India’s Strategic Interests in Myanmar: An Interview with Shyam Saran
   ·   01 Feb, 2011   ·   98    ·    Special Report

Myanmar is of extreme strategic and economic importance for India. The two nations share a 1,600km land border and a long maritime boundary in the strategically important Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea; they are bound by religious, cultural and ethnic linkages and four of India’s politically-sensitive Northeastern states share international borders with Myanmar. India has been pursuing friendly relations with its eastern neighbour since the early 1990s with the goal of countering China’s influence in the region as well as exploiting the tremendous energy resources of Myanmar. Critics have however, argued that India’s Myanmar policy is flawed and have called for a re-valuation. Medha Chaturvedi from the IPCS spoke to Ambassador Shyam Saran, acting Chairman of Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS), a New Delhi based autonomous think-tank under the Ministry of External Affairs, on the subject. Ambassador Saran was a former Indian Ambassador to Myanmar and later, Indian Foreign Secretary and the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy on Climate Change

Medha Chaturvedi from the IPCS spoke to Ambassador Shyam Saran, acting Chairman of Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS), a New Delhi based autonomous think-tank under the Ministry of External Affairs, on the subject. Ambassador Saran was a former Indian Ambassador to Myanmar and later, Indian Foreign Secretary and the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy on Climate Change.



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