India-Myanmar Agreements

During the visit of the head of the state of the union of Myanmar General Than Shawe to India from 25 July 2010 to 29 July2010, India and Myanmar signed the following agreements;

1. Treaty on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters
2. MOU regarding Indian Grant Assistance for Implementation of Small Developmental projects. 
3. MoU on Information Cooperation
4. Agreement on Cooperation in the fields of Science & Technology
5. MoU on Conservation and Restoration of Ananda Temple in Bagan, Myanmar

Besides the above agreements, India agreed to assist Myanmar in its infrastructure development through aiding the latter financially as well as technologically to road development, connecting inland waterways, Railway agriculture, trade, telecom and energy sectors. India also reiterated its commitment to provide relief to Myanmar during any disaster. The Highlights of these agreements are as following;

• India-Myanmar decided that the road between Paletwa and Myeikwa on the India border would be executed by the Myanmar Ministry of Construction with M/s IRCON. 
• India-Myanmar expressed satisfaction at the construction, maintenance and repair work by Indian Border Roads Organization of the Tamu-Kalaywa-Kalemyo Road connecting Moreh in Manipur to Myanmar and the handing over of most of the segments of the TKK Road to the Government of Myanmar. 
• To enhance road connectivity, especially through the State of Mizoram, India-Myanmar announced the construction and revamping of the Rhi-Tiddim road at a cost of more than US$ 60 million to be financed through grant assistance from India .
• India and Myanmar reiterated their commitment to undertake the tri-lateral connectivity from Moreh in India to Moe Sot in Thailand via Myanmar. 
• India announced a grant of US$ 10 million to Myanmar for procurement of agricultural machinery from India. The leaders expressed the hope that this machinery will help enhance productivity in Myanmar’s agricultural sector, which is the mainstay of its economy. The Myanmar side also requested for technical assistance in manufacturing of agricultural machinery. 
• India also announced a project to set up rice silos to facilitate disaster relief operations particularly in the cyclone prone delta areas, with grant in aid from India. 
• India-Myanmar acknowledged power sector as an area of growing cooperation. In this context, India and Myanmar agreed to cooperate in the implementation of the Tamanthi and Shwezaye projects on the Chindwin River Basin in Myanmar.
• India-Myanmar had signed the MoU on Cooperation in Hydro-power Development projects in the Chindwin River Basin in September 2008.
• In the field of telecom, following the successful functioning of the official Fibre link between India and Myanmar via Moreh, India and Myanmar agreed to upgrade the microwave link between Moreh to Mandalay under a line of credit of US$ 6 million from India. Further, a new Optical Fibre Link between Monywa to Rhi-Zawkhathar was decided to be undertaken with Indian assistance.
• India promised Myanmar its continued assistance through renewal of the agreement to provide IRS-P5 and Cartosat Data through Antrix.
• The Indian side extended a line of credit of US$ 60 million to Myanmar for procuring railway equipment.
• India-Myanmar bilateral trade is more than 1 billion US dollars per annum at present.
• Besides, the existing border trading points at Moreh - Tamu (Manipur) and Zawkhathar-Rhi (Mizoram) India and Myanmar agreed to open the additional point at Avankhug-Somra (Nagaland).
• In Return, Myanmar welcomed the interest of Indian petroleum companies ONGC and GAIL in the mining sector for the development in the upstream and downstream projects of Myanmar offshore blocks A-1 and A-3 including the natural gas pipeline under construction at Ramree in Myanmar.
• India agreed to explore possibilities for cooperation in the field of solar energy and wind energy in Myanmar. 
• Myanmar reiterated its support for India’s bid for the permanent membership of the United Nations Security Council. He also conveyed its support to

India’s candidature for a non-permanent seat in the UNSC for the term 2011-2012.

Moreover, India is also involved in following HRD activities In Myanmar;

• the Myanmar-India Centre for English language Training;
• the Myanmar-India Entrepreneurship Development Centre;
• the India-Myanmar Centre for Enhancement of IT S kills; and
• the Industrial Training Centre in Pakokku

In Box

• Myanmar currently is the chair country of the BIMSTEC , a responsibility that it assumed in 2009.Myanmar participated at the 16th SAARC Summit as an Observer for the first time.
• Genral Than Shawe’s visit is a part of a series of high-level contacts that India and Myanmar have had over the past few years. These include visits by Vice Senior General Maung Aye, Vice-Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council of the Union of Myanmar, in April 2008 and Shri M. Hamid Ansari, Vice President of India, in February 2009. 
• India shares a boundary of 1640km with Myanmar and its four north eastern states namely Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh borders Myanmar.

Myanmar is important for India both politically and strategically. Myanmar acts as a bridge between India and ASEAN. In anti- insurgency operation against ULFA or BODO militants India needs active cooperation from Myanmar. A hostile or even neutral Myanmar can provide China an upper hand over India in South Asian region.