India, Myanmar achieve concrete outcomes in energy, security, connectivity and health sectors

India has handed over 3000 vials of Remdesivir to Myanmar to fight Covid-19 during the Oct 4-5 visit of Army Chief General MM Naravane and Foreign Secretary (FS) Harsh Vardhan Shringla to the neighbouring country that also witnessed concrete outcomes in wide-ranging sectors including security, energy, connectivity and capacity building.
In the last few years, both countries explored new avenues of cooperation including fresh investments in oil and gas and power, infrastructure and pharmaceuticals.

A Project Agreement for the upgrading of Agricultural Mechanization Sub-Station
Under the MoU on Rakhine State Development Programme signed in December 2017, a Project Agreement for the upgrading of Agricultural Mechanization Sub-Station to promote custom hiring services in Rakhine State was signed during the visit, ET has learnt.

The objective of the Agreement is to address the challenges faced in agricultural productivity by using farm machinery and equipment more effectively and efficiently. This, in turn, is expected to improve the socio-economic status of the people in Rakhine State.

“India as a close friend, partner, and neighbor of both Bangladesh and Myanmar has a deep and abiding interest to see an early stabilization of the situation in the Rakhine State. India supports safe, sustainable, and speedy repatriation of displaced persons from Bangladesh to Rakhine State based on the understanding between Bangladesh and Myanmar,” a source said, adding, “India fully understands the urgency of this situation and has committed humanitarian efforts in both Myanmar and Bangladesh to facilitate an early return of the displaced persons. India has provided 5 tranches of relief supplies to Bangladesh and is willing to do more.”

India is extending socio-economic development assistance for projects pertaining to health, education, agriculture, and allied activities to Rakhine State through a grant-in-aid of $ 5 million per annum. The first phase of the program involved the construction of 250 modern pre-fabricated houses. India also supplied 20,000 humanitarian kits of rice, noodles, etc to Internally Displaced People in the Rakhine State. For the second phase, 12 projects including building an incinerator, solar projects, agricultural mechanization, and road construction in Rakhine State are currently being implemented.

India is also providing library material to schools in Rakhine state under trilateral cooperation with Japan. For the third phase, India has suggested the establishment of a skills training centre in Rakhine. All these efforts are aimed at ensuring an early return of displaced persons to Rakhine State.

During the visit both sides agreed to further strengthen their partnership in connectivity projects, capacity building, power and energy, deepen economic and trade ties, further facilitate people to people and cultural exchanges, and broad-base their defense exchanges across all the three services.

As part of capacity building efforts, the Centre of Excellence in Software Development & Training (CESDT), Myitkyina (Myanmar) was virtually inaugurated by Foreign Secretary during the visit.

The agreement to set up this centre was signed between both sides in August 2015. Through this project, under the ASEAN-India Cooperation Fund, India set up sustainable IT infrastructure for advanced IT training using conventional, virtual classroom and e-learning technologies, assisting the spread of IT education in Myanmar. It will set up sustainable IT infrastructure for advanced IT training using conventional & virtual classrooms, assisting the spread of IT education in Myanmar.

As part of efforts to assist Myanmar fight Covid-19, the Army chief and Shringla presented 3000 vials of Remdesivir to the State Counsellor, symbolic of India’s commitment to assist Myanmar in its fight against the pandemic. Shringla indicated India’s willingness to prioritize Myanmar in sharing vaccines as and when these become available, sources said.

India is an importer of pulses from Myanmar staple diet for many here. A quota of 1.5 lakh tonnes of Urad (Vigna mungo) for import from Myanmar till 31 March 2021 was also announced during the visit.

In the context of connectivity India announced a grant of $ 2 million for the construction of the border haat bridge at Byanyu/Sarsichauk in Chin State that will provide increased economic connectivity between Mizoram and Myanmar.

In the context of energy security, India proposed to construct a petroleum refinery in Thanlyn region near Yangon. This project would be a win-win arrangement for both countries. It would involve an investment of about $ 6 billion. As of now IOCL has evinced interest in the project.

The security and defence cooperation between the two countries is quite robust. Both countries are committed not to allow the use of their territories against the security interests of the other. In this context the handing over of 22 cadres of India insurgent groups by Myanmar was appreciated during the visit.

The Army Chief and the Foreign Secretary called on State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and the Commander in Chief of Defense Services Senior General Min Aung Hlaing. The Army Chief also met Vice Senior General Soe Win, Deputy Commander-in-Chief, Myanmar Armed Services. FS met U Soe Han, Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Myanmar. Earlier, both sides had held extensive discussions in the areas of bilateral cooperation through virtual Foreign Office Consultations on October 1.

Both sides also discussed progress in the ongoing Indian-assisted infrastructure projects such as the Trilateral Highway and the Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project. They exchanged views on an early initiation of work on fresh initiatives such as the upgradation of Yamethin Women's Police Academy, Basic Technical Training School and measures to provide long term sustainability to projects such as the Myanmar Institute of Information Technology. They agreed to work towards operationalization of Sittwe Port in the Rakhine State in the first quarter of 2021.

The Myanmar side expressed appreciation for Indian assistance in the preservation of cultural heritage, including the repair and conservation of Bagan pagodas that had been damaged in the 2016 earthquake. The two sides discussed plans to install a bust of Lokmanya Tilak in Mandalay to commemorate his 100th death anniversary as it was during his incarceration in Mandalay jail that Lokmanya Tilak wrote Gita Rahasya, an exposition of the Bhagvadgita. Other areas of cooperation in culture discussed included translation of Indian epics into the Burmese language.

Shringla assured India’s continued support in sharing experiences in constitutionalism and federalism to assist Myanmar in its democratic transition.

Both sides have been in discussion to establish a High Capacity High Voltage Grid Interconnection between the Indian power grid and the Myanmar grid. Discussions on the low voltage radial interconnections between North-Eastern states and Myanmar have also progressed. The cooperation in the maritime domain and disaster management has been enhanced. Both countries have also continued to cooperate in various regional and multilateral fora. Initiatives like the successful implementation of the Land Border Crossing Agreement and ongoing discussions at the India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Motor Vehicles Agreement, have been moving forward, according to a MEA statement.