India, Burma sign investment pacts

by Mungpi

Tuesday, 24 June 2008 21:14

New Delhi - In yet another chapter of a boost in bilateral relationship and bonhomie, India and Burma have signed several bilateral agreements during the visit of Jairam Ramesh, India's Minister of State for Commerce and Industry to Burma, an official said. An official at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry told Mizzima, "Three to four Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) for investment, are being signed today at Nay Pyi Taw," Burma's new jungle capital. The agreements include India's offer of a credit of US $ 84 million to Burma, the official said. "Yesterday Ramesh went to Sittwe town [in Arakan state]," for an overview of the Kaladan multi-model project, the final agreement of which both countries signed in April, during Burma's military second-in -command, Vice Snr. Gen Maung Aye's visit to New Delhi, he said. Besides, India also offered two million US $ for repairing 16 power transformers which were damaged in the cyclone and an additional US $200,000 to repair a famous Buddhist pagoda also hit by last month's cyclone. Jairam Ramesh's four-day official visit to Burma, which began on Sunday, is the latest in a series of visits exchanged by leaders of the two countries, since it began warming up to each other with a visit by Burma's military supremo Snr. Gen Than Shwe in October 2004. In April, Burma's second military strongman Vice Senior General Maung Aye visited India, where the two countries signed a final agreement on the Kalandan Multi-Model project that will enable India's northeastern states to directly trade with Southeast Asian countries. Ramesh Rammachandran, an Indian journalist, who closely monitors Indo-Burmese relationship, said while India morally continues supporting the aspiration of the Burmese opposition for a democratic transition, it also maintains a pragmatic approach in dealing with the Burmese junta. "India has been consistently engaged with Burma irrespective of what the international community has had to say. It should not be a surprise that Jairam Ramesh is in Burma today," Rammachandran said. Meanwhile, Daewoo International on Monday said it has agreed to sell all the natural gas it extracts from Burma to a Chinese oil company, China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), a deal which India was in the race for. However, India has not jettisioned  hopes and is reportedly seeking other business opportunities including the developing of the Sittwe port in Arakan state and building several dams on the rivers in western Burma. "We can very well expect Indian oil companies to remain engaged with the Burmese government," said Ramachandran, adding that the rush for oil and gas would not be stopped because of the solidarity on the movement for democratic changes in Burma. Korea's Daewoo, Korean Gas Corporation (KOGAS), and India's Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) share production stakes in offshore A1 and A3 gas fields of Burma's western coastal state of Arakan. < Prev   Next >