NEW DELHI: India and Myanmar signed two agreements on training and judges and judicial officers in India and on cooperation in science and technology on Tuesday in the presence of visiting Indian President Ram Nath Kovind, while Myanmar declared that Indian tourists could now get visas on arrival.
President Kovind, accompanied by the first lady and senior Indian officials including three parliamentarians from India’s northeast, arrived in Nay Pyi Taw late on Monday evening. This is the first presidential visit since APJ Abdul Kalam’s trip in 2006. As the only ASEAN nation with which India shares a land border, Myanmar is critical for India’s Act East policy.
India has also launched several community development projects in Myanmar, including hospitals, vocational centers housing projects for people displaced by the violence in Rakhine state, home to the Rohingyas. President Kovind handed over 50 of them to government on Tuesday.
The two nations also have a number of infrastructure projects underway, including the Trilateral Highway which aims to connect India to Thailand through Myanmar and the Kaladan Multimodal Project, which will connect the port of Sittwe with northeastern India via the Kaladan River.
While the Sittwe port project is complete, the rest of the road connections into Mizoram are held up due to various reasons.