NAY PYI TAW, 1 July - A delegation led by U Nyan Win, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Union of Myanmar, arrived at Yangon International Airport this evening by TG 305 after attending the first ASEAN-GCC Full-Fledged Ministerial Meeting held on 29 and 30 June in Manama, Bahrain.

The Myanmar delegation participated in the ASEAN-GCC Preparatory Meeting on 29 June and attended the Dinner hosted by His Excellency Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Bahrain, in the evening.

Subsequently, the Minister for Foreign Affairs U Nyan Win and delegation attended the first ASEAN-GCC Full-Fledged Ministerial Meeting on 30 June. During the meeting, the issue of the enhancement of the ASEAN-GCC Cooperation, the issue of Exchange of views on Developments in the ASEAN and the GCC and other regional and international issues were cordially discussed.

In the afternoon, His Majesty Shaikh Hamad Bin Isa Khalifa, the King of Bahrain, received the visiting Foreign Ministers and hosted with a luncheon.

After the meeting, the ASEAN and GCC Ministers issued the Joint Press Statement of the 1st Full-Fledged ASEAN-GCC Ministerial Meeting, ASEAN-GCC Join Vision and the Memorandum of Understanding between the Secretariat of ASEAN and the Secretariat of GCC was signed by the two Secretaries-General.

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) included Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and United Arab Emirates (UAE).

(Source: The New Light of Myanmar dated 2 July 2009)