India Raises Its Game In Myanmar, Opens Export Import Bank Office

New Delhi: There also plans to use the credit scheme under the National Export Insurance Account operated by the Bank under which government agencies can import goods and services from India.
The Export Import (EXIM) Bank will open a representative office Monday in Yangon, former capital and commercial centre of Myanmar, as India refashions its relations building diverse layers of contact with the Southeast Asian country that will chair the ASEAN bloc next year.
The setting up of the EXIM Bank office is a follow up on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to the country in May last year during which India signed a credit line of $500 million to build railway and irrigation projects. India has also sanctioned another $250 million for various other projects. The Bank has asked the government to finalise those, says David Rasquinha, executive director of the bank.
There also plans to use the credit scheme under the National Export Insurance Account operated by the Bank under which government agencies can import goods and services from India.
According the Myanmar government's 2013-2014 fiscal report, Myanmar will implement several projects in sectors like agriculture, power, communications and transportation. The McKinsey Global Institute says Myanmar would need $650 billion in investment by 2030 to support growth. The IMF predicts the country will expand 7% over the next five years.
India is stepping up its development cooperation in light of Myanmar's continuing reform process and its age-old interconnectedness. The spread of ideas and trade across India's east coast, from Bengal, Odisha and Tamil Nadu go back to millenia and as author Thant Mint-U points out, that influenced its religion, language and culture.
Also, in the not too distant past when Myanmar was known as Burma and Yangon was Rangoon, many in eastern India saw the country as an El dorado. That, however, came to an end in 1962, when Indian businesses were taken over and Indians expelled.