Myanmar junta leader Min Aung Hlaing. - The Star/Asia News Network
YANGON (Agencies): Myanmar junta leader Min Aung Hlaing will go to China this week to attend several regional summits, state television reported on Monday, the top general's first visit to his giant neighbour since he seized power in a 2021 coup.
Min Aung Hlaing will attend summits of the Greater Mekong Subregion and the Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS) and join a meeting with Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam from Nov. 6-7 in Kunming, MRTV reported.
Only recently in Yangon, China and Myanmar celebrated a decade of collaboration in biodiversity conservation and sustainable development at a ceremony held in Nay Pyi Taw last week.
The event highlighted a decade of commitment, collaboration and collective actions of China and Myanmar towards biodiversity conservation and sustainable development.
Deputy Minister for Myanmar's Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation U Min Thu expressed gratitude to the Chinese Academy of Sciences for its financial and technical support to Myanmar for biodiversity conservation and cooperation research.
He noted that the decade of Myanmar-China cooperation has provided valuable opportunities and experiences for mutual learning in biodiversity conservation.
Minister Counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Myanmar Zheng Zhihong said that over the past 10 years, China-Myanmar cooperation on biodiversity conservation and sustainable development has achieved fruitful results.
China and Myanmar have established the Southeast Asia Biodiversity Research Institute, carried out nine large-scale joint scientific expeditions, collected and recorded tens of thousands of species, and published more than 100 papers.
Relying on the Southeast Asia Biodiversity Research Institute, the two sides have helped Myanmar cultivate scientific research talent, and contributed to Myanmar's economic development and people's livelihood, he added.
By building on the solid foundation of the past decade, the two countries will further strengthen cooperation in biodiversity conservation and sustainable development, making greater contributions to the sustainable development of the two countries, especially Myanmar, the minister counselor said.
Gong Haihua, director of the Division of Asian and African Affairs, the International Cooperation Bureau of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that in the past years, the two sides witnessed successful cooperation in many areas, and she expressed hope that more fruitful cooperation will be carried out in the future.
About 100 participants, including officials and researchers from the two countries, attended the event.
