29.5.12

A bridge to ASEAN nations for India

India and Myanmar have set 2016 as the deadline for a trilateral road connectivity plan. This will make it possible to drive down right up to Thailand. India had earlier helped Myanmar build Tamu-Kalewa Friendship Road and now the plan is to link it with a place called Yargyi which will effectively link Moreh in India to Mae Sot in Thailand. “The two leaders decided that India would undertake upgradation of the Kalewa-Yargyi road segment to highway standard, while Myanmar would undertake upgradation of the Yargyi-Monywa stretch to highway standard by 2016,” Mathai said, adding that the two leaders welcomed the revival of the Joint Task Force on the trilateral highway. Indian officials believe that this highway will truly become the bridge between India and Asean countries and place it at the heart of India’s Look East policy. Myanmar is the only Asean country with which India shares land boundary. 
The two leaders decided to constitute a joint working group to determine the technical and commercial feasibility of crossborder rail links and the commercial feasibility of direct shipping links between the two countries.  The two sides also discussed the possibility of Indian participation in development of key infrastructure projects such as the Dawei port in Myanmar. 

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