India has called for immediate phasing out of sanctions against Myanmar. Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai said at the United Nations that the international community should extend all possible support to Yangon's new civilian government to help speed up economic development in the country which had faced economic isolation under years of military rule. He said, as a close and friendly neighbour of Myanmar, India remains committed to extending all possible assistance and support to the process of national reconciliation and further strengthening of democracy in Myanmar.

He said, India is also working closely with Myanmar on various infrastructure and development cooperation projects, with particular attention to capacity building and human resource development.

Meanwhile, the President of Myanmar Thein Sein has said he would accept the opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi as a future elected president if the people vote for her. He said the will of the people would be respected whoever they chose in an election due in 2015. Thein Sein, a former leader of the military junta that ruled Myanmar for decades, has overseen a dramatic shift towards a civilian-led government.

 Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi has expressed her happiness over lifting of sanctions by the United States on her country. She felt that her countrymen should now take responsibility for ushering in democracy in Myanmar. She considered the process as a common goal with President Thein Sein.

Suu Kyi, who is on a landmark visit to the United States, met President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Friday.

Addressing the media with Ban, Suu Kyi appreciated the support of the the US Congress for many years for the democratic movement in Myanmar.

The US had announced yesterday it is lifting sanctions on Myanmar President Thein Sein and parliamentary speaker Thura Shwe Mann. US Congress also honoured Suu Kyi with the highest civilian honour at a ceremony in Washington. The US Treasury Department also acknowledged steps taken by Sein and Mann to promote political reforms and human rights.

Ban said the areas of cooperation with Myanmar are on track. These include normalisation of the UN activities in the country, helping the first-ever census of population and housing, and helping the nation eliminate drugs and promote socio-economic development. He said this will be UN's continuing priority to work with the Myanmar government. He said UN count on Aung Suu Kyi's continuing commitment and leadership, and it has great expectations of her leadership.He said the UN and Suu Kyi must work together for Myanmar's democratisation.

 Myanmar military authorities have released 42 more child soldiers from the armed forces. The Ministry of Social Welfare said, the children who are from across the country's regions and states, were handed over to their parents respectively. The move came after an agreement was signed between Myanmar government and the United Nations in late June on prevention of further recruitment and use of children under age in the armed forces. The Myanmar Defence Ministry said that from 2004 to July 2012, 600 child soldiers have been released from the army and reintegrated with their families.

 Indo-Myanmar and Indo-Bangladesh borders to effectively check influx of foreign nationals to India. Speaking to media persons at Imphal this morning, BJP President Nitin Gadkari said that the step will lead to solving the problem between the people of Indian origin and the people of foreign origin in the North-East region which has presently spread its ramifications to other parts of the country. He also said that this will help in the protection of national integrity as well as peace and tranquility in the social fabric of the nation.

 Myanmar has abolished censorship of the country's media. This has been announced by Myanmar's Information Ministry. The Press Scrutiny and Registration Department said that as of today, reporters will no longer have to submit their work to state censors before publication. Myanmar has long kept a tight control over all aspects of its media. But the civilian government has been gradually easing restrictions since taking office last year.

More than 20 Myanmar student leaders detained by the authorities on Friday have been released. They were held ahead of the anniversary on 7th July which was the 50th anniversary of the Myanmar's military suppression of student demonstrations, just four months after a coup by Gen Ne Win.
Activists said the detentions prove that the Myanmar military still has repressive tendencies, despite recent reforms. However, Aung San Suu Kyi, head of the National League for Democracy, has said that the students' detention was another reminder that continued reforms in Myanmar should not be taken for granted.

Lok Sabha Speaker Miera Kumar has said that India has a strong desire for peace and stability in Myanmar. Appreciating Myanmar’s smooth transition towards multi-party democracy, she complimented Myanmar for the successful conduct of elections. Mrs Miera Kumar was talking to a 10-member Parliamentary Delegation from Myanmar which is attending a week-long Orientation Programme being organized by the Bureau of Parliamentary Studies and Training of the Lok Sabha Secretariat. She also mentioned that the officials of the Election Commission of India and Media played a purposive role in completing the election process. The Lok Sabha Speaker said that the transition to democracy has given a new look to the Myanmarese Parliament, giving voice to diverse groups. Welcoming the Delegation, Mrs Meira Kumar said that India and Myanmar share a very special and close relationship which dates back to ancient times and high level visits in the recent past have provided the much needed momentum to friendly relations between the two countries.

Leader of the visiting Delegation, Mr. Ti Khun Myun said that India has always been a good and supporting friend and a great neighbour. He also extended an invitation to the Speaker to visit Myanmar along with an Indian Parliamentary Delegation.

Myanmar's President U Thein Sein has called for efforts to promote national reconsolidation, saying that it is fundamental to achieve political and economic reforms for the development of the country. Mr Thein Sen was addressing a meeting of the government's central peace-making committee in Nay Pyi Taw on Tuesday. Mr Thein Sein, who is also the committee's chairman, urged implementation of the peace-making process with armed ethnic groups for ending the ethnic conflicts with a sense of patience, tolerance, sympathy, mutual respect. He also stressed that rule of law should prevail in all political reform.
The Myanmar government has formed an 11-member central peace making panel to effectively carry out peace negotiations with ethnic armed groups in the country. The other members include two vice presidents, two speakers of the two houses of the Parliament, Commander-in-Chief of the defence services and minister of home affairs.

Veteran diplomat Derek Mitchell will be appointment as America's first Ambassador to Myanmar in 22 years.

His appointment has been confirmed by the Senate, the latest in a series of efforts by the US to bring the country out of isolation after five decades of military rule.

47-year-old Mitchell, who was till now the Special US Representative and Policy Coordinator for Myanmar, is expected to leave for that country soon.

Human Rights Watch says, China has been forcibly returning some of the ethnic-Kachin refugees who fled fighting in Myanmar. The group says, Chinese authorities have repatriated about 300 refugees to Kachin state, where heavy fighting broke out last year between the Myanmar's army and Kachin rebels. The report says, as many as 10,000 Kachin people have fled the conflict for China's southern Yunnan province, where they are in desperate need of humanitarian aid. 

Human Rights Watch added that China has generally tolerated refugees from Kachin, but said, they lack adequate water, food and other basic supplies. It also said that Kachin people are routinely harassed by local authorities and exploited by Chinese employers. The group urged China to provide temporary protection and allow humanitarian agencies unhindered access to the refugees. It also wants Beijing to adhere to international treaties that prohibit forced returns of refugees.

Paying fulsome tributes, the University of Oxford on Wednesday honoured Myanmar's democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi by presenting her with an honorary doctorate in Civil Law in a traditional ceremony.


The ceremony called Encaenia honoured eight distinguished individuals, including Suu Kyi, who was described by the Chancellor as star shining in the east, the light of her countrymen.


The oration for Suu Kyi, 67, hailed her achievements and welcomed her back to Oxford where she studied, married and lived for several years, before returning to Myanmar to care for her ailing mother in 1988, never to return, until Tuesday.

Aid workers in Myanmar say some ninety thousand people have fled(flee) their homes during violence between Buddhist and Muslim communities in the west of the country. The World Food Programme says that emergency food supplies have been delivered to about two-thirds of the displaced people. According to a report, the latest violence began after a Buddhist woman was raped and murdered by three Myanmares Muslims. That triggered a series of reprisals and revenge attacks between the Buddhist and Muslim communities and left at least 50 people dead and destroyed more than a thousand houses. There are still some reports of isolated violence with some sort of calm appears to have returned to Rakhine State in west of the country.

Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi finally has accepted her 1991 Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, after spending more than 15 years under house arrest. In her acceptance speech during her first trip to Europe in nearly 25 years, Suu Kyi pledged to keep up her struggle for democracy in Myanmar. She said full political freedom in her country is still a long way off. 

She said absolute peace in the world is an unattainable goal. Suu Kyi said hostilities have not ceased in the far north to the west and communal violence resulting in arson and murder are taking place several days before she started out the journey that has brought her in Oslo today. She advocated caution about transformation in Myanmar, whose quasi-civilian government continues to hold political prisoners. 

Suu Kyi, 66, told a packed Oslo City Hall that it is to be feared that because the best known detainees have been released, the remainder, the unknown ones, will be forgotten. A day earlier, she arrived from Switzerland to a jubilant reception as dancing and chanting crowds filled Oslo's streets and showered her with flowers.

The United Nations has decided to temporarily relocate non-essential staff in Myanmar's Rakhine state, where tension remains high amid unrest that has killed seven.

A UN statement said it has decided to temporarily relocate, on a voluntary basis, non-essential international and national UN staff, affiliated organisations and their families.

It said serious disturbances and the imposition of a state of emergency prompted the move, which is being implemented on a voluntary basis.

Violence flared in Rakhine state after the murder of a Buddhist woman last month, followed by an attack on a bus carrying Muslims.

Rakhine state is named after the ethnic Rakhine Buddhist majority, but also has a sizeable Muslim population, including the Rohingya minority.

In Myanmar, security forces have been deployed in western part of the country, near the border with Bangladesh, to restore peace after an outbreak of ethnic violence that left at least seven people dead. Police and military units restored calm and imposed a curfew in Rakhine state on Saturday, after overnight rioting between ethnic Rohingya, who are Muslims, and local Buddhists. State media said at least seven people died in the fighting and hundreds of buildings were set ablaze.

The United States has expressed concern about reports of ongoing violence in Rakhine State. A spokeswoman for the State Department said Washington is monitoring the situation and urges an immediate halt to violent attacks.

Myanmar government has ordered Manipur-based militant outfits
to shut their camps and training facilities and leave its soil
by 10th of next month. Home Ministry official sources said in New Delhi today that the Myanmar Army's order was issued on 24th of this month .The move is considered as a goodwill gesture from Nay Pyi Taw.

There are 12 to 15 camps of Manipur based insurgent groups like PLA and PREPAK across the Indo-Myanmar border
where more than 2,000 armed cadres are taking shelter.

The militants often come to Manipur to carry out subversive activities and leave the state to escape action by
security agencies.

The officials said if the Manipur militant groups are forced to close down their camps by the Myanmar Army, it would have significant impact on the security situation in the northeastern state. Besides, other northeastern militant groups having bases in Myanmar may also have to face the heat of the
neighbouring country with improved bilateral relations between

India today extended to Myanmar a 500 million US dollars line of credit by signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the neighbouring country. The Line of Credit will be utilised in the infrastructure development projects, including in the fields of Agriculture and Irrigation, Rail Transportation, and Electric Power in Myanmar.

The joint statement issued today in Nay Pyi Taw said Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and Myanmar President U Thein Sein agreed to cooperate for bringing development and prosperity of the people in bordering areas by undertaking both infrastructure development and micro-economic projects. 

These include upgradation of roads and construction of schools, health centres, bridges, agriculture and related training activities. The two leaders decided to set up the Myanmar Institute of Information Technology with financial and technical assistance from India.

Both the countries emphasised the need for closer cooperation to further energy security.

India and Myanmar also signed MoU to set up border haats along the border between the two countries. They also agreed to upgrade banking infrastructure at border trade points to facilitate greater trade between people living in these areas. 

12 agreements and Memorandums of Understanding on wide range of areas including connectivity, development cooperation, trade & investment, power and energy, culture and people to people contact were also signed. After the restricted meeting between Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and President of Myanmar U Thein Sein and delegation level talks on bilateral, regional and international issues of mutual interest, a joint statement by the Ministry of External Affairs said the two leaders comprehensively reviewed the multifaceted bilateral and expressed satisfaction at the growing economic, trade and cultural ties and they agreed to cooperate in the areas such as border area development, transportation, connectivity, agriculture, trade and investment, promotion of friendly exchanges and human resource development.

Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh reiterated India's readiness to extend all necessary assistance in accelerating the country's democratic transition and developing the capacity of democratic institutions.Both leaders reaffirmed their shared commitment to fight the scourge of terrorism and insurgent activity in all its forms and manifestations.

Both the countries will launch a trans-border bus service from Imphal to Mandalay soon. India would undertake the task of repair and upgradation of 71 bridges on the Tamu- Kalewa friendship Road between Manpur and Myanmar.

Both the sides y signed Cultural Exchange Programme for the period 2012-2015 for further deepening the bonds between the peoples of the two countries.
Myanmar also assured India that it will not allow any anti- India force to use its territory.

India is likely to sign a wide range of agreements and memorandums of understanding with Myanmar to further strengthen the bilateral relationship between the two countries during the forthcoming visit of Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to Myanmar beginning on Sunday.

These will include bilateral cooperation in the fields of security, connectivity, Infrastructure development, trade, investment promotion and Capacity building. There will be agreements in the areas of Human resource development and people to people contact besides academic exchanges between the two countries.

Briefing media in New Delhi on the visit of prime Minister, the Foreign Secretary Mr Ranjan Mathai said Dr Manmohan Singh's visit is following the successful visit of the Myanmar's President Mr Thei Sein in October last year. He said the visit comes at a time when Myanmar is undergoing rapid transformations. 

Mr Mathai hoped that the visit will enable India to build a new foundation of multifaceted relationship with Myanmar which was laid during the state visit of Mr Thein Sein last year. The Foreign Secretary also informed that Dr Manmohan Singh will be accompanied by the Minister of External Affairs Mr S M Krishna and senior officials. A delegation of Indian CEOs is also visiting Myanmar the same time.

This is the first visit of Prime Minister to Myanmar in 25 years. The last visit was by the then Prime Minister shr Rajeev Gandhi in 1987.