Agence France Presse

Yangon, March 26:

Indian Foreign Minister Natwar Singh met Myanmar’s secretive junta leader, Senior General Than Shwe, today at a military guesthouse here, officials said. Neither side issued any remarks about the meeting. Afterwards, Singh left for the northern city of Mandalay, where he was to meet with the large Indian community that lives there. The talks with Than Shwe followed Singh’s meetings yesterday with his counterpart Nyan Win and with Prime Minister Lieutenant General Soe Win, on a range of security, economic and development issues. The two foreign ministers discussed “a broad range of issues relating to politico-economic developments in their respective countries,” the Indian embassy said in a statement issued yesterday.

Singh told Nyan Win that India placed “very high priority on its relations with Myanmar as a valuable neighbour and a strategic partner,” the statement said. “In particular, it was agreed that dialogue and concrete cooperation to counter terrorist activities in the border region would be further strengthened,” it said. Singh and Nyan Win also discussed a slate of economic and development issues, agreeing to a ministerial meeting in Delhi on boosting trade and to working to improving roads and railways, the Indian embassy said. Nyan Win accepted an invitation to visit India, though no date was set, the embassy added. Singh also “underlined the importance of the trilateral pipeline project and its potential benefit for Bangladesh, Myanmar and India as well as the region as whole,” the embassy statement said.