China and Myanmar signed 33 agreement to accelerate BRI China and Myanmar signed 33 agreement to accelerate BRI

20 January 2020 Current Affairs:China and Myanmar signed 33 deals on 18 January 2020. The agreements aimed to speed up key infrastructure projects to provide China a stepping stone to the Indian Ocean. The agreement was signed after a meeting between President Xi Jinping and State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi. Suu Kyi was on a two-day visit to China. He held talks with Xi on the final day of his two-day visit.

Agreements:

♦ The agreements covered areas such as politics, investment, trade, and people-to-people communications for China's flagship Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

♦ Myanmar agreed to promote the building of the Myanmar-China Economic Corridor.

♦ The agreement also aimed to enhance cooperation in transport, energy, production capacity, humanitarian and cultural exchanges, border areas and regional affairs.

♦ The agreements focused on implementing the China Myanmar Economic Corridor (CMEC) which is akin to the $60 billion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) under which China looks to access Pakistan's Gwadar port in the Arabian sea. 

♦ Also, the giant connectivity project CMEC will link landlocked southwestern China to the Indian Ocean. 

♦ The agreement included a concession and shareholders agreement on the $1.3 billion Kyaukhphyu deep-sea port and economic zone. 

♦ The Kyaukhphyu projects concern India as it provides a stepping stone for China to the Indian Ocean.

Myanmar:

President: Win Myint

State Counsellor: Aung San Suu Kyi

Currency: Kyat (K) (MMK)

Capital: Naypyidaw