The India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway has been a “very difficult project” because to the circumstances in Myanmar, and the government is working hard to find ways to restart it, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Saturday.
Details on according to EAM S Jaishankar, India is looking into options to restart the India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway project
Jaishankar is in town for the 12th Mekong Ganga Cooperation (MGC) Mechanism Foreign Ministers’ Meeting and the BIMSTEC Foreign Ministers’ Retreat.
Jaishankar addressed to the Indian community shortly after his arrival about the connectivity between Thailand and India.
“Today’s real challenge, which we are working on, is how to develop road connectivity between Thailand….We have this project from northeast India that if we build a road through Myanmar, that road will connect up with what Thailand is building,” Jaishankar explained.
He stated that with adequate road connectivity, the movement of commodities and people will shift dramatically.
“However, it was a very difficult project.” The project has been extremely tough, owing primarily to the situation in Myanmar. “And one of our priorities today is to figure out how to restart this project, unlock it, and make it because large parts of it have already been built,” Jaishankar added.
India, Thailand, and Myanmar are constructing a 1,400-kilometer-long motorway that will connect the country to Southeast Asia by land and strengthen commerce, business, health, education, and tourism relations between the three countries.
Around 70% of the huge India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway project has been finished.
Moreh in Manipur, India, would be linked to Mae Sot in Thailand via Myanmar via the highway.
The strategic highway project is being postponed. Previously, the government planned to open the route in December 2019.
Regarding India’s links with Thailand, Jaishankar stated that the relationship dates back centuries.
“This is a centuries-old historical and cultural relationship.” It is a relationship that blossomed again after independence. It gained traction in the 1990s. “However, the last ten years have been a very, very different period for this relationship,” he explained.
During his speech, he also discussed India’s economic progress.
“When you look at major economies around the world today, there aren’t many that are growing faster than 5%.” Despite the world’s issues, we aspire to get closer to 7% growth today,” Jaishankar added.
He also commended the Indian community in Thailand for its assistance during the Covid pandemic.
He also emphasized the developments taking place in India.
Speaking about digitisation in India, he stated that everyone today, from Bill Gates to Michael Bloomberg, from Satya Nadella to Elon Musk, is looking at digital India and how digital talent and digital infrastructure are being used to governance.
“That is really you know, when we say confidently that we have it in us in the next 25 years to become a developed country,” Jaishankar explained.
“We used to be regarded as a very difficult country on climate change,” he said of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership. Today, we are regarded as one of the climate change leaders.”
He claimed that Prime Minister Modi’s government made the most significant climate change proposals in the recent decade.
“There’s a grain shortage in the world, which is made worse by the fact that grain is not coming out of Ukraine and Russia,” he added of the Ukraine-Russia battle.
According to Jaishankar, Prime Minister Modi is the one who is pushing the notion of growing millets that require less water, and there are many new millet sources.
“I’m not downplaying the difficulties; there will be issues.” You can’t be the world’s most populous country and not have difficulties. “You can’t be a developing country and not have challenges,” he added. “The issue today is how firmly, with what conviction, with what determination, with what vision and leadership, we are addressing some of this.”
