By IANS
New Delhi : Despite continuing boycott by most Western nations, India maintains its intensive engagement with the military junta in Myanmar, with the Myanmarese Foreign Minister U Nyan Win coming to India on a five-day visit from Monday.
The official part of the visit starts on Wednesday, with U Nyan Win scheduled to call on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at his residence, followed by a meeting with his Indian counterpart Pranab Mukherjee at Hyderabad House.
This will be the second meeting between the foreign ministers within three months. They met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York on Oct 1.
After a lunch hosted by the external affairs minister, U Nyan Win will also call on Vice President Mohammad Hamid Ansari.
Myanmar’s deputy foreign minister Kyaw Thu had been in India for a two-day visit earlier in December and held discussions with Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon. He had signed a deal for setting up a centre for enhancing information technology skills in Myanmar.
In November, Manmohan Singh and Myanmar’s Prime Minister Lieutenant General Thein Sein met for the first time in Singapore on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit.
In all the previous meetings, India had reiterated that the reform process should be “broad based” and the military junta should not only release all the imprisoned opposition leaders, like Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, but also hold peace talks with them.
India has vital geo-strategic interests in Myanmar, especially in countering insurgent groups, like the United Liberation Front of Assam, who set up bases across the border.
Further, India has been interested in getting a piece of Myanmar’s gas assets, a process which suffered a setback when the military regime suddenly decided to sell gas from some its best fields to China earlier this year.
Besides, India has been keen on making Myanmar its “gateway to Southeast Asia”, by developing the Kaladan multi-modal corridor project, which will link India’s northeastern states to international trade routes and include upgrading of Sittwe port in Myanmar.
All the above issues are expected to be part of the agenda for talks during the foreign minister’s visit.
In August, severe fuel shortage had sparked off pro-democracy street protests in Myanmar’s largest city Yangon, led by Buddhist monks. It culminated in a violent crackdown by the government on Sep 26 and 27, which left several dead and hundreds injured after the military moved in to stop the protests.
The crackdown was followed by sharp rebukes not just from the Western countries, but also from its Southeast Asian neighbours.
India kept open its assistance and economic channels with Myanmar despite calls for sanctions against the Myanmar regime from Western nations, chiefly United States and Britain.
It also had voted against a resolution in the UN Human Rights Council criticising Myanmar on Oct 2.
India has been apprehensive of China’s extensive interests in Myanmar.
India is also part of the informal 14-nation “Group of Friends of the Secretary-General on Myanmar”, which on Dec 21 had its first meeting in New York to discuss ways to evolve a common approach.
Recently, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon had stated that the international community’s patience with Myanmar was “wearing thin” due to the slow pace of democratisation.