Loikaw has a new sister city across the border with Thailand. The Kayah (Karenni) State capital signed an agreement with Mae Hong Son on March 9.
Kayah State and Mae Hong Son Province officials said the new pact will help both sides to boost tourism, trade and rural development projects.
“Agriculture is the backbone of our country. In our state, we still have a lot of difficulties with the land. We need investments to help improve [the farming sector],” said Kayah State Chief Minister L Paung Sho. “Now that we have already signed the MoU [memorandum of understanding] we will work together to improve agriculture.”
The two neighbors already signed an agreement for a border training center in Mae Sariang, Thailand in October 2016.
To take bilateral trade a step further, officials from both countries met in Nay Pyi Taw in the second week of January, laying the foundations for the MoU.
“We will work toward having our staff members exchange information directly between the two countries in a friendly way which will be eased by not having to first inform the respective [government] departments,” Suebsak Eaimvijarn, the governor of Mae Hong Son, said after the March 9 MoU signing event in Loikaw.
Myanmar and Thailand signed their first tourism cooperation agreement in 1998.
Translated by Aong Jaeneh
Edited by Laignee Barron for BNI
