Thaindian News

Mumbai, Dec 20 (IANS) A 34-member parliamentary delegation from Myanmar Tuesday sought co-operation from Indian business houses for strengthening various sectors of their country’s economy.

The delegation, led by Thura U Shwe Mann, speaker of the lower house of parliament Pyithu Hluttaw met business captains at the Indian Merchants Chamber and the Bombay Chamber of Commerce and Industry here.

“Our talks in New Delhi were extremely beneficial to rebuilding the newly emergent republic of Myanmar. We look to availing Indian assistance for reforming and restructuring various institutions and also our legal framework,” Mann said on the occasion.

The Myanmarese parliamentary delegation is currently on a visit to India on the invitation of the speaker of the Lok Sabha and chairman of the Rajya Sabha.

“During our current visit, we held very meaningful interaction with top parliamentarians and party leaders of India and also called on the president of India, Pratibha Patil,” he said.

The delegation included chairpersons of Myanmarese parliament’s key committees in charge of the departments of legislation, international relations, planning and financial development, economic and trade development, transport, communication and tourism, agriculture, livestock and fisheries, investment and industrial development and others.

Myanmar’s Ambassador to India U Zin Taw accompanied the delegation.

Welcoming the delegation, IMC president Bhavna Doshi said that recently the chamber organised its prestigious ‘India Calling’ conference at Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam for exploring opportunities to promote trade and investment between India and Vietnam and ASEAN’s other member countries such as Myanmar.

“Consequent to the present economic recession in the developed western countries, India has adopted a ‘Look East’ policy for promoting investments, technology transfer and bilateral trade with ASEAN countries. There are a lot of complementary features between the needs of Indian and Myanmarese economies in sectors such as banking, insurance, infrastructure, oil, roads, agriculture, aviation, tourism and education,” she pointed out.

Doshi assured that the IMC would be keen to sign an MOU with the Myanmar Chamber of Commerce and Industry for further cooperation in different sectors.

Others who spoke on the occasion included Piyush Goyal, MP, Atindra Sen, director general of BCC and I and Saroj Datta, executive director of Jet Airways who expressed Indian businessmen’s keen desire to collaborate with their Myanmar counterparts in all economic sectors for mutual benefit.