India's foreign minister visits Myanmar

NEW DELHI: Indian Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna flew to Myanmar on Monday, the first high-level contact with the new government in a country where India is keen to counter China's growing influence.

Once a staunch supporter of Myanmar's democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, India began engaging with the ruling junta in the mid-1990s over security and energy issues.

Krishna made no comment on whether he would meet with Suu Kyi during his two-day visit, but India sources said no talks had been scheduled with the Nobel peace laureate.

The foreign minister will be the highest-ranking Indian official to visit Myanmar since elections in November -- the first in 20 years -- resulted in the new nominally civilian but army-backed government.

Suu Kyi, who was freed from long-term house arrest shortly after the elections, had refused, along with her National League for Democracy party, to participate in the polls, saying the rules were unfair.

In a departure statement, Krishna said talks would focus on "enhancing security cooperation" and collaboration in fields like energy and infrastructure.

As well as needing the Myanmar military's help to counter Indian separatists along their common border, India is eyeing oil and gas fields and hydroelectric projects in the country.

It is also keeping a wary eye on China. Beijing, a long-time ally of the Myanmar junta, has shielded the country from UN sanctions over rights abuses as a veto-wielding, permanent member of the Security Council.

"India has come to realise that China has been showing more than the normal interest in the Indian Ocean affairs," Krishna had told parliament after two Chinese warships docked for a rare visit in Yangon last August.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011