Connected through land, sea and history! Myanmarese President lands in India for 3-day state visit

New Delhi, February 27: PM Narendra Modi and President Ram Nath Kovind on Thursday greeted Myanmarese President U Win Myint and Daw Cho Cho, who are on a three day state visit to India. This is after Myinta and the First Lady accepted the ceremonial welcome at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi. The Myanmarese President will be India till February 29 and the two countries are slated to sign mutual agreements at Delhi's Hyderabad House. However, Myint's visit here comes a day after US President Donald Trump's official maiden visit to India.

 

 

This second presidential visit to India within a year is part of Naypyidaw’s strategic ballet with New Delhi to maintain its strategic autonomy in the Indian Ocean power rivalry. While Beijing is speeding up the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor (CMEC) and upgrading the bilateral relationship as part of the community of common destiny", New Delhi has its own say beyond economic ties with Myanmar.

Myanmar is geopolitically significant to India as it stands at the center of the India-Southeast Asia geography. Myanmar is the only Southeast Asian country that shares a land border with northeastern India, stretching some 1,624 kilometers. The neighbors also share a 725-km maritime boundary in the Bay of Bengal. It is therefore in India’s geostrategic interest to see Myanmar prevail as a stable and autonomous country, thereby making possible greater bilateral engagement in India-Myanmar relations.

 

Being the only country that sits at the intersection of India’s 'Neighborhood First' policy and its 'Act East' policy, Myanmar is an essential element in India’s practice of regional diplomacy in the Indo-Pacific, and serves as a land bridge to connect South Asia and Southeast Asia.  Also, Myanmar is the only Southeast Asian country that has a separate bureaucratic division (shared with Bangladesh) in India’s External Affairs Ministry, testifying to the continued importance of Myanmar to India’s foreign policy under Modi’s government.