North East News Agency

Taking bilateral cooperation to a higher plane, India and Myanmar signed three agreements in petroleum, space and education sectors in the presence of President A P J Abdul Kalam and Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council Senior General Than Shwe.

The Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in the petroleum sector pertains to transport of natural gas from the Arakan port of Myanmar either through a pipeline via the North-East or Bangladesh. India has been pressing to build a pipeline from Myanmar through Bangladesh to meet a yawning energy supply gap.

The option of converting the gas into Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) for shipping it is also under consideration as it would be cost-effective, considering that the distance was not too much. The MoU was signed by Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas Prabh Das and Director-General of Energy Planning Department of the Ministry of Energy of Myanmar, sources said.

Another MoU on cooperation in Buddhist studies was inked by Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran and Brig General Thura Aung Ko, Deputy Minister for Religious Affairs, Myanmar. A Framework Agreement on mutual cooperation in the field of remote sensing was concluded for setting up of a ground station in Myanmar. The station will receive remote sensing data from the IRS satellite for various uses, including agriculture purposes like survey of soil and minerals.

President Kalam visited the mausoleum of Bahadur Shah Zafar, the last Mughal Emperor of India who was exiled to Yangon after the British quelled the first war of Independence. India also announced a total of 34.5 million dollars credit and financial assistance to Myanmar for purchase of heavy duty water pumps, development of a multi-modal transport project and upgrading remote sensing ground receiving station in Yangon.

The Indian Government has also promised to extend a 10 million dollar line of credit to Myanmar’s multi-modal transport project. The financial package was announced following a meeting visiting Indian President APJ Abdul Kalam had with Myanmar’s State Peace and Development Council chairman Senior General Than Shwe.

India also decided to grant three million dollars for assistance with delineation of Myanmar’s continental shelf and a 20 million dollar line of credit for purchase of heavy duty water pumps for agriculture and water supply. As part of the package of human resource development initiatives,20 students from Myanmar will be allowed to pursue PhD programmes in India. It was also agreed that India would provide necessary assistance in upgrading scientific laboratories in various universities in Myanmar.

|  Headlines  |  Editorial   | Coverstory  |
|  Travel Column   |   News Briefs  |
| OT Main Page | Nena  Home Page  |