Boosting ties

Cover Story Vol. 3 Issue No. 64

August 1-15, 2010

Boosting ties

India signed a clutch of pacts to boost counter-terror cooperation and cement cultural ties with Myanmar, the energy-rich Southeast Asian country whose military junta is considered a pariah in many Western capitals.
The two countries signed five pacts after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh held talks with visiting Myanmar military ruler General Than Shwe over a wide range of issues, including counter-terror cooperation, enhanced energy ties and collaboration in a string of developmental projects.
Among the pacts is a treaty on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters that will be crucial in enabling India get access to insurgents from India’s northeast states that continue to shelter along the sprawling 1,650-kilometer India-Myanmar border.
The treaty aims at deepening bilateral cooperation in combating transnational organized crime, terrorism, drug trafficking, money laundering and smuggling of arms and explosives.
Increased collaboration for developing cross-border connectivity and infrastructure development figured prominently in the discussions. The two sides also signed pacts in the areas of small development projects, science and technology and information cooperation.
A memorandum of understanding on Indian assistance in restoring the Ananda temple in Bagan, a renowned Buddhist shrine and a major tourist site in central Myanmar, was also inked.
Against the backdrop of China’s growing clout in Myanmar, India has rolled out the red carpet to welcome.
Than Shwe’s visit to India, the world’s most populous democracy, takes place days after the US renewed sanctions barring trade with companies tied to the junta in Myanmar. On the eve of the visit, the US has said it “expects to send a clear message to Burma that it needs to change its course”.
Thousands of Myanmarese refugees staying in India for years aired their outrage at Than Shwe’s visit and have urged the Indian government not to endorse the upcoming elections in that country.
Besides energy, India sees Myanmar as a gateway for increased connectivity of its northeastern states to Southeast Asia. The transport corridor that would give India’s landlocked northeastern states access to the Bay of Bengal through the Myanmar port of Sittwe was also discussed between the two sides.
MoU for 60 million USD
India and Myanmar on Tuesday singed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the creation of a Line of Credit of 60 million US Dollars. The MoU was signed between the EXIM Bank of India and the Myanmar Foreign Trade Bank.
A delegation from Myanmar comprising of the Ministers of Commerce, National Planning and Economic Development, and Science and Technology witnessed the signing of the agreement.
The delegation invited the Indian private sector to invest and participate in the process of national development of Myanmar. It also stressed on the need to enhance the business and trade ties between the two nations.

Meanwhile, the pacts signed between India and Myanmar has been hailed in the country’s North-East as a major step forward in combating terror and boosting trade and commerce between the two neighbouring nations.
The agreement between the two countries to offer mutual legal assistance in criminal matters would surely help in tackling insurgency in the northeast with a number of militant groups active in the region having bases inside Myanmar, Biren Singh, senior Manipur minister and state government spokesperson, said.
The pact was signed in New Delhi during Myanmar military ruler Than Shwe’s visit.
Normally what happens is that after carrying out violent attacks in our region, militants sneak back to their bases in Myanmar and that complicates the matter. Now with both the countries agreeing to cooperate on combating terrorism, northeast rebels would find it tough to take refuge in Myanmar.
India and Myanmar share a 1,640-km long unfenced border, allowing militants from the northeast to use the adjoining country as a springboard for hit-and-run guerrilla strikes on Indian soldiers.
At least half-a-dozen militant groups from India’s North-East, where numerous tribal and ethnic groups are fighting for greater autonomy or independence, have training camps in northern Myanmar’s thick jungles - all of them sheltered there under the patronage of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Khaplang (NSCN-K).
Among the Indian separatist armies operating out of Myanmar’s northern Sagaing Division, apart from the NSCN-K, are the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), the United National Liberation Front (UNLF), the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), and the People’s Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (PREPAK).
India and Myanmar signed five pacts - primary among them being a treaty on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters that that could enable India get access to insurgents from India’s North-East states operating out of Myanmar.
The treaty also aims at deepening bilateral cooperation in combating transnational organised crime, terrorism, drug trafficking, money laundering and smuggling of arms and explosives.
The pacts were signed between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and visiting Myanmar’s military ruler General Than Shwe in New Delhi.
Bangladesh and Bhutan had already cooperated in rooting out North-East rebel bases from their country and now with the treaty with Myanmar, we could see some results very soon in terms of military crackdown on militant bases in that country, Assam government spokesperson and Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said.
Combating terrorism apart, India has offered credits worth millions of dollars to Myanmar - $60 million line of credit for development of railways, another $60 million for revamping of the Rhi-Tiddim road to enhance connectivity to northeastern states, $10 million for procurement of agricultural machinery and $6 million to upgrade the microwave link between Moreh and Mandalay in Myanmar.
The 225 km Rhi-Tiddim road connecting Myanmar to Mizoram is considered a vital lifeline in terms of boosting trade and commerce - a trade centre at Mizoram’s Champai district would be the direct beneficiary after the road opens.
If the Rhi-Tiddim road opens, it would surely boost bilateral trade between the two countries. Now with poor road communications on the Myanmar side, there is literally zero business at the trade centre in Champhai, a Mizoram government official said.

Your Visit No

Since April 20, 2000