AMN/ WEB DESK
Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla called on the Chairperson of the State Administrative Council (SAC) Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, other senior representatives and held meetings with members of civil society and political parties including the National League for Democracy (NLD) on his second and concluding day of working visit to Myanmar. Foreign Secretary also exchanged views with select ambassadors in Myanmar on issues of mutual interest.
During his meetings, Foreign Secretary emphasised India’s interest in seeing Myanmar’s return to democracy at the earliest, release of detainees and prisoners, resolution of issues through dialogue and complete cessation of all violence, said an official press release of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Thursday. Expressing its support to the ASEAN initiative, India hoped that progress would be made based on the five point consensus.
Foreign Secretary Shringla expressed India’s continued support to the people centric developmental projects along the India- Myanmar border areas as well as India’s commitment for expeditious implementation of ongoing connectivity initiatives like the Kaladan Multimodal Transit Transport project and the Trilateral Highway.
Raising matters related to India’s security, especially in the light of the recent incident in Churachandpur district in southern Manipur, Foreign Secretary stressed the need to maintain peace and stability in the border areas. Both sides reiterated their commitment not to allow their respective territories to be used for any activities inimical to the other.
The MEA statement said that India has been involved in the democratic transition process in Myanmar. It proposed to renew these efforts for Myanmar to emerge as a stable, democratic, federal union in accordance with the wishes of the people of Myanmar.
Foreign Secretary Shringla handed over 1 million doses of the ‘made in India’ vaccines to the Myanmar Red Cross society. A grant of 10,00 tonnes of rice and wheat to Myanmar was also announced during the visit.