By Feng Yingqiu

    YANGON, Nov. 17 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar top leader Senior-General Than Shwe's recent state visit to Sri Lanka has brought about deeper bilateral friendship and cooperation, official media commented Tuesday.

    The four-day Colombo visit of Than Shwe, Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council, which took place from Nov. 12 to 15,was a reciprocal one to Nay Pyi Taw by Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa in June this year. Both visits happened in the same year to mark the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Myanmar and Sri Lanka.

    Than Shwe's visit also represented the one of a head of state of Myanmar to Sri Lanka after a lapse of more than four decades.

    During the visit, heads of state of the two countries met in Kandy and exchanged views on promotion of relationship between thetwo countries, all-round development of trade and economy, promotion of Buddhism-based tourism industry, cooperation of the two countries in the framework of BIMSTEC, and regional and international affairs.

    The two leaders stressed the need to extend the private sectors of the two countries.

    Noting that Myanmar is the second largest producer of beans and pulses, the two sides emphasized the need also to establish direct trade between the two countries, believing that the move would benefit both.

    The two sides also agreed on exchange program for students of Buddhism with Colombo inviting Nay Pyi Taw to construct the international Buddhist Center in Sri Lanka.

    A memorandum of understanding was also signed between Sri Lanka's Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic and Myanmar's Shwedagon Pagodato promote Buddhism.

    The two leaders discussed in details the measures to be taken in amending the civil aviation agreement between the two countries to promote tourism.

    During Rajapaksa's June Myanmar visit, Myanmar and Sri Lanka had signed an agreement on mutual exemption of visas for diplomatic passport and service passport holders of the two countries and a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in tourism.

    On that occasion, the Myanmar government made a cash donation of 50,000 U.S. dollars as a humanitarian assistance to the Sri Lankan government for that country's internally displaced people in the northern part, while Sri Lanka helped establish a village, called Mitta, in Myanmar's cyclone-hit Kungyangon township in Yangon division.

    Sri Lanka has so far injected one million U.S. dollars' investment in Myanmar since 1988, Myanmar statistics show.

    The two countries set up the Joint Commission for Bilateral Cooperation (JCBC) in 1996.

    In early August this year, the JCBC met for the second time in Sri Lanka's Kandy city.

    Meanwhile, indirect air link exists between the two countries via Bangkok with Sri Lankan Airlines connecting the Bangkok flights of the Myanmar Airways International (MAI) and the Thai Airways International (TG) and transiting passengers from Yangon to Colombo.

    In November last year, Myanmar agreed with Sri Lanka to establish direct air and sea links to effectively boost bilateral trade ties between the two countries as proposed by Sri Lanka.

    Currently, trade between Myanmar and Sri Lanka is transacted through Singapore.

    Myanmar and Sri Lanka, which established diplomatic relations on June 7, 1949, have enjoyed cultural and religious ties since the 11th century.

    Both Myanmar and Sri Lanka are members of the subregional grouping of Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) which also comprises Bangladesh, India and Thailand.

    Myanmar remains as an observer of the South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).