OFFICIALS from Myanmar and Bangladesh are due to hold talks in Yangon next month on finalising a draft agreement for a proposed cross-border highway, said an official at the Bangladeshi embassy.

The first secretary at the embassy, Mr Mohamed Eusef Ali, told Myanmar Times on August 16 that the meeting would be attended by officials from the foreign and construction ministries of the two countries.

Bangladesh had sent a draft agreement to Myanmar in June, Mr Ali said.

Myanmar’s ambassador to Bangladesh, U Thane Myint, told a Dhaka newspaper earlier this month it was hoped that construction work on the 133-kilometre highway, between Buthidaung in Rakhine State and Ramu in Chittagong Province, would begin after the monsoon ends, which is usually in October.

U Thane Myint said the proposed highway would strengthen bilateral relations.
In April last year, Myanmar and Bangladesh signed a memorandum of understanding to build the highway, for which funding would be sought from the Asian Development Bank and the Chinese government.