Myanmar’s Vice Senior General Maung Aye, second in hierarchy to Senior General Than Shwe arrived in New Delhi for a four-day official visit on April 2. During his meetings with President Pratibha Patil, Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and EAM Pranab Mukherjee, Gen. Aye exchanged views on the state of the bilateral relations between the two countries1. Reports also noted that New Delhi had decided to undertake multimillion dollar investments to build a seaport as well as transportation systems in Myanmar to help improve India’s access to the country and also to facilitate Myanmar’s economic growth2.

In domestic developments, even as reports indicated that May 10 has been set as the date for the nationwide referendum on a new constitution drafted by the government-formed State Constitution Drafting Commission, the National League for Democracy (NLD) requested the people to cast a 'NO' vote in the constitutional referendum. The NLD charged that the referendum favored the continuation of military rule3.

Other reports noted that the almost 300 per cent hike in import duties levied on goods from China has greatly affected the border trade between the two countries4.

• 1. “Burma Army's number two man arrives in India,” Mizzima News, April 2, 2008 at http://www.mizzima.com/MizzimaNews/News/2008/April/08-April-2008.html
• 2. “India, Myanmar sign multimillion-dollar transport deal” The Associated Press, April 3, 2008 at http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/04/03/asia/AS-GEN-India-Myanmar.php
• 3. “NLD urges people to cast a 'NO' vote on constitution” Mizzima News, April 3, 2008 at http://www.mizzima.com/MizzimaNews/News/2008/April/10-April-2008.html
• 4. “Import duty hike creates stalemate on Sino-Burma border,” Mizzima News, April 7, 2008 at http://www.mizzima.com/MizzimaNews/News/2008/April/17-April-2008.html