Explainer: Why Myanmar is a major hurdle to India's 'Act East' push

Key projects undertaken by India as part of its ambitious Act East policy are currently stuck due to the ongoing civil war in Myanmar. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Sunday met his Myanmar counterpart Than Swe and stressed the importance of expediting those projects, especially the India-Myanmar-Thailand trilateral highway.

Roadblocks
Jaishankar, who arrived in Bangkok from Indonesia on Saturday on an official visit, met the Myanmar foreign minister on the sidelines of the Mekong Ganga Cooperation (MGC) Mechanism meeting and underlined the importance of ensuring peace and stability in the border areas.

Myanmar's junta regime has been struggling to contain a nationwide rebellion mounted by various armed ethnic groups, known as People's Defence Forces, since the 2021 coup that ousted a democratically elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy.

The unrest in Myanmar has hit key initiatives such India-Myanmar-Thailand trilateral highway and the Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport projects.

The trilateral highway
"Our discussions focused on connectivity initiatives that have a larger regional significance...Stressed the importance of expediting projects that have faced challenges in the recent past, especially the India-Myanmar-Thailand trilateral highway," Jaishankar said in a tweet.

On Saturday, Jaishankar said that the highway had been a "very difficult project" because of the situation in Myanmar and that it was the government's priority to find ways to resume it.

Link to SE Asia
The 1,400-km-long highway would link India with Southeast Asia by land and give a boost to trade, business, health, education and tourism ties among the countries.

Delays

Around 70% of construction work on the ambitious trilateral highway has been completed. It will connect Moreh in Manipur with Mae Sot in Thailand via Myanmar.

Earlier, the government was aiming to make the highway operational by December 2019.

India's concerns
During his talks with Than Swe, Jaishankar underlined the importance of ensuring peace and stability in the border areas, saying these have been "seriously disturbed recently and any actions that aggravate the situation should be avoided".

As an immediate neighbour, India is concerned about the humanitarian situation in Myanmar, the minister said.