IMPHAL, August 17: Road connectivity from Imphal to Moreh will be developed within the next 4/5 years as the route is important with regard to India’s Look East Policy and furtherance of bilateral ties with the Myanmar government, according to Indian Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai.
The seniormost Indian diplomat was speaking to mediapersons at the sidelines of an international conference held today at Manipur University.
The Jadavpur Association of International Relations in collaboration with Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies, India Council of Social Sciences organized an international conference entitled “Revisiting Relations with Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Maldives”, the conference was hosted by the School of Social Sciences, Manipur University today.
Ranjan Mathai mentioned that his earlier visit to Manipur was in 1975, his second visit to the state saw paramount development occurring in the state. He said that the objective of the conference is to strengthen the multilateral ties with India and its neighboring states and to focus on mutual development.
Emphasizing on the need to foster connectivity among the neighboring countries to escalate trade ventures, he observed that a dynamic relation has to be established instead of being in a static state of affairs. He elaborated on the present international relations with India’s neighboring countries.
His Myanmarese counterpart, Daw Yin Yin Myint from the Ministry of External Affairs also touched on certain issues that needs to be addressed to augment better relations with India. She stated that Myanmar has historical ties with India and international relations have improved since the head of State of both countries conducted mutual visits recently. Emphasizing on the Look East India policy, she maintained that boundaries have to be properly demarcated and there has to be a secure environment in the border area.
Further, there should be management of cross border traffic to ensure improved trade among the countries. “Myanmar is second globally in export of beans and pulses, I feel that effective trade will better ensure a holistic food security policy to the Indian nation”, she said.
In the special session of the conference, Mahbub Hassan Saleh , Bangladesh diplomat, exclaimed that there will be no enemies of India on Bangladeshi soil and the ruling President Sheikh Hasina has made sure of that. “ There is no place for any enemy of India, it has been demonstrated through concrete actions, I feel that there is no need to elaborate further”, he said.
It may be mentioned that UNLF Chairman , Rk Meghen was arrested from Bangladesh last year by Indian security forces as claimed by the arrested, whereas Indian officials claim that the underground supremo was seized from the State of Bihar. It may be stated that there is no extradition treaty within the said nations.
He further mentioned that Bangladesh aims at harnessing the water resources to produce electricity. Questioned in the regard with relevance to Tipaimukh Dam, he said that a joint monitoring group of India and Bangladesh which are the primary stakeholders has to be initiated to craft a way forward.
Manipur Education minister M Oken said India today has become the vortex of global shifts in the geo-politics, international trade and international diplomacy. “This is because of the rising importance of South East Asia, China and South Asia, in global economic scenario of the future and because of this factor, today India is perusing the so called Look East Policy.