Myanmar Elections '26: The Headline That Missed Global Attention

The West appears to have lost interest in the junta of the Southeast Asian country for various reasons. Geography could be one of them. Besides, the junta’s inward-looking approach does not threaten the West's interests. The natural resources of Myanmar no longer seem attractive, even though they boost China’s supply chains.

Myanmar's military junta is holding a general election for elected seats in the Amyotha Hluttaw and the Pyithu Hluttaw of the Assembly of the Union (currently dissolved) in three phases, which began on 28 December 2025. This will conclude on 25 January 2026. 

The election is the first after the 2021 military coup d'état. The second phase of the elections was held on January 11. The junta-backed party is widely expected to form the government. 

India's Strategic Significance In Myanmar 

While the world can choose to ignore Myanmar, India cannot. The India-Myanmar land border stretches for about 1,600 km. The Sittwe port in Myanmar, built by India, has immense strategic significance. 

Ties are deep, and they are both civilisational and strategic. Myanmar, or Burma, as it was called earlier, is India’s gateway to Southeast Asia via the land connectivity route. Over the decades, the Indian military has widened its ties with its Myanmar counterpart to combat the cross-border movement of insurgents and balance Chinese inroads. In fact, defence and security cooperation, too, has strengthened over the years. 

This includes high-level visits, Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) on border cooperation, training, army, and air force, among others. The Myanmar junta has often attempted to balance China by developing ties with both India and Russia.

Cooperation, Bilateral Engagement

But it is not just military-to-military ties that interest India: development cooperation has long been a prominent feature in India’s overall bilateral engagement with Myanmar. 

India’s involvement and assistance extends from the setting up of major connectivity infrastructure to other significant initiatives in establishing long-term, sustainable, and relevant institutions for capacity-building and human resource development in some of the critical areas, including agricultural research, rural infrastructure, healthcare and education, IT and skill development. 

India also extends a considerable amount of assistance by way of concessional finance for multiple projects in transport, communications, agriculture, farm mechanisation, and highway development for its neighbour. The total portfolio involving Indian assistance is approximately $1.5 billion, of which projects worth nearly $1 billion are completely grant-funded.

Kaladan Multimodal Transit Transport Corridor

The Kaladan Multimodal Transit Transport Corridor (KMTTC) Project is one of the most significant projects undertaken by India in Myanmar, aiming at creating a multimodal transport corridor for the shipment of cargo from the eastern ports of India to Myanmar, as well as from the northeastern part of India.

The project includes a waterway component of 158 km on the Kaladan river, from Sittwe to Paletwa, and a road component of 109 km from Paletwa to Zorinpui on the India-Myanmar border in Mizoram. Despite conflict in and around Sittwe, India has been able to hold on to the port. 

The India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway is the other major connectivity project in which New Delhi is actively involved. Once all logistics have been in place, this highway will enable Indian goods to reach Thailand via road, and vice versa.  

India-Myanmar Bilateral Trade

A lesser-known fact is that India has traditionally been a major trading partner of Myanmar. The bilateral trade stood at $2.1 billion in 2024-25, which includes India’s export of over $614 million and import of around $1,533 million. Trade between the two countries has been rising. 

The overall trade in 2020-21 was about $1.29 billion, rising to $1.89 billion in 2021-22. It was $1.76 billion in 2022-23, and $1.74 billion in 2023-24.

India has become the fourth-largest trading partner of Myanmar. In order to boost bilateral trade and ensure the smooth flow of goods, besides enhancing the usage of local currencies, a Rupee-Kyat trade settlement mechanism was operationalised from 25 January 2024. 

Operation Brahma

While the international community looked the other way during Myanmar’s worst humanitarian crisis in 2025, India stepped forward. In the wake of the devastating earthquake that struck Myanmar in March 2025, India launched "Operation Brahma", a comprehensive humanitarian rescue and relief exercise to provide immediate support to the people affected in Myanmar.

Moreover, Myanmar is rich in rare earth, particularly minerals required for electric vehicles. Currently, China has the maximum share of Myanmar’s rare earth exports. India has taken nascent steps to harness rare earths from Myanmar.

The significance of Myanmar for India cannot be downplayed or ignored. It forms the pillar of India’s Act East Policy. Managing ties with this neighbour will be key to achieving foreign policy success.

(The writer is a commentator on geopolitics and geoeconomics. Views are personal).