India backs a Myanmar-led peace process, says Jaishankar

India supports a “Myanmar-led and Myanmar-owned” peace process that can deliver lasting peace and development for all in the Southeast Asian country, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said on Wednesday (March 4, 2026).

A military-backed party had won the Myanmar general election in January.

Mr. Jaishankar was speaking virtually at the inauguration of the Sarsobeikman Literary Centre building in the heart of Yangon. The building has been constructed with New Delhi’s assistance.

The Minister highlighted the importance India attaches to its ties with Myanmar saying the country lies at the confluence of New Delhi’s three key foreign policy priorities: ‘Neighbourhood First’, ‘Act East’, and MAHASAGAR (Mutual and Holistic Advancement for Security and Growth Across Regions).

Myanmar is one of India’s strategic neighbours and shares a 1,640-kilometre-long border with a number of northeastern States, including strife-torn Manipur. The country has been witnessing widespread violent protests after the military seized power in a coup on February 1, 2021.

“As the world’s largest democracy with 1.4 billion people living together in peace and harmony, India has regularly shared its experiences in federalism and constitutionalism with stakeholders in Myanmar,” Mr. Jaishankar said. “We support an inclusive, Myanmar-led and Myanmar-owned peace process, that can deliver lasting peace and development for all in Myanmar,” he added.

He said the Sarsobeikman Centre will support the conservation and study of classical and folk literatures of Myanmar, as well as translation, archival work, creative writing, and scholarly exchanges.

“Our multifaceted engagement, includes political, trade, security and cultural cooperation. When it comes to development cooperation, our engagement with Myanmar has been people-centric and demand-driven, aimed towards strengthening local economies and improving lives,” the Minister said.

Mr. Jaishankar said India and Myanmar have been bound together for centuries by spirituality, kinship and geography, as well as by language and literature.

“As Buddhism and Pali language and literature travelled across South Asia, they carried with them ideas, texts, and a shared intellectual heritage,” he said.