Lao PM to Visit Myanmar YANGON (Nov. 20) XINHUA - Lao Prime Minister Sisavath Keobounphan will pay an official visit to Myanmar on Monday aimed at strengthening the relations between the two countries while promoting cooperation in the Southeast Asian region. According to an official announcement here Friday, the visit will be made at the invitation of Senior-General Than Shwe, chairman of the Myanmar State Peace and Development Council and also prime minister. It will be Keobounphan's first visit to Myanmar since he became prime minister in February this year. In June 1994 and May 1995, Than Shwe and then Lao president Nouhak Phoumsavan visited each other's country. During the latter's visit to Myanmar, three agreements on trade and agricultural cooperation and the agreed minutes of the first meeting of the Myanmar-Laos Joint Commission for Bilateral Cooperation (JCBC) were signed. The two countries also exchanged ratification documents regarding their agreement on the fixed international boundary in the Mekong river. In March 1997, then Lao prime minister Khamtay Siphandone (now the president) visited Myanmar and two agreements on drug control and border areas management and cooperation were signed. An agreement on tourism cooperation was also endorsed in May that year when Lao Deputy Minister of the Prime Minister's Office Cheuang Somboumkhanh visited Yangon. In August 1997, Lao Foreign Minister Somsawat Lengsavad met his Myanmar counterpart U Ohn Gyaw in Yangon and co- chaired the third meeting of the two countries' JCBC, during which a wide range of bilateral issues were discussed. In September last year, Lao Vice Foreign Minister Phongsavath Boupha visited Myanmar and had discussions on the implementation of the two countries' agreement on border areas management and cooperation. This month, the two sides held the First Meeting of Border Authorities at the Central Level in Yangon. Myanmar and Laos were simultaneously admitted into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in July 1997.