By IANS
New Delhi : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will meet Myanmar Foreign Minister U Nyan Win Wednesday during which he is likely to call upon the military regime to expedite the democratisation process in that country as well as strengthen bilateral economic ties.
Meanwhile, India has not officially reacted to the report in Washington Post Dec 30, which said that India had stopped export of defence hardware to Myanmar.
It was based on a speech of the US first lady Laura Bush Dec 10, in which she said, “India, one of Burma’s closest trading partners, has stopped selling arms to the junta.”
When contacted, senior Ministry of External Affairs officials noted that they do not comment on every media report.
The Myanmarese foreign minister had arrived Monday evening, but his first official appointments take place Wednesday. He will call upon the prime minister at 10.30 a.m. at the official residence and then hold extensive discussions with External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee
After a lunch hosted by Mukherjee, U Nyan Win will also call on Vice President Mohammad Hamid Ansari.
India has been asking Myanmar to hold talks not only with the imprisoned opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, but also other ethnic sections of the country. Further, it has also asked for increasing the pace of the political reform process.
But, despite pressure from Western countries, India has refused to impose economic sanctions against Myanmar as a punishment for the violent government crackdown on pro-democracy street protests in September 2007.