India commits $25 million to develop Myanmar's Rakhine state

India and Myanmar have signed an MoU with New Delhi pledging $25 million to develop Rakhine state, from where thousands of Rohingya Muslims have fled to Bangladesh following a military crackdown, it was announced on Thursday.

"The amount of commitment is $25 million over five years, which is an indicative figure and depends on the actual requirement and utilisation," external affairs ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said.

"There are several



aspects of the discussions and what we intend to do with Myanmar and how we intend to help them with the objective of restoration of normalcy in Rakhine state and enable the return of the displaced persons," he said.

He said India would welcome any effort between Myanmar and any other country which could help this process.

The memorandum of understanding was signed during foreign secretary S Jaishankar's visit to Myanmar on Wednesday.