Dhaka, Mar19: Aimed at improving bilateral ties and resolving the existing differences with Myanmar, Bangladesh Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia visits Yangon today. During the visit, first in decades by a Bangladeshi leader, the two sides are likely to sign three agreements on account trade, coastal shipping and setting up of joint business council.
Zia is also expected to take up the vexed issue of repatriating Rohingya refugees stranded in Bangladesh, besides strengthening of economic cooperation. Foreign minister Morshed Khan, who accompanies Zia said repatriation was "necessary to keep open the border".
The visit has been officially described as "return one", being made at the invitation of Myanmar Prime Minister Senior General Than Shwe, who visited Bangladesh last December, the official BSS news agency reported.
The two sides are also likely to set up a joint trade commission headed by their commerce ministers and a foreign ministerial joint commission to oversee bilateral relations. The official talks between the two leaders is scheduled to take place tomorrow.
Bangladeshi cabinet has already approved the draft of agreements drawn up during the Myanmarese leaders' visit.
Under the coastal shipping deal, Chittagong, Coxs Bazar and Teknaf (south-east Bangladesh) will be linked to the Myanmar ports of Yangon, Akyub and Maungdaw, it said.

Myanmar is the second country besides India with which Bangladesh has a land border measuring about two hundred km.
Bureau Report