India’s Northeast Region as a Gateway to Southeast Asia
The Govt. of India is articulating plans to transform its northeast region into a gateway to South-East Asia.
The India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway will play a key role in this and help improve connectivity between India and Thailand and others in the neighbourhood.
India also has plans for a Global Electricity Grid that may initially aim to link countries such as Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam with the Indian sub-continent, as part of evolving energy security architecture.
Moreh-Tamu Land Route Opened
Sixteen years after India, Myanmar, Thailand agreed to build a 1,300-km highway, to bind the three countries together, and bring India closer to ASEAN, two crossings were opened on August 2018. The aim is to cover 500 km, from Myanmar’s border with India at Moreh, to Mandalay in central Myanmar, the first leg of the ‘Trilateral Highway’.
Trilateral Highway: This is the ambitious project that seeks to connect India with Myanmar and onwards to Thailand, which India hopes will be its gateway to ASEAN. The first 160 km stretch is called the India-Myanmar Friendship Highway (IMFH).
Japan has also joined hands with India to aggressively develop infrastructure projects in the region with the setting up of the India-Japan Coordination Forum for Development of North-East.
With an eye on China, India is working on a slew of road and bridge projects to improve connectivity with Bangladesh, Nepal and Myanmar. These include road networks connecting Aizawl in Mizoram with Kaladan in Myanmar and Imphal in Manipur with Tamu, also in Myanmar. India is also expediting the South Asian Sub-Regional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) road connectivity programme.
