YANGON - Myanmar President U Thein Sein's goodwill visit to India, starting on Wednesday will promote bilateral relations and cooperation with the northwestern neighbor, observers here said.

At the invitation of Indian President Pratibha Devisingh Patil, Thein Sein's trip will be the first to India after assuming presidency on March 30.

Thein Sein is expected to hold talks with his Indian counterpart Pratibha and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi, diplomatic sources said.

Relations between Myanmar and India have been growing in the past few years. Indian President APJ Abdul Kalam visited Myanmar in 2006 and two years later, Vice-President Shri M.Hamid Ansari paid an official visit to the country in 2009.

Reciprocally, Myanmar's former leader Senior-General Than Shwe, Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council and Vice Chairman, Vice Senior-General Maung Aye also visited India in 2010 and 2008 respectively.

Myanmar-India bilateral trade reached $1.071 billion in 2010-11 and India stood as Myanmar's fourth largest trading partner after Thailand, Singapore and China, according to official statistics.

Of the total, Myanmar's export to India amounted to $876.91 million, while its import from India was valued at $194.92 million.

Agricultural produce and forestry products are leading in Myanmar's export to India whereas medicines and pharmaceutical products are topping its imports from India.

India stands as a major buyer of Myanmar's beans, taking up 70 percent of the latter's exporting agricultural produce.

In June this year, a memorandum of understanding on building an industrial training school in Myanmar's Myingyan was signed between the two governments during a visit to Nay Pyi Taw by Indian Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna.

According to Myanmar official figures, India's contracted investment in Myanmar amounted to 189 million dollars as of March 2011 since the government opened to foreign investment in late 1988, of which 137 million were drawn into the oil and gas sector in 2007. India stands 13th in Myanmar's foreign investors' line-up.

The two countries have placed emphasis on the upgrading of border roads and maritime transport along the Kaladan River to boost trade. Accordingly, India has laid the foundation in December 2010 for the construction of port and waterway terminal of a Myanmar-India Kaladan Multimodal Transit Transport Project in Sittway township of western Myanmar's Rakhine state.

The Kaladan River project, involving the Indian Inland Waterways Authority and ESSAR Projects (India) Co Ltd, is targeted to complete by 2013.

Dealing with tourism, India has planned to help Myanmar boost the ecotourism sector as part of its assistance rendered to countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) by assisting in maintenance of ancient buildings in archeological and historical sites.

Meanwhile, Myanmar and India signed a memorandum of understanding on cultural cooperation in Nay Pyi Taw in April this year to speed up all-round renovation of the Arnanda Pagoda in Myanmar's ancient city of Bagan.

To seek more cooperation in the agricultural sector, Myanmar Agriculture and Irrigation Minister U Myint Hlaing and Indian Ambassador to Myanmar Dr. Villur Sundararajan discussed on the proposed cooperation project matters in Nay Pyi Taw last month.

Myanmar and India share a border of over 1,600 kilometers.