India PM"s in Myanmar to bolster bilateral relations

A closer tie between India and Myanmar is something to happen on the sidelines of the third BIMSTEC Summit, which is scheduled to take place tomorrow.

India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrived in Nay Pyi Taw today, in his second visit since 2012. During his two-day visit, Singh will meet other BIMSTEC leaders, Myanmar President Thein Sein, opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other Myanmar government officials and Members of Parliament.

“Our bilateral relations with BIMSTEC countries are among our most important in the world,” Singh said in a statement released today. He hopes to exchange notes with leaders from other states, to emphasise the importance of bilateral relations with all member countries of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation. 

Following Singh’s visit to Myanmar in 2012, Myanmar President Thein Sein visited India in 2013 – the first overseas visit after taking office. Currently, Myanmar and India are implementing several projects, including the establishment of IT parks, economic corridors and connectivity, roads and cross-border linkages between States on both sides.

Kaladan Multimodal Project, which is already under implementation, is expected to be completed by the end of 2016. 

The India-Myanmar-Thailand trilateral highway will connect India’s Northeast to Thailand through Myanmar, which is also expected to be completed by that time.

“Some of the projects have taken a little longer to implement than the others because of difficulties encountered in the geological terrain,” said India’s Foreign Secretary Shrimati Sujatha Singh in a recent press briefing. 

On the PM’s visit, she said “Given the fact that the Prime Minister is visiting Myanmar two years after his bilateral visit in 2012, we have done an exercise to review the progress. And I am glad to say that much of this is going very satisfactorily.” 

India, China and Japan have been in focus for their attempts to establish closer ties with the country, thanks to the latter’s abundant natural resources. 

India is also taking the leading role in BIMSTEC, a sub-regional grouping that comprises seven countries including Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Nepal, and Bhutan which share 20 per cent of the world’s population and more than US$2.5 billion of GDP. 

Formed in 1997, the grouping aims to further expand cooperation. The first BIMSTEC Secretary-General-designate Ambassador Sumith Nakadala from Sri Lanka was formally appointed on Monday. 

The 16th BIMSTEC Senior Officials’ Meeting last weekend also reached two Memorandum of Association (MoAs) on the establishment of the BIMSTEC Permanent Secretarist, and on the establishment of a BIMSTEC Centre for Weather and Climate respectively as well as one Memorandum of Understanding on the establishment of the BIMSTEC Cultural Industries Commission and BIMSTEC Cultural Industries Observatory. With the presence of the permanent secretariat, India’s first secretary expects the grouping to play a more active role in regional integration and cooperation. The country pledges contribution of 32 per cent of annual expenditure of the permanent secretariat. 

Throughout the region, several BIMSTEC centres are being launched, to foster greater technical exchanges between member countries. In the security sphere, in light of the global integration, the member countries have steadily put in place enabling legal instruments for regional approaches to international terrorism, transnational crime, drug trafficking and mutual legal assistance in criminal matters.

Though admitting that negotiations on a free trade agreement among members would take time, particularly as some member countries belong to Asean while some others have an FTA under the South Asian Free Trade Agreement, the first secretary has high hopes on what the summit would deliver.

“The Summit will add momentum to regional cooperation and connectivity, and also provide an opportunity for bilateral meetings with other leaders,” she said.