India to complete Myanmar, Thailand highway by 2020
An ambitious three-nation highway that will connect India with Thailand through Myanmar is a central plank of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Act East policy, which seeks to boost trade and connectivity with Southeast Asia. The 3,200km project conceived in 2002 came up for discussion when Modi received visiting Myanmar President Htin Kyaw on August 29. Modi said “we are deeply honored” that Myanmar’s president chose India for his “first bilateral state visit abroad” since being appointed in March after Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy won a landslide general election following decades of military rule. After the leaders met, the two countries signed agreements on bridge construction, road upgrades, renewable energy, and traditional medicine.
