Modi to meet Suu Kyi in Myanmar

New Delhi, Nov 8:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be meeting with Myanmarese leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and Myanmar President Thein Sein among a host of other leaders on the sidelines of the ASEAN and East Asia Summit in Myanmar next week.

Modi, who leaves on Nov 11 on a three-nation 10-day visit to Myanmar, Australia and Fiji, will be in Myanmar from Nov 11-13.

He will be meeting the pro-democracy icon Aung San and also have a bilateral meeting with President Thein Sein, ministry of external affairs spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said at a briefing here Saturday.

The 12th ASEAN-India Summit will be held Nov 12 and the Ninth East Asia Summit the following day at capital Nay Pyi Taw. It would be Modi’s first multilateral meeting with both the blocs, said Secretary (East) in the ministry Anil Wadhwa.

Asked about meetings scheduled with other leaders on the sidelines of the two meets, Akbaruddin said that Prime Minister Modi is “extremely keen to meet as many people as possible”, but it would depend on the time available to arrange either a pull-aside or a structured meeting. “It is a work in progress,” he said.

The 10 ASEAN members are – Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam. Besides India, the other members of the EAS are the ASEAN and Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, Russia and the US.

With Myanmar sharing border with four northeast Indian states and viewed as key to India’s Look East Policy, issues of strategic nature would be in focus during Modi’s bilateral talks in Myanmar, the officials said.

US President Barack Obama, who would be attending the EAS, is also to meet Suu Kyi, while according to media reports Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has no plans to meet the National League for Democracy leader due to “time restrictions”. Suu Kyi is travelling to Beijing in December.
(IANS)