On the sidelines of the Ministerial Meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) being held in Kampala, Uganda, U Than Swe, Deputy Prime Minister and Union Minister for Foreign Affairs met Mr. Soltan bin Saad Al-Muraikhi, State Minister for Foreign Affairs of the State of Qatar on 17 January 2024 at the Rwenzori Convention Centre.

During the meeting with the Qatar State Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister and Union Minister for Foreign Affairs apprised the Myanmar Government’s efforts to ensure peace, development and democracy in the country and the latest developments of Myanmar. Furthermore, they cordially exchanged views and discussed on matters pertaining to the further strengthening of friendly relations between Myanmar and Qatar as well as closer collaboration in the regional and international fora including cooperation in the NAM.

U Lwin Oo, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, received H.E. Mr. Vinay Kumar, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of India to the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, at 1400 hrs on 16 January 2024 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Nay Pyi Taw.

During the call, they cordially exchanged views on matters pertaining to the further enhancement of the friendly bilateral relations between the two countries, cooperation in areas of mutual interest particularly, capacity building and human resource development, progress of the ongoing development projects, cooperation to maintain peace and stability in the border area, as well as closer collaboration in regional and international contexts such as the BIMSTEC.

U Than Swe, Deputy Prime Minister and Union Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, received H.E. Alounkeo Kittikhoun, the Special Envoy of the ASEAN Chair on Myanmar at 11:30 hrs on 10 January 2024 at Nilar Hall, PARK ROYAL HOTEL, Nay Pyi Taw.

During the call, they cordially exchanged views on matters pertaining to further advancing of the implementation status of the ASEAN five-point consensus in line with the Five-Point Road Map in coordination with the ASEAN Chair and the Special Envoy as well as the status of humanitarian assistance. Deputy Prime Minister and Union Minister also briefed on recent development in Myanmar and the Government’s effort for peace and stability in the country.

The Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs U Lwin Oo attended the Breakfast Meeting jointly hosted by the Ambassadors of Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand at the Park Royal Hotel in Nay Pyi Taw in the morning of 5th January 2024.

During the meeting, the Deputy Minister and the Ambassadors cordially discussed and exchanged views on the BIMSTEC cooperation mechanisms, political, economic and social developments taking place in their respective countries, and other matters of common interests.

U Lwin Oo, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar held Myanmar-China bilateral consultations with Mr. Sun Weidong, Vice Minister, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China at 1630 hrs on 5 January 2024 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nay Pyi Taw.

At the bilateral meeting, they cordially exchanged views on matters pertaining to the further consolidation of the existing Pauk Phaw relations and continued implementation of mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries, acceleration of the ongoing Myanmar-China bilateral projects under China-Myanmar Economic Corridor (CMEC) and Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the maintenance of peace and stability along the Myanmar-China border area, intensification of collaboration between the two countries in the ASEAN and Mekong-Lancang Regional Cooperation Mechanisms and to render mutual support in regional and multilateral arenas as well as on matters of common interests. 

In the afternoon, U Kyaw Myo Htut, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs hosted a luncheon to the visiting Chinese delegation led by Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China at the Myat Taw Win Hotel.

Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, Prime Minister of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar participated in the 4th Mekong-Lancang Cooperation Leaders’ Meeting as Co-Chair via video conference which was held in the afternoon of 25 December 2023.

The Meeting was co-chaired by Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, Prime Minister of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar and Mr. Li Qiang, Premier of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China, and attended by Mr. Samdech Moha Borvor Thipadei Hun Manet, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia, Mr. Sonexay Siphandone, Prime Minister of Lao PDR, Mr. Srettha Thavisin, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Thailand and Mr. Pham Minh Chinh, Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam.

After delivering the opening remarks by Co-Chairs, the Leaders of MLC Member Countries reviewed the progress of Mekong-Lancang Cooperation and also exchanged views on future MLC cooperation. 

In his statement, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, Prime Minister of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, stated that Mekong-Lancang Cooperation has been able to pass its foundation stage into the comprehensive development within a seven-year span of time since the launch of the mechanism in 2016. He mentioned that Myanmar has received a total of (106) Special Fund Projects worth of (31.6) millions USD in various fields supporting the socio-economic development of the peoples of Myanmar from 2017 to 2023. He also thanked the People’s Republic of China for its continued support and assistance to the MLC countries.

The Prime Minister underscored that the Meeting’s theme “Join Hands on the Building of a Community of Shared Future and Modernization among Mekong-Lancang Countries” is relevant to the current trend of development. He encouraged that Mekong-Lancang countries should support each other in industrializing and modernizing their economies through the implementation of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and Mekong-Lancang Development Belt. He also stated that MLC should expedite on the development of “MLC Innovation Corridors” and the formulation of the “Plan on Connectivity Cooperation among the MLC countries”.

Furthermore, the Prime Minister highlighted that cooperation among MLC member countries should be enhanced in strengthening capacity building of MSMEs and entrepreneurs in agro-business. He also mentioned that Covid-19 pandemic reflects the importance of effective cooperation on Public Health matters and the cooperation among Member countries should, therefore, be strengthened by means of sharing technology, expertise and infrastructure for further development of Public Health sector. In addition, he expressed his gratitude to the People’s Republic of China for the support to build “National Centre on Disease Control and Health Staff Training” in Nay Pyi Taw which will be completed in early 2024.

He also welcomed the advancement of “Mekong-Lancang Tourist Cities Cooperation Alliance” and the establishment of the “Mekong-Lancang Aviation Development and Cooperation Alliance”. And, he stressed that transnational crimes, illicit drug trafficking, human trafficking, terrorism, cybercrimes, online gambling and other cross-border criminal activities have been challenging the security and economic development of the region, and hence the cooperation should be intensified in the field of law enforcement to fight against those crimes. He also acknowledged the important role of the “Lancang-Mekong Integrated Law Enforcement and Security Cooperation Centre (LMLECC)” as a regional coordination platform for the law enforcement cooperation.

Then, he emphasized that since environmental damage affects climate change and degrades ecosystem, the MLC Member Countries should work together to mitigate and adapt to the climate disruption to build peaceful and resilient societies.

In the conclusion of his statement, the Prime Minister reaffirmed that Myanmar, as a Co-Chair and responsible member, attaches great importance to the Mekong-Lancang Cooperation and also reiterated Myanmar’s continued commitment of active cooperation with the principles and the spirit of Mekong-Lancang Cooperation.

The Meeting adopted the “Nay Pyi Taw Declaration” which will serve as a policy guideline for future work plan and the “MLC Plan of Action (2023-2027)” which is aimed to deepen the good neighbourliness, friendship and practical cooperation among the Member Countries as well as the “Joint Initiatives on MLC Innovation Corridor Development”.

At the Meeting, Prime Minister Senior General Min Aung Hlaing handed over the Co-Chairmanship of the Mekong-Lancang Cooperation to the Kingdom of Thailand.

The Joint Secretary of the State Administration Council Lieutenant General Ye Win Oo, Deputy Prime Minister and Union Minister for Foreign Affairs U Than Swe, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs U Lwin Oo and senior officials from the Office of the State Administration Council and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also attended the 4th Mekong-Lancang Cooperation Leaders’ Meeting.

Mekong-Lancang Cooperation was established in 2016 with an aim to assist regional efforts to achieve sustainable inclusive development and narrow the development gaps in the region while promoting peace and prosperity. Cambodia, China, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand and Viet Nam are the members of the Mekong-Lancang Cooperation. Myanmar has served the Co-Chairmanship of MLC successfully together with the permanent Co-Chair, China from August 2020 to December 2023.

U Lwin Oo, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs received Mr. Pio Smith, Regional Director, Asia and Pacific Regional Office of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Bangkok, at 16:00 hrs on 19 December 2023, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Nay Pyi Taw.

During the meeting, they exchanged views on the matters related to the areas of UNFPA programmatic engagement as well as the possible ways to cooperate in the future between the Government of Myanmar and UNFPA.

Also present at the meeting were Mr. Ramanathan Balakrishnan, UNFPA Representative for Myanmar, and senior officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

U Than Swe, Deputy Prime Minister and Union Minister for Foreign Affairs received Ms. Noriko Takagi, Representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Myanmar, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Nay Pyi Taw on 14 December 2023 at 1030 hrs.

​During the meeting, they exchanged views on existing cooperation and ways on further cooperation between the Government of Myanmar and the UNHCR.

U Than Swe, Deputy Prime Minister and Union Minister for Foreign Affairs received Mr. Ramanathan Balakrishnan, Representative of the United Nations Fund for Population (UNFPA), who is about to accomplish his assignment in Myanmar, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Nay Pyi Taw on 13 December 2023 at 1430 hrs.

​At the meeting, they exchanged views on matters related to cooperation between the two sides during the tenure of Mr. Ramanathan Balakrishnan in Myanmar.