India, Myanmar and Thailand

Mizzima News: 7 April, 2002

GUWAHATI: Three important South Asian countries namely India, Myanmar and Thailand are to be connected by road transport facilities. With an eye in boosting trade, tourism and friendly relationship, the "Highway of Opportunity" will be completed within one and half year. The ambitious plan came to discussion, where the foreign ministers of these countries met in Yangon (the capital city of Myanmar) on April 6.

The highway, linking Moreh (in Manipur of India) with Mae Sot in Thailand via Bagan (the ancient capital of Burma, now known as Myanmar), is supposed to be the initial step for a regional network in this part of the world. Attended by Indian foreign minister Jaswant Singh and his two counterparts Surakirat Sathiratahi and Win Aung respectively from Thailand and Myanmar, the meeting had adopted the resolution that trade and development could not proceed without the transport network and hence it was urgent need for such a highway.

The new found facility would not only help transporting the goods but also ideas and goodwill among the habitants of the entire region, learnt to be commented by Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt, first secretary in the ruling State Peace and Development Council of Myanmar. “Myanmar lies at the crossroads of South and Southeast Asia and honored to play a role in linking India and Thailand as well as the two regions as a whole”, he said in his opening address of the “India-Myanmar-Thailand Ministerial Meeting on Transport Linkages” yesterday in Yangon.

The proposed route is likely to connect the "land-locked" North Eastern part of India to different South East Asian countries conveniently. Moreh, the beginning point of the proposed highway, is connected with Guwahati, the capital of Assam, by Indian National Highway. The road transport facility may also open up many avenues for the region, which is isolated geographically from the mainland of India. The alienation and kind of exploitation by the Indian Union Government in the region have made the people of the region frustrated and secessionist in nature.

The proposed highway, by and large, hence can carry the message of a new dawn for the habitants of this insurgent-stricken region, bordering many countries including Bangladesh, Myanmar and Tibet (China).