TRILATERAL UNDERSTANDING AMONG INDIA,
MYANMAR AND THAILAND
External Affairs
Minister attended the India-Myanmar-Thailand Ministerial Meeting
on Transport Linkages held on April 5-6, 2002 in Myanmar. The
three Foreign Ministers agreed to development of transport linkages
inter-connecting the three countries, focusing on construction
of a highway through Myanmar that would promote trade, investment,
tourism and people-to-people interaction. This will promote cooperation
between South Asia and South-East Asia. The following areas of
cooperation were agreed:
- Construction of a highway from
Moreh in India to Mae Sot in Thailand through Bagan in Myanmar.
- Promotion of a highway from Kanchanaburi
in Thailand to Dawei deep seaport in Myanmar and shipping links
to seaports in India as part and parcel of one integrated package.
- Promotion of trade, investment
and tourism through facilitation of transit of goods and people
across the border.
- Cooperation in human resource
development.
Two task forces have
been set up for implementation of this project, the one on financing
chaired by Thailand and the one on technical matters chaired by
India. The two task forces met from December 2-4, 2002 in Yangon
where details on the alignment of the highway, upgradation of
the existing roads that would form part of the highway, its physical
verification and modalities of funding were discussed.
This information
was given by the Minister of State for External Affairs Vinod
Khanna in the Lok Sabha today.
