Nay Pyi Taw, Sep. 6 (PTI): India and Myanmar today signed 11 agreements in a range of sectors, including one on maritime security cooperation, to further strengthen their multifaceted partnership.
The MoUs were signed after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held wide-ranging talks with Myanmar’s State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi.
India and Myanmar signed an MoU to strengthen maritime security cooperation.
The two sides also signed an agreement for sharing white shipping information to improve data sharing on non-classified merchant navy ships or cargo ships.
The 11 MoUs also include one between the Election Commission and Union Election of Myanmar, the national level electoral commission of Myanmar. An MoU was also signed to organise cultural exchange programme for the period 2017-2020, according to a statement issued by Ministry of External Affairs.
The two countries also signed agreements on cooperation between Myanmar Press Council and Press Council of India, extension of agreement on the establishment of India-Myanmar Centre for Enhancement of IT skill.
They also signed agreements to cooperate in ‘Medical Products Regulation’ and in the field of health and medicine.
They also signed an MoU on enhancing the cooperation on upgradation of the women’s police training centre at Yamethin in Myanmar. Modi arrived here on the second leg of his two-nation trip during which he travelled to southeastern Chinese city Xiamen where he attended the annual BRICS summit and held talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and other world leaders.
This is Modi’s first bilateral visit to Myanmar. He had visited the country in 2014 to attend the ASEAN-India Summit.
Myanmar is one of India’s strategic neighbours and shares a 1,640-km-long border with a number of northeastern states including militancy-hit Nagaland and Manipur.
India to grant gratis visa to Myanmarese citizens: PM
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today announced that India will grant gratis visa to Myanmarese citizens wanting to visit the country.
Modi made the announcement during his joint press statement with State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi after the two leaders held wide-ranging talks here.
“I am pleased to announce that we have decided to grant gratis (no-cost) visa to all the citizens of Myanmar who want to visit India,” Modi said.
He also announced that India has decided to release 40 Myanmarese citizens, currently lodged in various jails in India.
Modi also asserted that India stands by Myanmar amid the challenges the country is facing.
Earlier, during the delegation-level talks, Modi said, “We would like to contribute to Myanmar’s development efforts as part of our ‘Sabka saath sabka vikaas’ initiative.”
He said deepening the relationship with Myanmar was a priority for India, as a neighbour and also in the context of the ‘Act East Policy’.
