Your Excellency Vice Senior General Maung Aye, Vice-Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council of the Union of Myanmar Madame Daw Mya Mya San, Distinguished guests from Myanmar, Ladies and Gentlemen, It gives me great pleasure to extend to Your Excellency and Madame Daw Mya Mya San and your distinguished delegation a very warm and cordial welcome. It is always a matter of joy and satisfaction when friends come calling. The fact that you have returned to India after nearly eight years makes this a very special occasion. Excellency India and Myanmar are bound by historical, cultural, religious and above all emotional bonds. The common cause we forged during the colonial era was the natural culmination of the common heritage we both share right from the dawn of history. Lord Buddha‘s life, his teachings and his rich legacy brought India and Myanmar closer, as indeed it did India and the rest of Asia. It is an irony that Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar was exiled to Myanmar and King Thebaw was exiled to India. Mahatma Gandhi himself visited Myanmar several times before independence. Even while facing the challenges of nation-building and development in a post-independence era, neither of our Governments has given up our sovereign space or our capacity to act independently in foreign policy. Excellency Your visit in 2000 proved to be a path-breaking one. Over the last decade, our bilateral relations have grown from strength to strength. Underpinning our relations has been our mutual desire to build on our commonalities and synergies, to enhance sustained economic development of our peoples, to promote peace and tranquility along our border, to undertake developmental projects and to foster people-to-people interaction. We appreciate your continuing support for expanding our bilateral ties into a truly multi-faceted one. Our cooperation now encompasses a range of areas including telecommunications, roads, cross-border projects, Information Technology, oil and gas, science and technology and culture. Since your last visit, we had two very successful visits of His Excellency Senior General Than Shwe to India in 2004 and of the Hon’ble President of India Dr. Abdul Kalam to Myanmar in 2006. Excellency This visit would be remembered as one that has significantly transformed our bilateral relations. The Agreement and Protocols for the Kaladan Multi Modal Transit and Transport Project by both countries will be a milestone in our mutually beneficial cross-border cooperation. This project will considerably enhance connectivity to our North East States. Both our countries are exploring more innovative ways of enhancing our trade, including opening up our border to regular trade. The accelerated development of our border areas will be to our mutual benefit and, towards this end, we should continue our joint endeavour to ensure peace, stability and security on our borders. Excellency Myanmar’s location makes it a natural bridge between the member countries of the ASEAN on the one hand and SAARC on the other. In many ways, Myanmar is our gateway to ASEAN and occupies a central place in our ‘Look East’ policy. We are both partners in BIMSTEC and the Mekong-Ganga cooperation process. It is evident that our bilateral relationship has an important bearing on regional cooperation initiatives. As a close and friendly neighbour, we appreciate the recent initiatives taken by your Government to take forward the process of national reconciliation and political reform and wish you well in your efforts to broad-base this process. We are confident and optimistic that your visit will open a new and dynamic chapter in our bilateral ties. Our vision is of a long-term bilateral partnership with Myanmar, a partnership based on mutually beneficial cooperation, trust, friendship and understanding. Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, may I now request you to join me in a toast: to the health and happiness of His Excellency Vice Senior General Maung Aye and Madame Daw Mya Mya San, to the continuing friendship and cooperation between India and Myanmar, and, to the progress and prosperity of our two peoples and countries.