New Delhi, India (CNN) -- Indian officials welcomed the top leader of Myanmar's military junta Sunday in a visit aimed at strengthening diplomatic and economic ties between the neighboring countries.
Gen. Than Shwe is on a five-day trip to India, where he is scheduled to tour sacred Buddhist sites, greet Indian officials at a ceremonial reception in the presidential palace and visit the shrine to Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi before holding talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
In 1951, the two nations signed what they called a "treaty of friendship," and over the past few years, bilateral trade has soared to almost $1 billion, according to Indian officials.
Several Indian companies have invested in Myanmar's energy sector. And India's main space agency has helped set up a data-processing center in Yangon for remote-sensing applications, India's external affairs ministry says.
The visit comes several days after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged India and other countries in the region to push Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, to comply with UN human rights resolutions and nuclear nonproliferation agreements.
CNN
