India’s Bilateral Relations with Myanmar

India shares a geo-strategic interest in this region due to the proximity it shares with the South East Asian Nations. Four north-eastern states of India viz. Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram share boundary with Myanmar. From ancient times we had close contact with Myanmar in terms of religious, ethnic, linguistic ties.

Recent Developments

Several institutional mechanisms ensure regular consultations between the two governments. The Joint Consultative Commission (JCC) is co-chaired by EAM and the Myanmar Foreign Minister. Foreign Office Consultations are led at the level of Foreign Secretary/Permanent Secretary.

  • The 17th Foreign Office Consultations were held on June 7, 2018 in New Delhi. The National Level Meeting (NLM) at Home Secretary/ Dy. Home Minister-level is the main forum to discuss security cooperation, consular issues, drug trafficking matters and liaison between agencies.
  • The 22nd meeting of this forum was held on October 25-26, 2018 in New Delhi. The NLM is supplemented by a Joint Secretary-level Sectoral Level Meeting (SLM), also led by MHA.
  • The 23rd SLM was held in January 2018. The main forum for the representatives of the armed forces to discuss counter insurgency and border security issues is the Regional Border Committee Meeting (RBCs).
  • The 13th RBC was held in Imphal on November 1-3, 2018. Boundary matters are discussed by Joint Boundary Working Group led by Joint Secretary (BM), MEA.
  • The 3rd JBWG meeting was held on August 26-27, 2018 in Yangon. Commercial issues are discussed in the Joint Trade Committee (JTC) held at Commerce Minister Level. The last JTC was held on June 27, 2017 in New Delhi. Joint Working Groups are in existence to discuss cooperation on Border Trade and Border Haats, Railways and Shipping. JWGs have also recently been set up to discuss cooperation in energy and health sectors.

The Rohingya Crisis

  • The Rohingya refugee crisis refers to the mass migration of Rohingyas (Rohingya Muslim people) nearly 700,000 since August, 2017 from Myanmar (Burma) to Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia.

  • The United Nations described the military offensive in Rakhine, which provoked the exodus, as a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing”.The conflict involving Buddhists and Muslims in the Rakhine province has been simmering for a few years.
  • The last exodus began in August, 2017, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA, now designated as ‘terrorists’) launched a major attack on police posts, in Rakhine state, resulting in significant casualties.
  • India and Myanmar in December 2017 signed an agreement for socio-economic development of Myanmar’s violence hit Rakhine state.
  • It was signed by the ministry of social welfare, relief and resettlement of Myanmar with a cooperation partner focused on socio-economic development and livelihood initiatives in Rakhine State.
  • Recently, on 04th October, 2018 India has deported 7 Rohingya Muslims to Myanmar who were detained since 2012 for immigration violations.

India’s Bilateral Relations with Myanmar

India shares around 1600 Kms. border with Myanmar as well as a Maritime boundary in the Bay of Bengal. Further, Myanmar is the only ASEAN country adjoining India and, therefore, our gateway to South East Asia with which we are seeking greater economic integration through India’s ‘Look East’ and now ‘Act East’ Policy. Business opportunities that emerge from a surging economy in Myanmar also provide new vistas for engagement.

Commercial Cooperation

A bilateral Trade Agreement was signed in 1970. Bilateral trade has been growing steadily and reached US $2.18 billion (2016-17) but declined to $1.6 billion in 2017-18, mainly due to imposition of quantitative restrictions by India on import of beans and pulses.

  • India is the fifth largest trading partner of Myanmar - its fifth largest destination for exports and sixth largest source of imports.
  • Agriculture sector dominates the trade, particularly supply of beans & pulses to India ($809 million in 2016-17) and timber ($156 million).
  • India's exports to Myanmar include sugar ($424 million in 2016-17 & $67 million in 2017-18), pharmaceuticals ($178 million in 2017- 18), etc. The trade basket is narrow and subject to wide fluctuations.
  • India is presently the eleventh largest investor in Myanmar with an approved investment of US $743.642 million by 26 Indian enterprises. Most of India's investments have been in the oil & gas sector.
  • Both sides have also taken steps to bolster trade across the land border. Cooperation in the banking sector, which is crucial for investment and trade, is moving ahead steadily. United Bank of India and EXIM Bank have representative offices in Yangon. In March 2016, State Bank of India was awarded a Commercial Banking License and it commenced operations from October 3, 2016. SBI is one of the 13 foreign banks operating in Myanmar.
  • Myanmar is potentially an important partner in the energy sector as future offshore gas finds can be piped to India. The Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, had visited Myanmar from Feb 20-24, 2017 and both sides discussed opportunities for cooperation in varied areas. A return bilateral visit by the Myanmar Minister for Electricity and Energy took place in December 2017. Cooperation in this sector has been institutionalized by the establishment of JWG on Oil and Gas and JSC & JWG on Power cooperation.

Bilateral Cooperation in Regional/ Sub-regional Context

Myanmar's membership of ASEAN, BIMSTEC and Mekong Ganga Cooperation has introduced a regional/sub-regional dimension to bilateral relations and imparted added significance in the context of our "Act East" policy. Myanmar has generally been supportive of India's stand in various international organizations. For our part, we have supported Myanmar's association with SAARC as an observer, a status Myanmar formally acquired in 2008.

Disaster Relief

  • India has responded promptly and effectively to assist Myanmar in humanitarian relief operations following natural calamities like Cyclone Mora (2017), Komen (2015), Cyclone Nargis in 2008, and earthquake in Shan State in 2010.
  • India provided immediate relief material through INS Gharial: clothing, tents, rehabilitation supplies medical assistance, among others.
  • During Cyclone Komen, biomass gasifiers, solar torches & lanterns, replaced 16 damaged transformers and a grant of USD 200,000 to repair the Shwedagon Pagoda complex in Yangon were provided.
  • India gave assistance of USD 1 million for relief, reconstruction work in the quake affected Shan State, of which 250,000 was cash grant and the remainder for reconstruction of 1 high school and 6 primary schools.

Development Cooperation: Sittwe Port

  • India after Chabahar Port in Iran is all set to take over operations of Myanmar’s Sittwe Port that will enable to counter-balance China’s BRI in the Indo-pacific region.
  • The construction of Sittwe Port is a part of the Kaladan multi-modal transit transport project and its objective is to create a multi-modal sea, river and road transport corridor for shipment of cargo from the eastern ports of India to Myanmar through Sittwe port as well as to north-eastern part of India via Myanmar.
  • The approved construction cost of Sittwe Port and Inland Water Terminals at Sittwe and Paletwa is Rs. 517.29 crore.
  • India and Myanmar signed a bilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on 22nd October, 2018 for operationalization of the Sittwe and Inland Water Transport (IWT) Terminals at Sittwe and Paletwa.
  • Once fully operational, the project would encourage investment and trade and also open up alternate routes for connectivity to India’s North-East Region.

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