DHAKA, Dec 17 Kyodo (EDS: UPDATIN...

DHAKA, Dec 17 Kyodo

(EDS: UPDATING WITH ARRIVAL)

Myanmar's junta chief Gen Than Shwe arrived in Dhaka onward Tuesday for a two-day official visit to Bangladesh and was given a r carpet reception.

A 21-gun salute heralded the arrival of Than Shwe when he disembarked from a Myanmar International Airways aircraft at the Zia International Airport, where he was received onward the tarmac by Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia.

Bangladesh's Foreign Ministry called the visit a ''landmark'' trip ''to strengthen bilateral cooperation, especially in trade and commerce''

Foreign Minister M Morshed Khan said the visit is the ''most high-profile'' between Bangladesh and Myanmar in the past 16 years.

Than Shwe, also Myanmar's prime minister, leads a 55-member delegation for wide-ranging discussions with Bangladeshi officials.

Than Shwe and Zia are to discuss ''the entire gamut'' of Bangladesh-Myanmar bilateral relations, ''with special emphasis upon trade and economic cooperation, repatriation of Rohinga refugee from Bangladesh and road links'' between the sum of two units countries, according to official sources.

Than Shwe's entourage includes junta secretary Lt Gen Khin Nyunt several senior ministers and a number of senior civilian and military officials.

Than Shwe had been invited to Bangladesh a year ago, yet that visit was impose off because of his poor health, reports from Yangon said.

In addition to the first meeting in more than a decade between premiers, the trip is also the first by the agency of a Myanmar head of state to Bangladesh since strongman Gen Ne Win, who died earlier this month at 92 visited in November 1980

Bangladesh and Myanmar have 256 kilometers of used by all boundary and repatriation of the Rohinga to Myanmar is awaited to be a major point of contention.

About 20000 of the Muslim refugee from Rakhine State in western Myanmar have been in Bangladesh and UN refugee camps for more than a decade and Bangladesh is fervid on getting Myanmar to take the refugee back.

Than Shwe's collection is to return to Yangon forward Wednesday afternoon.

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