State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi will travel to India in the coming days for a visit that will include a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the government said.
Aung San Suu Kyi will attend a summit in the western state of Goa before beginning a state visit from October 17 to 19, the foreign ministry announced in state-controlled media on October 13.
It will be the State Counsellor’s first visit to India since taking office.
The summit on October 16 will bring together members of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation, BIMSTEC, that comprises Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal, and the BRICS grouping of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
As well as talks with Mr Modi in New Delhi after the summit, Aung San Suu Kyi will meet President Pranab Mukherjee and Minister of External Affairs, Ms Sushma Swaraj, AFP reported.
Support more independent journalism like this. Sign up to be a Frontier member.
“The visit of the State Counsellor will provide an opportunity for the two sides to discuss issues of mutual interest and seek ways to further strengthen the close and friendly ties that exist between the two countries,” the Indian foreign ministry said in a statement, AFP said.
It said the talks in New Delhi were expected to touch on security issues concerning the border shared by the two countries.
India says militants in its remote northeast have training camps in Myanmar. A cross-border raid by Indian commandoes in June last year was said to have resulted in the deaths of dozens of militants.
Aung San Suu Kyi last visited in India in 2012, two years after she was freed from house arrest.
India had strongly supported her struggle against the junta in the 1980s and 1990s but later began a dialogue with the generals at a time when Myanmar was still subject to Western sanctions.
