India and Myanmar sign agreements on infrastructure development
Naypyitaw (Myanmar), Dec 15 (ANI)
Indian Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid and his Myanmarese counterpart Wunna Maung Lwin held bilateral level talks and signed agreements on infrastructure development in Naypyitaw, the capital of Myanmar.
According to media reports, the two sides on Friday discussed cooperation in energy, construction, electric power, development of border areas, education and health sectors, construction of India-Myanmar-Thai highway, enhancing bilateral friendship and promoting the investment between the two countries.
Khurshid, who is on a three-day visit, also met Myanmar President Thein Sein and is likely to meet Myanmar's pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi during the visit.
Suu Kyi had visited India last month, during which she met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other leaders.
With Thein Sein likely to attend the December 20 ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit in New Delhi, Khurshid's visit is a precursor to those discussions.
Khurshid has also announced USD 1 million assistance towards relief in Myanmar's Rakhine state, which was rocked by widespread ethnic clashes leaving thousands displaced.
Up to 800,000 Rohingyas live in abject conditions along Myanmar's border with Bangladesh.
Neither country recognizes them as citizens and the Bangladeshi authorities turned away boatloads of Rohingyas fleeing the violence in June.
India is also involved in developing the USD 120-million Sittwe deep water port, which will be functional by June 2013. The port would allow cargo vessels from India's northeastern Mizoram state to Myanmar and Southeast Asia.
The minister will travel to Yangon where he is to inaugurate the International Buddhist Conference on Sunday (December 16), where the Sarnath Buddha statue sent by India is to be formally inaugurated at the Shwedagon Pagoda.