India, Myanmar sign border security pact

burma-manmohanBarely days before a new government takes charge in New Delhi, India and Myanmar have sealed a pact to share real time intelligence to combat Indian insurgents operating out of the border region, which is reported to be infested with criminals and smugglers.

The pact was inked May 8 between Myanmar’s Deputy Minister of Defence Major General Kyaw Nyunt and India’s Ambassador to Myanmar Gautam Mukhopadhaya in Nay Pyi Taw.
The agreement aims at enhancing security and counter-terror cooperation between India and Myanmar, Southeast Asian country with whom India shares the 1,600-km long border.

The pact envisages, among other things, the conduct of coordinated patrols on each side of the border and maritime boundary. The agreement also entails exchange of information to jointly combat insurgency, arms smuggling and drug, human and wildlife trafficking. The memorandum of understanding specifies the level and frequency of meetings between the Armed Forces, Drug Control Agencies and Wildlife Crime Control agencies of the two sides.

“It is expected that this MoU will lead to enhanced and tangible cooperation between Indian and Myanmar security agencies in ensuring peace, stability and security along the long international land and maritime border between the two countries,” India’s Ministry of External Affairs statement said in statement.
The border cooperation pact will complement India’s diplomatic efforts to scale up diplomatic and energy ties with the resource-rich Southeast Asian nation which has emerged as hub of global attention after its partial democratisation more than three years ago.

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