Myanmar junta leader Min Aung Hlaing to visit Vietnam for state talks on trade and defense

Mizzima

Myanmar junta leader Min Aung Hlaing will make an official state visit to Vietnam from 4 to 6 September at the invitation of Vietnamese Communist Party General Secretary and President To Lam, state media in both countries reported on 1 September, following up on defence, trade and telecommunications agreements the two countries reached in Naypyidaw a week earlier.

Min Aung Hlaing and his spouse will hold bilateral talks with To Lam and meet Vietnam’s prime minister and National Assembly president. He will also attend a Myanmar-Vietnam business forum and meet representatives of economic organisations, according to Myanmar and Vietnamese state media.

The visit follows the 10th meeting of the Vietnam-Myanmar Joint Committee for Bilateral Cooperation on 26 August, at which Min Aung Hlaing pledged continued support for Vietnamese businesses including Mytel, a mobile network operator linked to Vietnam’s military-run Viettel group, and the two sides agreed to expand defence training, digital transformation cooperation and work toward $1 billion in bilateral trade.

Neither government has said whether any new agreements will be signed during the state visit, though the itinerary includes visits to digital and electronics enterprises.

Vietnam will be the seventh country Min Aung Hlaing has visited since taking office as president in April, following trips to Laos, Thailand, Russia and Belarus. The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) has continued to exclude Myanmar’s political representatives from its summits over the junta’s failure to implement the bloc’s Five-Point Consensus peace plan.

Across the two countries’ most recent engagements, an informal ASEAN foreign ministers’ meeting in Bangkok in July, the Joint Committee meeting in Naypyidaw in August, and this month’s state visit, neither government’s public statements have referred to Myanmar’s civil war, political prisoners or humanitarian access. Vietnam’s foreign ministry has said it regards the Five-Point Consensus as the bloc’s key framework for engagement with Myanmar.

The full Vietnamese delegation, the list of companies attending the business forum, and any agreements expected to be signed during the visit have not been announced.