Foreign secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra visited Myanmar over the last two days in a continuation of India’s stated policy of charting its own course in dealing with Naypyidaw, days after the Asean blocked the participation of Myanmar’s military junta chief at the summit in Cambodia to signal disappointment over continuing violence.

During his meetings with the senior leadership of Myanmar, the foreign secretary discussed maintenance of security and stability in the border areas of India and Myanmar, raised human trafficking by international crime syndicates in the Myawaddy area of Myanmar in which many Indian nationals had been held hostage after fake job promises, and reviewed bilateral development cooperation projects, the external affairs ministry said in a statement.

Kwatra expressed India’s continued support to people-centric socio-economic developmental projects, including those along the India-Myanmar border areas, as well as New Delhi’s commitment towards expeditious implementation of ongoing connectivity initiatives such as the Kaladan Multimodal Transit Transport Project and the Trilateral Highway.

He reiterated India’s commitment to continue with the projects under the Rakhine State Development Programme and the Border Area Development Programme.

Rakhine State is the western province of Myanmar from where the Rohingyas have been displaced following the fighting between the Arakan Army and the Myanmar Armed Forces.

The readout about the two-day visit issued by the Myanmar foreign ministry said the two sides discussed promoting cooperation in trade, investment and ongoing development projects besides strengthening closer collaboration in regional and multilateral contexts including the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and the United Nations.

Myanmar was designated as a dialogue partner of the SCO along with the UAE, Kuwait, the Maldives and Bahrain at the summit meeting of the grouping in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, in September.

While the readout made no mention of India raising the issue of restoration of democracy in Myanmar and release of political detainees — as Kwatra’s predecessor Harsh Vardhan Shringla had done last year on a similar working visit to Naypyidaw — external affairs ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi had on Monday tweeted that the foreign secretary had discussed “India’s support to democratic transition in Myanmar” during the bilateral engagement.

Since the coup d’etat in Myanmar on February 1, 2021, India has opted to chart its own course with regard to dealing with the military junta, refusing to support sanctions against the country and continuing with its engagement.

India’s contention is that “as an immediate land-border neighbour, we have some very specific concerns on Myanmar which also guides our thinking”.