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India & Myanmar sign multimillion-dollar deal
NEW DELHI - India has agreed to build a multimillion-dollar (euro) seaport and transportation system in Myanmar as it presses ahead with investment in its much-criticized neighbor. The second-highest ranking member of Myanmar’s ruling junta, Senior Gen. Maung Aye, signed the deal Wednesday with Indian Vice president Mohammad Hamid Ansari during the Myanmar official’s visit to India, according to a statement from India’s Foreign Ministry.

India has been investing in Myanmar despite international calls for sanctions on the Southeast Asian country’s military government, which violently suppressed pro-democracy protests several months ago. India has established deep economic and military ties with Myanmar’s ruling junta over the past decade and has said it believes talking quietly is a better approach than sanctions.

The ministry statement gave no details of the deal. Indian officials earlier said the US$120 million (Ð81 million) project it involves would see India upgrade waterways and highways along Myanmar’s Kaladan River and develop the port of Sittway in the country’s northwest. "This project will greatly enhance connectivity between Myanmar and India, in particular with India’s northeast states,” the statement said.
Posted by: Steve White 2008-04-04
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=235960