-level 
talks this year with members Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia 
and the Philippines. Brunei is the sixth member.

Vo Van Kiet's Burma trip comes two months before a forum in Bangkok 
on regional security, which Vietnam will attend.