20000220

Cambodian PM in Myanmar

YANGON, (Myanmar): Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen was welcomed with a 19-gun salute and hundreds of flag-waving schoolchildren when he arrived in Myanmar on Saturday.

Hun Sen is making his first visit to the military state since Cambodia joined Myanmar as a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, a regional economic group, last year.

Arriving from a visit to India, Hun Sen was greeted by the chairman of Myanmar's ruling military council Than Shwe. At Yangon airport, the children chanted "Long live Prime Minister Hun Sen and his wife" as he alighted the plane.

Hun Sen last visited Myanmar, also known as Burma, as co-premier of Camodia months before he seized complete control of the country in a coup against his royalist rival Prince Norodom Ranariddh in July 1997. The coup effectively put Cambodia's accession into Asean on hold, while Laos and Myanmar were welcomed as full members weeks later, despite international criticism of Myanmar.ÑAP