Swaraj on 2-day Myanmar visit, to meet prez, state counsellor Suu Kyi

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj today commenced her two-day visit to Myanmar, during which she will be meeting President Win Myint and State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi.

She will also meet the Commander-in-Chief of the Myanmar armed forces, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing.

Seven agreements on different aspects like capacity-building and renovation of a pagdoa among others are expected to be signed during the visit.

"Neighbourhood first! EAM @SushmaSwaraj emplanes for Nay Pyi Taw on a bilateral visit to Myanmar on 10-11 May. EAM will hold discussions with Myanmar leadership to further reinforce our bilateral ties," Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted as Swaraj left for the neighbouring country.

"This (visit) is a part of the high-level engagement between the two countries. We plan to sign seven documents," Kumar told reporters at the MEA's weekly media briefing.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had visited Myanmar in September last year while Suu Kyi came to India in 2016 to attend the BRICS-BIMSTEC Outreach Summit.

Asked about the impact of Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) on Indo-Russian defence exchanges, Kumar said all issues that concern New Delhi have been raised with Washington.

"There are several such proposals and issues that have been announced by the US government. There are forums which exist between India and the US to address all such issues.

"There have been visits which have taken place. Recently the Foreign Secretary (Vijay Gokhale) was in the US. All issues which are of concern to us have been raised with the US," Kumar said.

The CAATSA was signed into a law in August 2017 and came into effect in January this year. The law mandates the Trump administration to punish entities engaging in significant transaction with the defence or intelligence sectors of Russia.