Myanmar State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi undertook her first state visit to Nepal on 28 November to 3 December 2018. She paid a courtesy call to Nepal President Bidya Devi Bhandari, where they discussed Myanmar-Nepal cooperation on economic and cultural sectors.

She also met with Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli. The two leaders expressed satisfaction on the growing ties between the two countries, and explored how to further expand their bilateral ties. They witnessed the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation on Trade and Investment between Myanmar and Nepal. The MoU was signed by Mr. Pradeep Kumar Gyawali, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Nepal, and Mr. Kyaw Tin, Union Minister, Ministry of International Cooperation of Myanmar.

The Myanmar State Counselor delivered a speech at the Nepal Chamber Expo 2018. Addressing an audience comprising mostly private sector stakeholders, she lauded the expo for being an excellent platform for enhancing awareness, creating business networks, and promoting economic and trade relations between Myanmar and Nepal. She highlighted areas where both countries cooperate—including commerce, investment, tourism, technology, human resource development, agriculture, fisheries, and transport and communication—and noted that there is still a lot of room to improve economic relations. The State Counselor highlited that similarities in culture, tradition, and experiences will enable Myanmar and Nepal to enhance people-to-people contact, which will benefit the people and both countries’ business interests. She promoted Myanmar’s investor friendly environment and protections guaranteed to investments by law, which are in line with regional and international agreements. 

She also emphasized both countries’ membership to the South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) program, which aims to promote regional prosperity, improve economic opportunities, and build a better quality of life for the people in the Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, and Sri Lanka subregion.

Related Links:

• News Release: Ministry of Information, Republic of the Union of Myanmar
• Press Release: Courtesy call on the Rt. Hon. President by the PM of Cambodia and the State Counsellor of Myanmar
• Suu Kyi stresses trade relations and investment on Nepal visit