YANGON, Nov. 8 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar new Prime Minister General Thein Sein left Nay Pyi Taw Thursday for Vientiane on his official visit to Laos as the first leg of his introductory tours to two member nations of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) after he was appointed prime minister on Oct. 24.

    At the invitation of his Lao counterpart Bouasone Bouphavanh, Thein Sein, 64, will make a two-day trip to the Southeast Asian neighbor.

    There were close exchanges between Myanmar and Laos at top level in last two years. Lao Prime Minister Bouasone Bouphavanh and Lao President Choummaly Sayasone successively visited Nay Pyi Taw in November 2006 and March 2007.

    In October this year, Myanmar Foreign Minister U Nyan Win toured Vientiane, during which a meeting of Laos-Myanmar Joint Commission for Bilateral Cooperation was held.

    Myanmar and Laos are friendly neighbors, enjoying good bilateral relations. In January this year, Myanmar and Laos upgraded the two countries' respective border check points to meet international standard to boost arrivals of world tourists and those from the third countries visiting the two border areas.

    These checkpoints are Wan Pong in Tachilek of Eastern Shan state on the Myanmar side and Ban Muang Mom on the Lao side. The Mekong River flows between the two towns as a border line.

    Myanmar and Laos have also been placing emphasis on peace and security and development in the two countries' border areas, cooperating in drug control and agreeing to prevent trafficking ofdrugs and psychotropic substances, and control banned chemicals.

    Besides, Myanmar and Laos are also cooperating in agricultural, forestry and marine sectors.

    After Laos visit, Thein Sein will proceed to Vietnam as his second leg of ASEAN tour on Friday to Saturday to hold talks with his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Tan Dung and meet with Vietnamese State President Nguyen Minh Triet, according to the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Wednesday..

    In August this year, Dung visited Nay Pyi Taw, during which mutual cooperation and enhancement of friendly and cooperative relations between the two countries, especially in economy, trade and investment were touched upon and a memorandum of understanding on strategic cooperation between Vietnam and Myanmar in oil and gas was also signed.

    According to official statistics, Myanmar and Vietnam had a bilateral trade volume of 70.5 million U.S. dollars in the fiscal year 2006-07 which ended in March, up from 54.4 million dollars in2005-06. Of the total, Myanmar's exports to Vietnam took up 58.23 million dollars, while its imports from Vietnam amounted to 12.27 million dollars, enjoying a trade surplus of 45.96 million dollars.

    The two countries are striving to raise the bilateral trade volume to 100 million dollars in 2007-08, according to a decision by the Myanmar-Vietnam Joint Trade Committee.