Pakistan’s President Urges Stronger Trade Ties With Burma

Posted January 24th, 2012 at 10:50 am (UTC-5)
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Pakistan's president has called for stronger trade ties with Burma, while on a visit to the Southeast Asian country.

Asif Ali Zardari met with his Burmese counterpart Thein Sein Tuesday in Burma's capital Naypyidaw.

The Pakistani president's visit comes amid heightened tensions at home between the civilian government and the military over a memo reportedly urging U.S. help in preventing a military coup in Pakistan.

President Zardari and Mr. Sein also discussed increasing bilateral cooperation in the oil and gas sectors.

During his two-day visit to Burma, the Pakistani leader will also meet with Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi.

The Burmese opposition leader's party won a landslide victory in 1990, but the ruling military government prevented it from assuming power. Aung San Suu Kyi spent much of her time since then under house arrest, gaining her freedom in 2010 as the junta agreed to parliamentary elections late that year.

President Zardari's office said he wants to congratulate her on what it called “the beginning moments of her triumph” as she reenters the political arena.