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Kalam to visit Myanmar

Amit Baruah

SINGAPORE: President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam is all set to visit Myanmar in the second week of March. This will be the highest-level visit from India to Myanmar since Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi travelled to Yangon in December 1987. Interestingly, Mr. Kalam will be making his first visit to a neighbouring country since taking office in July 2002.

Asked why he had travelled less than his predecessors, Mr. Kalam told presspersons: "Fortunately, I am connected. Sitting in Rashtrapati Bhavan ... I am electronically connected". "Wherever there is minimum need, there only I [travel]." Confirming that he will also be travelling to Mauritius, Mr. Kalam said his visits were need-based.

Currently, he is on a three-nation tour of Singapore, the Philippines and South Korea.

Though India and Myanmar have had high-level contacts in recent years, with Vice-President B.S. Shekhawat visiting Yangon in November 2003 and Senior General Than Shwe coming to India in October 2004, Mr. Kalam will be the first Head of State to touch Myanmar in decades.

Clearly, the Government of India has shed its earlier hesitation in the Head of State travelling to Myanmar. Officials had told this correspondent previously that the invitation for the President had been received; but no action had been taken on it.

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