The target was to complete the 1400 km long highway from India to Thailand in 2019 itself, but till now only 70% of the work has been completed. Now Foreign Minister S Jaishankar has said that this project is stuck due to internal strife in Myanmar. However, he also said that when this highway is completed, it will prove to be a game changer for India-Myanmar and Thailand.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar arrived in Assam’s capital Guwahati on Tuesday to attend a summit. At the ‘Assam 2.0 Infrastructure and Investment Summit’, he talked about this highway project. He said, ‘The real change will come when the India-Myanmar-Thailand highway is completed. Its work is stalled due to internal strife in Myanmar, but we cannot allow Myanmar to stop such an important project in any way. We have to find practical solutions to complete this project.’
This highway is to go from More in Manipur to the city of Mae Sot in Thailand via Myanmar. Its length is 1400 km. Due to the political changes after the military coup in Myanmar in the year 2021, work has been affected at many places. This highway will connect India to Southeast Asia by land route. This will also promote trade, business, health, education and tourism relations between the three countries.
Jaishankar said, ‘Our policy of giving priority to neighbors has made good progress since 2014. Our focus is on all South-East countries from Bangladesh to Bhutan, Nepal and Myanmar. New roads, checkpoints, railway lines, waterways, power grids, fuel pipelines and transit facilities have been developed. After the Covid pandemic, India acted swiftly and was the first to provide vaccines, food grains, fertilizers and fuel availability to its neighbors.’
