Burma foreign minister flies in for talks with Philippine officials

MANILA, Philippines—The foreign minister of Burma  (Myanmar),  U Wunna Maung Lwin, arrived Thursday in Manila for  two days of  meetings with Filipino officials.

Burma Foreign Minister U Wunna Maung Lwin arrives in Manila Thursday, June 14, 2012. He is scheduled to call on President Aquino later in the day and meet his counterpart Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario on Friday. AFP PHOTO/JAY DIRECTO

Wunna and his delegation arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport on Philippine Airlines flight PR 399 shortly befor 7 a.m., according to the media affairs division of the Manila International Airport Authority.

Wunna will lead his country’s delegation to the second meeting of the Manila-Yangon Joint Commission for Bilateral Cooperation, the Department of Foreign Affairs said Monday.

In a statement, the DFA said Wunna’s visit “follows the historic trip made by Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario to Myanmar in February, which marked a new page in Philippine and Myanmar relations following the prodemocracy reforms undertaken by the latter’s government.”

It noted the commission was a “political mechanism for the two countries to discuss areas of mutual interest, such as political cooperation, trade and investments, tourism, education, human rights, agriculture and forestry, culture and information, and law enforcement.”

The Philippines and Burma, both members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, established diplomatic relations in 1956.