YANGON, July 11 – Myanmar President U Thein Sein (photo) will pay official visits to the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland and France soon, an official announcement said Thursday.
The visits are expected to take place in days, Xinhua news agency reported.
The president’s visits are a follow-up of his last trip to five European countries in February and March this year, Xinhua news agency reported.
The European Union (EU) lifted all sanctions imposed on Myanmar in April except an arms embargo in recognition of the country’s democratic reform process.
In April last year, British Prime Minister David Cameron led an economic and trade delegation in making a historic visit to Myanmar after the new government took office in March 2011.
Britain has committed 185 million pounds (US$289 million) for the next four years to fund health and education projects in Myanmar. Funding for microfinance initiatives is expected to help up to 55,000 rural people in setting up and developing small-scale enterprises.
Last month, Chief of Defense Staff of the British Armed Forces General Sir David Richardsm visited Myanmar, the first by a head of the British armed forces in over 50 years. The visit was marked as a milestone in relations between the two armed forces of both countries after 1988.
In January 2012, French Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Alain Juppe visited Myanmar in the first such trip by a high ranking French official since 1988.
The visit saw Myanmar and France stepping up cultural and tourism cooperation in such fields as cultural heritage preservation and human resources development.
-BERNAMA
