ISAS Briefs

The eager expectations and hopes of the people of Myanmar belie the fragile peace that exists in the country. There is immense desire to take the relationships with neighbouring countries a step further; and India is a country with which there is perceivably tremendous unrealised potential. Developing the infrastructure to enable greater people-to-people connectivity and trade between the Northeast Region (NER) of India and western Myanmar is of particular interest within Myanmar. The Indian Government's own desire to open the NER as a way of creating economic dynamism that would take the region forward into a new development paradigm coincides with the political reforms in Myanmar, giving both countries a larger canvas for their relationship. Yet, this is a complex region with shared security and development challenges; cooperation of both sides can bring windfall benefits to the lesser developed regions in the two countries.