Myanmar's ruling party voices support for China's 'Belt and Road' initiative

NAY PYI TAW - Vice-chairman of Myanmar's ruling party U Htay Oo on Tuesday voiced support for China's "Belt and Road" initiative, saying that it is a very good concept which his country has a keen interest in.

In an exclusive interview with Xinhua at the headquarters of the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) in Nay Pyi Taw, U Htay Oo said the modern maritime silk road project paves way for enhancing mutual connectivity of countries concerned and boosts trade exchanges and investment opportunities which is a win-win cooperation.

The initiative would be very beneficial to both Myanmar and China as well as the entire region, he said, calling for increased coordination and cooperation in its implementation.

U Htay Oo said that Myanmar and China are good neighbors. Not long after Myanmar's independence, the two countries jointly advocated the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence which still have vigor up to present.

As the year of 2015 marks the 65th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations between Myanmar and China, the vice-party chairman expressed the hope that the two countries would maintain cordial relations in the future.

U Htay Oo said that there are three layers of Myanmar-China relations with the first being ties between the two peoples.

The second is party-to-party relations, he added. Not long after the formation of the USDP, the Chinese Communist Party was the first foreign political party to recognize it.

The third is the relations between the two governments. Frequent exchange of visits have been conducted between high-level officials of the two countries and their bilateral ties have been upgraded to comprehensive strategic partnership of cooperation.

U Htay Oo underlined that economic and trade cooperation between Myanmar and China are good, citing such successful cooperation projects as China-Myanmar oil and gas pipeline project.

He pointed out that many Chinese companies are pouring their investment into Myanmar now. As long as it benefits both countries and the peoples come to know that it is advantageous to them, economic cooperation will be smooth.