India, Burma in military and trade talks

ABC
Indian leaders have urged Burma's government to engage with the detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi as they build towards planned elections.

That was the message in trade and military talks in New Delhi on Wednesday between Burma's vice-senior General Maung Aye and the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Vice President Hamid Ansari.

A statement issued by India's foreign ministry praised Burma's "positive steps" but said more needed to be done.

"Noting the positive steps being taken by Myanmar towards national reconciliation... the premier underlined the need for Myanmar to expedite the process and make it broad-based to include all sections of society, including Aung San Suu Kyi and the various ethnic groups in Myanmar," the statement said.

India repeated its criticism of tighter American and European sanctions introduced after Burma arrested 3,000 people in a violent crackdown on pro-democracy protests last year.

"The vice president conveyed that India did not believe that sanctions were helpful and that it may well prove to be counter-productive," the foreign ministry statement said.

On Wednesday the two countries also signed several new accords, including one that will see $US130 million worth of Indian investment in Burma's Sittwe port near the Bay of Bengal.

"This will give India's landlocked northeast access to a new trade route to Southeast Asia," a commerce ministry official told reporters.

The meeting came as Aung San Suu Ky's pro-democracy party urged Burmese voters to reject an army-backed constitution in a referendum next month.

India has come under international scrutiny for its ties to Burma, with experts saying New Delhi supplies combat vehicles, light artillery, helicopter gunships and sidearms to Rangoon, under a deal aimed at controlling cross-border militancy in northeast India.