Saturday, July 19, 2025
spot_img

Myanmar president arrives for Malaysia visit

Date:

Share post:

spot_imgspot_img

Kuala Lumpur: Myanmar President Thein Sein arrived in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday for a two-day stay, his first state visit to Malaysia.
He will hold talks with his counterpart, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak tomorrow. Malaysia’s government said the two leaders would discuss the state of bilateral relations as well as issues of regional concern, but otherwise has offered few specifics. Malaysia is this year’s chair of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and host of its annual summits, having assumed the mantle from 2014 chair Myanmar.
Myanmar is only Malaysia’s 38th-largest trading partner globally, and seventh-largest within ASEAN, according to Malaysian data. Total bilateral trade in 2014 reached USD 864 million, based on current exchange rates. But Malaysian officials have said the nascent trade relationship is growing fast and have expressed a desire for Malaysian firms to take advantage of Myanmar’s opening-up by moving into its markets.
Myanmar is gradually emerging from decades of authoritarian rule and has embarked on democratic reforms that have won praise abroad, though some observers warn they appear to be stalling. Hundreds of thousands of Myanmar migrants are estimated to be working, many illegally, in more-developed Malaysia. Tens of thousands of those are Muslim ethnic Rohingya who have fled what they call decades of oppression in majority-Buddhist Myanmar. (PTI)
The Rohingya exodus has picked up since Muslim-Buddhist bloodshed erupted in 2012 in the western Myanmar state of Rakhine. A number of killings in Malaysia last year involving Myanmar nationals are suspected by police to be linked to the ethnic strife back home. (AFP) AJR 03121618

spot_imgspot_img

Related articles

Brazil’s ex-Prez Bolsonaro fitted with ankle monitor

Sao Paulo, July 18: Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro has been ordered to wear an ankle monitor, a...

Christian leaders visit Gaza post Israeli strike on church

Deir al-Balah, July 18: Top church leaders visited Gaza on Friday after the Holy Family Catholic Church was...

Trump gets entangled in Epstein controversy via 2003 letter

WASHINGTON, July 18: The controversy surrounding Donald Trump’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein escalated after The Wall Street Journal...

Druze-Bedouin clashes erupt after Syrian troop withdrawal

19Syrian government forces prepared to return to Sweida province Friday after renewed clashes between Druze militias and Sunni...