No deal with Myanmar on gas, farmland

---

General Maung Aye, one of Myanmar's top military rulers, Thursday left Bangladesh ending a high-profile state visit that produced deal to boost trade, but failed to reach agreement on sharing energy resource or leasing farmland, report UNB and bdnews24.com.
Gen Aye, the second-in-command of Myanmar's highest ruling body State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), was seen off at the Chittagong Airport by Army Chief General Moeen U Ahmed. The general, along with his 54-member entourage, flew to Chittagong Hill Tracts to visit Rangamati in the morning.
Seven ministers, the chiefs of Myanmar's navy and airforce, and a number of SPDC members accompanied General Aye during his three-day visit. They left for Myanmar's capital Naypydaw on an Air Bagan flight.
In Dhaka, he had been seen off at the Tejgaon helipad by Foreign Adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, who said "political relations" needed to be improved first between the two neighbours, in a clear reference to failure to close farmland or gas pipeline deal.
Iftekhar said Bangladesh wanted to "strengthen political relation with Myanmar first, and that strong political relation would fetch benefits for the country."
"General Aye's visit might not yield any immediate result, but it would bring benefit for both the countries, if they could continue dialogues," he said.
"Once political relationship at the central level is strengthened, cooperation usually follows on a whole range of subjects of bilateral interest. This is what is happening in the case of Myanmar," the Foreign Adviser said.
Myanmar's apex trade body signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) in the port-city Thursday with a larger aim of expanding communications as well as trade and commerce between private sectors of the two countries.
CCCI President Saifuzzaman Chowdhury and Federation of Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Myanmar President U Win Myint signed the accord on behalf of their respective sides.