New Delhi: India will build a multi-million dollar seaport and transportation system in Myanmar as it presses ahead with investment in its much-criticised neighbour.

The $120 million (Dh 440 million) deal was inked on Wednesday by officials during a meeting between the second-highest member of Myanmar's ruling junta, Vice Senior Gen. Maung Aye, and Indian Vice President Mohammad Hamid Ansari.

India has been investing in Myanmar despite international calls for sanctions on the Southeast Asian country's military government, which violently suppressed pro-democracy protests several months ago.

Earlier, Indian officials said India would upgrade waterways and highways along Myanmar's Kaladan River and develop the port of Sittway in the country's northwest as part of the project.


India has established deep economic and military ties with Myanmar's ruling junta over the past decade and has said it believes talking quietly is a better approach than sanctions.