Indian External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar said on Thursday that building road connectivity between India and the port of Sittwe in Myanmar’s Rakhine state was a priority for New Delhi after the Lok Sabha election.
“We have been trying to create an access to Myanmar to the port of Sittwe through a road from Mizoram, which is having some problems right now,” Jaishankar said during an election meeting in Lengpui in the state of Mizoram, which borders Myanmar.
“But certainly, as we look after the election, this will be one of our priorities, to see that the road is completed as soon as possible,” he said.
Sittwe is a deep-water port on the Bay of Bengal in Myanmar's Rakhine state.
The port was jointly inaugurated by Indian ports and shipping minister Sarbananda Sonowal and Admiral Tin Aung San, Myanmar's Transport and Communications' minister, last May.
This week, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) approved a proposal by state-backed India Ports Global Limited (IPGL) to run operations at the Sittwe port.
Once fully operational, the port is expected to cut transportation time and costs between India's northeastern states and its other parts.