Prime Minister meets Suu Kyi, invites her to India; Years of friendship stressed
Source: The Sangai Express / Agencies
Yangon, May 29 2012:
Ushering a new bondage with Myanmar, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday met Nobel laureate and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Yangon and also gave her an invitation from Congress supremo Sonia Gandhi to visit India.
The PM was accompanied by his wife Gursharan Kaur as they met Suu Kyi, who known for her unrelenting fight is instrumental in bringing back democracy in the nation which only witnessed military rule for decades.
The meeting, which was considered to be one of the crucial points during the visit of the Indian Prime Minister to Myanmar, took place for around 45 minutes.
"It has been a great honour and great privilege for me to have had this opportunity of interacting and meeting with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
We in India are very proud of our longstanding association with her and members of her family including her parents," Singh said in a media statement.
Singh handed over the invitation letter to Suu Kyi to deliver a lecture at the next Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Lecture in India.
"I have handed over to her the invitation letter to deliver the next Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Lecture which is a very prestigious lecture.
Mrs.Sonia Gandhi has written an invitation letter to Madam to do us the honour to deliver this lecture in India," he said.
"Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's life, her struggle, and her determination have inspired millions of people all over the world.
Our sincere belief is that in the Process of National Reconciliation which has been launched by President Thein Sein, Madam Suu Kyi will play a defining role," he said.
Suu Kyi accepted Singh's invitation and said: "I am very gratified by the invitation to deliver the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Lecture, and I hope that I will be able to take up this invitation before too long" .
She said India and Myanmar share deep ties of friendship for several years.
"India and Burma have been particularly close over the years not just because of our geographical positions but because we have shared deep ties of friendship for many many long years," she said in a media statement.
The leader said her parents were 'great admirers' of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and other Indian leaders.
"The struggle for India's independence took place at the same time as the struggle for Burma's independence.
My parents were great admirers of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and other Indian leaders, but we were particularly close to Panditji as I was taught to call him from a very young age," she said.
"I am very happy at the prospect of closer ties with India because I think we have much to learn from one another and we have much to contribute to peace and stability in this region, because our goals, our democratic goals, work on the basis of peace and stability, and these are what we shall aim towards," she said.
"I hope that there will be greater exchanges between our two peoples.
As I said to the Prime Minister, true friendship between the countries can be based only on friendship between our peoples, and this is what I hope we will be able to achieve," she said.
Singh began a three-day visit to Myanmar on Sunday.
The Prime Minister is visiting Myanmar at the invitation of Myanmar President U Thein Sein.
Singh was accorded a ceremonial welcome in Nay Pyi Taw and Sein hosted a banquet in his honour.
This visit is not only Singh's first visit to Myanmar, but also the the first visit by an Indian Prime Minister to the country after a gap of 25 years.