BackLive: Modi hails meeting with Myanmar president as ‘wonderful’
Following the BRICS Summit in Xiamen, China, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is now in Myanmar for a two-day visit. Here are the latest updates and developments
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New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Myanmar’s capital Naypyitaw on Tuesday on a two-day visit. Modi earlier met with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Brics Summit 2017. Both India and China agreed to strengthen ties and ensure peace and tranquillity in the boarder areas. The Modi-Xi meeting was crucial as it came days after a 73-day military standoff on the Doklam plateau in Bhutan, the longest in two decades between India and China, ended.
During PM Modi’s visit, India and Myanmar are expected to push for greater progress on long-running Indian infrastructure projects. India seeks to boost economic ties with resource-rich Myanmar, with which it shares a 1,600-km (1,000-mile) border, to counter Chinese influence and step up connectivity with a country it considers its gateway to Southeast Asia.
Here are the latest updates and developments from Modi-Xi meeting and PM Modi’s Myanmar visit:
■ Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he had a “wonderful meeting" with Myanmar President Htin Kyaw during which they discussed steps to deepen the “historical relationship" between the two neighbours. Modi called on President Kyaw soon after he arrived in the country on his first bilateral visit.
“Had a wonderful meeting with President U Htin Kyaw," Modi tweeted along with some pictures of the meeting. He also presented the Myanmar president a reproduction of a 1841 map of a stretch of the River Salween (that flows from the Tibetan Plateau into the Andaman Sea) and a sculpture of the Bodhi tree. (PTI)
■ PM Modi meets Myanmar President Htin Kyaw who is also hosting a banquet for him later today.
“PM @narendramodi welcomed by the President U Htin Kyaw; both leaders inspect the guard of honour," MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said in a tweet.
■ The Prime Minister will hold wide-ranging talks with State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi tomorrow.
Modi had said India and Myanmar will look at strengthening existing cooperation in areas of security and counter-terrorism, trade and investment, infrastructure and energy, and culture.
He hoped his visit will help in charting a roadmap for closer cooperation between the two countries.
The prime minister said both countries will review developments in bilateral ties with a focus on “extensive" programme of development cooperation and socio-economic assistance India is undertaking in Myanmar.
■ Modi said he was looking forward to paying a visit to the famed heritage city of Bagan, where the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has done a “stellar work" in renovating the Ananda Temple.
The ASI will be undertaking further restoration work on a number of pagodas and murals that were damaged in an earthquake last year, he said.
■ Modi had visited Myanmar in 2014 to attend the ASEAN- India Summit. The Myanmar’s president and Suu Kyi had visited India last year. Myanmar is one of India’s strategic neighbours and shares a 1,640-km-long border with a number of northeastern states including militancy-hit Nagaland and Manipur.
■ Ceremonial welcome for Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Presidential Palance in Naypyitaw. The PM inspects guard of honour at Presidential Palace.
■ Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrives in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar on a two-day visit. During his stay, Modi will also visit the Shwedagon Pagoda.
“Mingalaba Myanmar! After intense diplomatic engagements at #BRICS2017, PM @narendramodi arrives to a warm welcome at Naypyitaw," MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar says in a tweet.
■ PM Modi’s #Myanmar visit has special significance, this is his first bilateral visit to the country, ANI quotes Vijay Chauthaiwale, InCharge, Dept Foreign Affairs, BJP.
■ China’s President Xi Jinping told India’s Prime Minister Modi on Tuesday that the two countries should respect each other and safeguard peace in border areas, according to the state-owned People’s Daily.
Xi also told Modi that India should treat China’s development correctly and rationally in a meeting on the sidelines of a summit of BRICS countries, according to the People’s Daily. (Reuters)
■ PM Narendra Modi: “Met President Xi Jinping. We held fruitful talks on bilateral relations between India and China. The various deliberations during the BRICS Summit were extremely productive. Looking forward to building on these in the times to come. I thank the Chinese government & people for their warm hospitality during the BRICS Summit. Leaving for Myanmar for a bilateral visit," posted on twitter.
■ Foreign secretary S. Jaishankar is briefing the media on PM Modi and President Xi’s meeting in Xiamen, China. Here are the main points from Jaishankar’s press conference.
— There was a forward-looking and constructive approach taken by both sides during the Modi-Xi meeting. (PTI)
— The two leaders reaffirmed that it is in the interest of both India and China to have good relations. (PTI)
— The two leaders felt that there should be closer communication between the defence and security personnel of India and China. (PTI)
— The two leaders also reaffirmed the understanding reached at Astana between Modi and Xi to not allow differences to become disputes. (PTI)
— Peace and tranquility in the border areas is a pre-requisite for ties to move forward. (PTI)
— It was a forward-looking conversation and not a backward-looking one: FS on whether Doklam standoff was left behind by the two sides. (PTI)
— Counter terrorism issues were taken up during the course of Brics, they were not discussed in this meeting. (ANI)
India, China need to do more to avoid border disputes: S. Jaishankar
■ A healthy and stable China-India relationship serves the interests of people in both countries: President Xi Jinping to PM Modi in Xiamen, ANI reports.
■ India and China are each other’s major neighbours, we are also two of the world’s largest and emerging countries: President Xi to PM Modi, ANI reports.
■ China is prepared to work with India to seek guidance from the five principles of Panchsheel: Chinese President Xi Jinping to PM Modi, ANI reports.
■ The Chinese delegation comprised President Xi Jinping, chief spokesperson Lu Kang, foreign minister Wang Yi and state councilor Yang Jiechi.
Hope India learns lessons from Doklam standoff, says China
■ I congratulate you for the successful execution of Brics Summit: PM Modi at bilateral with Chinese President Xi Jinping, ANI reports.
■ PM Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping today held their first substantive bilateral meeting after the Doklam standoff, which had put ties between the two countries under strain. Modi, who attended the BRICS Emerging Markets and Developing Countries Dialogue earlier in the day, met Xi on the sidelines of the 9th BRICS Summit in Xiamen. (PTI)
■ The prime minister, accompanied by senior officials including National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar, met the Chinese leader just before his travel to Myanmar from this port city. (PTI)
■ During their meeting, Modi congratulated Xi on a “very successful" BRICS Summit, China’s state-run Xinhua news agency reported. (PTI)
■ Indian officials had earlier indicated that the two leaders were expected to discuss ways to create confidence building measures. The sense is that both countries want to “move on" after the standoff.
The meeting comes amid diplomatic efforts by the two sides to overcome the bitterness caused by the 73-day face-off between their troops in the Doklam area of the Sikkim sector. The Chinese and the Indian troops were engaged in a standoff since 16 June after the Indian side stopped the construction of a road by the Chinese Army.
On 28 August, India’s External Affairs Ministry announced that New Delhi and Beijing have decided on “expeditious disengagement" of their border troops in the disputed Doklam area. (PTI)
■ Chinese scholar Hu Shisheng says China will have a lot of explanation to do to Pakistan in the coming months over the BRICS declaration naming terror groups operating from that country. Read more
■ PM Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping hold their first structured bilateral meeting after the Doklam standoff. (PTI)
■ PM Narendra Modi at BRICS developing nations dialogues suggests 10 noble commitments to be taken up by BRICS leadership for global transformation. Our ‘no strings attached’ cooperation model is driven purely by requirements of partner countries.
Modi pitches for organised and coordinated action on counter terrorism, cyber security and disaster management.(PTI)
■ Earlier PM Modi had a bilateral meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi on sidelines of BRICS Summit in Xiamen.
■ The meeting between the two is scheduled for 10 am (IST) and is the last engagement of Modi’s in the Chinese city of Xiamen before he departs for Myanmar on a two day visit. Modi has been in Xiamen since Sunday for the 9th meeting of Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa (BRICS) group of emerging economies.
—Agencies contributed to the live updates
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