China Pledges 4 Billion Yuan in Aid to Myanmar
By Aung Thiha 21 January 2020
YANGON—Chinese President Xi Jinping has pledged to give 4 billion yuan (over US$580 million) in aid over the next three years to support the development of Myanmar.
The visiting Chinese president pledged the aid on Saturday during bilateral discussions on the second day of his visit to Myanmar, according to Myanmar government-run newspapers.
The two countries have yet to discuss which sectors will receive aid and how much they will receive, said U Than Aung Kyaw, director-general of the Investment and Foreign Economic Relations Ministry.
“The two countries have yet to discuss the details about whether the aid will be used for education or infrastructural development or something else,” he said.
State-run newspapers reported that China has been providing financial and technical assistance to Myanmar in the infrastructure, agriculture, education and health sectors, as well as for the rehabilitation of war and natural disaster victims. From 2014 to 2019, China provided 4.9 billion yuan to Myanmar to support these sectors, according to the Investment and Foreign Economic Relations Ministry.
During the Chinese president’s two-day visit to Myanmar, the two governments signed a total of 33 memoranda of understanding (MOUs), agreements, exchange letters and protocols, including concession and shareholders’ agreements for the Kyaukphyu Special Economic Zone (SEZ) deep seaport project in troubled Rakhine State.
Among other things, the MOUs focus on accelerating negotiation of the framework agreement on the China-Myanmar Ruili-Muse cross-border economic cooperation zone and on establishing local cooperation under the joint implementation framework for the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor (CMEC) between Yunnan Province and Mandalay Region.
Exchange letters and protocols covered a new urban development in Yangon city, the acceleration of the Mee Laung Gyaing Integrated Liquid Natural Gas power project in Ayeyarwady Region, plant inspection and quarantine requirements for exporting rice from Myanmar to China, health requirements for bovine slaughter for exports from Myanmar to China, and an interest-free loan to help Myanmar procure 28 passenger train coaches from China.
Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko
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