AA Edit | India, Myanmar Deepen Ties
India also broached the topic of the India-Myanmar-Thailand (IMT) Trilateral Highway during the talks. The under-construction 1,360 km route connects India’s northeastern region to Thailand through Myanmar, integrating India with the Asean group by road
Myanmar President U. Min Aung Hlaing’s five-day visit to India — the first foreign visit after he became the elected head of state — will enhance India’s relations with the Southeast Asian nation, boosting bilateral ties in trade, defence, energy and connectivity.
The visit will give a new fillip to the long-pending Kaladan Multi-Modal transport project, which aims to connect India’s Kolkata port to the Sittwe port in Myanmar and reduce the country’s dependence on the narrow Siliguri Corridor for shipping goods to the northeastern region.
The Kaladan project was supposed to be completed by 2014, but it missed timelines three times due to various reasons. Currently, the project passes through Arakan state, which is a territory in de facto occupation by the Arakan Army, a separatist organisation fighting for the self-determination of Arakan state in Myanmar.
India also broached the topic of the India-Myanmar-Thailand (IMT) Trilateral Highway during the talks. The under-construction 1,360 km route connects India’s northeastern region to Thailand through Myanmar, integrating India with the Asean group by road. While the project components in India and Thailand were ready, the gaps were seen in Myanmar.
The Southeast Asian nation is critical for India’s future economic prospects as it has crucial rare earth minerals and pulses.
The Narendra Modi government’s decision to engage with Myanmar is highly pragmatic, especially when the Western world and Southeast Asian countries have virtually shunned the military junta after it seized power in a coup on February 1, 2021, overthrowing the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.
India shares a 1,643-kilometre border with Myanmar and a maritime boundary in the Bay of Bengal. Good relations with Myanmar are important for India in view of maintaining internal security in the northeast region. Similarly, good ties with India are crucial for Myanmar after the rise of the Arakan Army. Both countries, therefore, rightly reaffirmed their commitment towards not allowing terrorist groups to use their land against the other.