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The number of visas issued by Myanmar to Indian businessmen has doubled, the country’s Charge D’Affairs to India, Ba Hia Aya, has said.
“Number of Indian tourists are also visiting the country,” Ba told Business Line without giving out details on the numbers.
On the growing business links between India and Myanmar, he said, “There will be more interaction between India’s North-East and Myanmar.”
For instance, recently an Indian business delegation had gone to Myanmar through the land route, while one of the Chief Ministers from Myanmar, whose State has a common border with the four North-Eastern Indian States, had attended a North East business summit in Delhi.
Asked about air connectivity, the Charge D’Affairs said SpiceJet had been authorised to fly directly from New Delhi to Yangon, while Golden Myanmar Airlines was looking at operating to India.
“SpiceJet is still weighing the option,” the diplomat added.
SpiceJet’s Chief Executive Officer Neil Mills said that problems in a third country from which the airline wanted to continue onwards to Myanmar was the reason for it not starting the flight.
“We were not looking at direct Myanmar connectivity because there is not enough point-to-point traffic into that country. So, we were going to go through another country to get to Myanmar. But they are not allowing sixth freedom traffic rights,” he added.
Sixth freedom is the right to fly from a foreign country to another one while stopping in one’s own country for non-technical reasons.
But, there are other areas in which the two countries can extend business ties.
In September 2012, Indian Ambassador to Myanmar Villur Sundarajan Seshadri had urged Indian industry to take up business opportunities coming up in that country.
Energy, telecommunication, event management and mining were some of the sectors in which Indian industry could invest in Myanmar, the Envoy had said.
> ashwini.phadnis@thehindu.co.in
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