Myanmar President U Min Aung Hlaing assured Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday (June 1, 2026) that Myanmarese territory would not be allowed to use against India’s security interests, as the two leaders held wide-ranging talks to boost bilateral ties in trade, defence, and energy.

Aung Hlaing is on a five-day trip to India. The visit comes less than two months after he became the President following Myanmar’s Parliamentary elections.

The elections were held in December and January after years of protests against the ruling military-junta that seized power in a coup on February 1, 2021 overthrowing the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, responding to a question on Suu Kyi, said the Prime Minister did raise the issue with the visiting President, and that the discussion was largely in the context of the peace process that has been underway in Myanmar. Explaining India’s consistent position on the issue, the foreign secretary added that India has been supporting enduring peace, inclusion, and the need to have all stakeholders at the table.

“It was a bit of a free-wheeling discussion. I should underline that our engagement with Myanmar is not intended to be a commentary on the internal political arrangement in that country,” he said.

Mr. Misri said the talks between the two sides focused on the entire gamut of bilateral issues that included trade and economic ties, defence and security related issues, border management, development assistance as well as the regional situation.

Both sides expressed interest in forging closer cooperation, particularly in areas of trade and investment, health, education, energy, and critical technologies like artificial intelligence.

“The prime minister reaffirmed India’s support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Myanmar and both sides underscored the importance of preventing the misuse of sovereign territory for activities inimical to their security interests,” the foreign secretary said.

“The President of Myanmar, in particular, reiterated the assurance that Myanmar’s territory would not be permitted to be used against India’s security interests,” he added.

Myanmar is one of India’s strategic neighbours and it shares a 1,640-kilometer-long border with a number of northeastern states including militancy-hit Nagaland and Manipur.

“Overall, this visit by the Myanmar President has once again reaffirmed the shared commitment of both sides to deepen their long-standing partnership and to work together for mutual benefit, growth and prosperity in the region,” Mr. Misri said.

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on Sunday met Aung Hlaing and discussed key issues relating to bilateral ties.

The Myanmarese leader is accompanied by a high-level delegation comprising several Cabinet Ministers, senior officials and business leaders.

Aung Hlaing was earlier scheduled to visit New Delhi to participate in the International Big Cat Alliance Summit on June 1, which has been deferred.

The Myanmarese President will also travel to Mumbai on June 2 for business and industry interactions and site visits.

India will follow a ‘pragmatic’ policy on Myanmar, said a senior official on Friday (May 29, 2026), indicating that criticism aimed at Indian policymakers for engaging Myanmar’s President U Min Aung Hlaing would not deter Delhi from forging ties with the military-backed regime of Myanmar. The remarks were shared with The Hindu a day before Mr. Min Aung Hlaing arrives in India for a five-day visit on Saturday (May 30, 2026).

A senior official pointed out the need to be realistic about India’s neighbourhood as otherwise extra-regional powers may take advantage of the situation.

Responding to questions from reporters during the weekly press briefing on Friday (May 29), Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal emphasised that India and Myanmar have “civilisational ties”, indicating that the two sides have to take care of the broader relationship. Earlier, announcing the visit, the MEA had said Mr. Min Aung Hlaing’s visit would “further strengthen and deepen the multi-faceted relations between the two countries”.

“There is also an important business component of the visit which is how the two countries can strengthen the economic ties as well. All issues that form the gamut of relations between Myanmar and India will come up for discussion,” said Mr. Jaiswal in response to a question on whether India would raise issues related to security and connectivity projects during the visit.

To meet PM Modi

Mr. Min Aung Hlaing will arrive at the Gaya International Airport on Saturday (May 30) and proceed to the Mahabodhi Temple, which will be followed by his visit to the Sujata Temple. He will arrive here in the afternoon and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar will be the first to call on him. On Sunday (May 31), the Myanmar’s President will attend a Myanmar-India Business Forum, which will be followed by a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and press statements at the Hyderabad House. He will call on President Droupadi Murmu after that. On June 2, he will proceed to Mumbai for meeting industrialists and investors. The May 30-June 3 visit has attracted attention of pro-democracy groups, which have been fighting the military junta since the 2021 coup that toppled the government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

Myanmar’s opposition’s members, based in New Delhi, tried to organise a protest in Jantar Mantar on Friday (May 29) but the individuals were detained after the Delhi Police refused them permission. Exiled pro-democracy activist and editor of the Mizzima news Soe Mynt said Mr. Min Aung Hlaing, who was earlier the Senior General and Chairman of the State Security and Peace Commission before the election of December 2025-January 2026, did not consider India as an adversary. “That is the reason that India and Mr. Min Aung Hlaing are able to build a working relationship. A visit to India is more important for him than a visit to China, which is not a democracy. In comparison, by visiting India, which is the largest democracy, he hopes to gain some credibility for his government, both at home and abroad,” said Mr. Mynt.

India had tried to build dialogue between various Ethnic Armed Organisations (EAOs) and the junta prior to the election but the junta did not relax control over the polity and chose to go for the tightly controlled election which did not include Myanmar’s opposition, raising questions over the polls that led to the transition of Mr. Min Aung Hlaing from a military to a civilian position.

Myanmar President U Min Aung Hlaing will visit India from May 30 to June 3, the External Affairs Ministry announced on Thursday (May 28, 2026). This will be the first foreign visit by President Min Aung Hlaing since he won the controversial election (December 2025-January 2026) that excluded political parties of the opposition.

The opposition’s National Unity Government (NUG) has protested against the announced visit, describing Mr. Min Aung Hlaing as a “terrorist junta leader” who is attacking Myanmar’s people.

“Myanmar lies at the confluence of India’s neighbourhood First, Act East and MAHASAGAR policies. The official visit of President U Min Aung Hlaing to India is expected to further strengthen and deepen the multi-faceted relations between the two countries,” the Ministry said. The visit will be keenly watched as it comes against the backdrop of intensifying Myanmar military attacks on rebel targets in Chin state, close to Mizoram, that is known for rare earth minerals. The attacks have increased against Ethnic Armed Organisations in Kachin and Karen states.

India-based Myanmar opposition groups have announced they will hold protests coinciding with the visit.

The President of Myanmar will begin his visit from Bodh Gaya where he is expected to offer prayers at the Maha Bodhi temple and meet resident Myanmar nationals and monks. The Ministry said the President will be accompanied by a “high-level delegation comprising several Cabinet Ministers, senior officials, and business leaders”. He will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 1 and participate in a Myanmar-India business forum in Delhi. He is next scheduled to visit Mumbai for meetings with business leaders and industrialists.

Soe Myint, editor of online news outlet Mizzima, said that Mr. Min Aung Hlaing, who is transitioning from the role of a military ruler to a civilian leader, will use the visit to deal with border management, arms smuggling and drugs trafficking. In the just-concluded Quad Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, the issue of scam centres in Southeast Asia featured prominently and the matter is expected to come up during discussion with the Myanmar side. In the recent past, India has airlifted hundreds of workers who were employed in scam centres inside Myanmar near the Thailand border.

Mr. Min Aung Hlaing was the Senior General and Chairman of the State Security and Peace Commission before the election was won by an army-backed political party that was criticised widely as a front to perpetuate the military junta’s grip over political power. Mr. Min Aung Hlaing had orchestrated the 2021 coup that toppled the government of Aung San Suu Kyi. He met Prime Minister Modi on August 31, 2025, in Tianjin on the sidelines of the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.

Responding to the news of the official visit, Myanmar’s exiled NUG has written to External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar saying it was “deeply concerned” about the visit. The NUG urged India not to grant political legitimacy to Mr. Min Aung Hlaing who overthrew the democratic government of Myanmar in 2021.

Quoting Salai Dokhar, founder of the pressure group ‘India for Myanmar’, news outlet DVB has reported that the India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway Project is also expected to be part of the talks. The project was expected to connect Moreh in Manipur with Mae Sot in Thailand through Myanmar, and the project has been halted by the civil war-like situation in Myanmar.