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Aid to NE India Signals Stronger Burma Economic Ties
July 13, 2007: (Irrawaddy) A decision by the Asian Development Bank to provide development aid to Imphal, the capital of India’s northeast state of Manipur, could indirectly benefit neighboring Burma, analysts say.
Weekly Business Roundup (July 13, 2007) By: IRRAWADDY
The ADB has designated Imphal one of four cities to receive improvement loans and grants in India’s underdeveloped and isolated northeast—a region which is supposedly spearheading India’s Look East policy of improved economic ties with Burma and Southeast Asia.
Imphal is the main urban growth link in the stop-start-stop business corridor between India and Burma via the only land border crossing between the two countries, at Moreh-Tamu.
Recent ethnic violence in Moreh has hindered most bilateral trade for weeks.
India’s central government in New Delhi is expected to match ADB aid to help improve Imphal.
“Some of this money will also be used to improve the road and transport connections to Moreh, which is key to furthering the trade relations sought by Delhi,” said an official at the Indian embassy in Bangkok, speaking on condition of anonymity.
New Delhi’s interest in improved trade with Burma and beyond was underlined this week by TP Sreenivasan, a former Indian ambassador to the UN.
India’s Look East policy has far reaching positive and negative implications for the region, he told Imphal’s Sangai Express newspaper. Opening up the border will bring economic and employment benefits, and will also help to meet India’s energy requirements, but it might also mean more AIDS/HIV cases and drugs entering the country, he said.