April 01, 2008	Tuesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 23, 1429

NEW DELHI, March 31: India is likely to sign a deal with Myanmar this week to develop a port and build waterways and roads there, an official said on Monday, as New Delhi vies with China for access to Myanmar’s oil and gas reserves.

The deal, to be signed during the visit of the junta number two Maung Aye to New Delhi beginning on April 2, is aimed at cutting travel time between the Indian mainland and its remote northeast, officials say.

But it will also give India a foothold on the Myanmar city of Sittwe, on an island near the mouth of the Kaladan river, which will become the onshore hub of Myanmar’s gas industry once vast reserves in the Shwe fields in the Bay of Bengal are developed.—Reuters