Next round of Indo-Myanmar Regional Border Committee (CRB) meeting would be held between representatives of Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and government of Myanmar on June 26 and 27 in Kolkata to discuss security, militancy and narcotics related issues.

This would be the first official delegation meeting after the two-day Myanmar visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on May 27 and 28 last.

The 15-odd member Indian delegation would be represented by MHA Joint Secretary Shambhu Singh. Apart from the Joint Secretary level meetings which would be held half yearly from now on, the army of the two countries too would meet more often.

There would be quarterly meeting of border level officers, deputy commissioners and superintendents of police. These meetings were aimed at cementing the friendly bonds between the two countries and increasing cooperation to tackle problems of militancy and drug trafficking.

The Kolkata meeting was scheduled to discuss the steps taken by both sides to reduce border crimes and movement of drug peddlers, the presence of anti-Indian militant outfits along the 1,643 km long, mostly unfenced, Indo-Myanmar international border, exchange of intelligence inputs and sharing of interrogation reports of arms smugglers caught in Myanmar.

In the last RBC meeting held on May 8, at the 57 Mountain Division Headquarter at Leimakhong in Manipur, Shambhu Singh and his counterpart had discussed security related issues and the entry of illegal drug from Myanmar to India.

The Myanmarese delegation, however, complained that different Indian armed groups often kidnap Indian businessmen and others for ransom, sometimes even resort to killing.

These armed groups often cross the border and take shelter in Myanmar side. Both sides agreed for a Coordinated Border Management action plan which was likely to take a concrete shape in the forthcoming Joint Secretary level meeting in Kolkata.

Besides, Indian is set to offer more equipments and training programme for the Myanmar narcotic board staff members to effectively prevent the entry of illegal drugs into India’s Northeastern states.

India has already been helping Myanmar with road building equipments, drug detection equipments, vehicles, computers etc.