YANGON, Nov. 5 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar Prime Minister General Thein Sein left Nay Pyi Taw Thursday to attend the first Mekong-Japan Summit in Tokyo, Japan, official sources from the new capital said.

    Thein Sein's trip to Tokyo is made at the invitation of the government of Japan.

    Myanmar is a member of the six-country Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS)-Economic Cooperation. The others sharing the Mekong River are China, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam.

    The GMS has designated the year 2009-2010 as GMS tourism year as part of its economic cooperation in the sub-region.

    In February this year, a Japan-Mekong exchange year was launched in Myanmar's former capital of Yangon to showcase the cooperation and friendship between Japan and Myanmar and the event was marked with joint performance by Japanese and Myanmar artists.

    In June this year, Japanese Deputy Foreign Minister Kenichiro Sasae visited Myanmar, bringing their bilateral relations closer.

    Myanmar and Japan have been cooperating in a number of sectors and Japan traditionally stands as Myanmar's biggest donor country.

    Japan's investment in Myanmar, according to figures, so far amounted to 216.76 million U.S. dollars in 23 projects since 1988.

    The bilateral trade between Myanmar and Japan stood 341.8 million dollars in the 2008-09 fiscal year, of which Myanmar's export to Japan amounted to 179.6 million dollars with Japan ranking the 6th in Myanmar's exporting countries line-up. Myanmar's import from Japan took 162.2 million dollars.