Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi has pledged readiness to provide humanitarian assistance, including healthcare, for both communities in Myanmar's Rakhine state and to enhance communication channels between the two countries, official sources said today.

China's Xinhua news agency reported Retno as making the pledge before she concluded her two-day working visit to Myanmar yesterday evening.

During her visit, Retno met with her Myanmar counterpart Aung San Suu Kyi and the pair exchanged views on strengthening of bilateral relations and cooperation, as well as on recent developments in Rakhine state in an open and friendly manner.

Myanmar-Indonesia relations have been enhanced through the state visit of Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in April 2013, during which three key accords on economic cooperation were signed between the two countries.

These are on a framework agreement on investment and trade, two memoranda of understanding (MOU) on cooperation in human resources development and on rice trade respectively.

According to official statistics, Indonesia's investments in Myanmar amounted to US$254.687 million (RM1.13 billion) in 13 projects as of October 2016 since Myanmar opened to such investments in late 1988 and this stands 13th in Myanmar's foreign investment line-up.

- Bernama