Jaswant's Myanmar visit may help NE

NEW DELHI, February 10: The growing warmth in the ties between India and Myanmar is likely to see opening of the barriers for cross-border movement of people through Northeast to the neighbouring country. When the Foreign Minister of India, Jaswant Singh, will cross the international border at Moreh in Manipur on Tuesday morning he may well mark the beginning of the opening up of the border with Myanmar for movement of people. The External Affairs Minister heading a delegation of Indian Government will be in Myanmar on a three-day official visit to the country, first since late Rajiv Gandhi's high level visit in 1987. Sources in the Ministry of External Affairs told newsmen here today that the issue of opening up of the border route through Moreh sector in Manipur to begin with, is high on the agenda of Singh's visit to the country. The Indian Government expects tourists to use the land route to visit Myanmar, which incidentally also has a high concentration of Indian population. As of now the movement of people across the international border to Myanmar is banned as the border is only open for trade. In this sphere also the volume of trade between the Northeastern States and Myanmar has registered a downward slide, with the Governments of the two countries stepping in give a boost by initiating several drastic measures. The major factor the Government of India is counting on is opening of the border road between Tamu and Kalewa and Kalay. The 1600 km long road built at a cost of Rs 100 crore has been constructed by the Border Roads Organisation. The External Affairs Minister would attend the inauguration of the road, accompanied by top officials of Central Government organisations including the Army, representatives of the States of Assam, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram. The road which will go a long way in establishing cross border linkages is also likely to be part of the bigger Trans Asian Highway as and when its alignment is finalised, sources said. But more than anything else the commissioning of the road will see revival of the border trade between the Northeastern States and Myanmar, the official said. While India is hoping for a more favourable response from the Myanmar side to promote trade with the Northeastern States, the Government there is looking for investment in a hydro-electric power project being set up in the area. The border trade nose dived after the Myanmar Government put severe restrictions on trade across the Moreh border owing to serious dollar crisis in the country in 1997. The Myanmar Government has since changed their tone and banking facilities are now being set up in the border town. Also in the pipeline is the opening up of border trade route in Mizoram sector, the official said. During the External Affairs Minister's visit a host of issue touching on various sectors like promotion of trade and commerce, agriculture, remote sensing, development of science and technology is expected to come up. Jaswant Singh is inaugurating a Remote Sensing and Data Processing Centre at Yangon, being set up by the Indian Space Research Organisation. The issues relating to cooperation in checking drug trafficking, cross border insurgency is also likely to figure when the External Affairs Minister meet the chairman of the State Peace and Development Council, Senior General Than Shwe on Thursday. It may be mentioned here that Myanmar at the request of the Government of India, has mounted several crackdown on Northeast based militant outfits holed up in the country. A recent such crackdown on NSCN (K) faction saw the Naga rebels fleeing to Arunachal Pradesh. The crackdown also halted the ULFA leadership from shifting their bases from Bhutan to the country.