it is actually better we connect with north myanmar road and rail network at more amenable points along the border and source goods from ASEAN region via that channel , as well as export from NE. the chinese have moved in bigtime into north myanmar and if we ignore and not compete it will be tough later.
NE is in decades long economic atrophy due to closed borders on 3 sides and economically "troubled" states like bihar and WB on the other with no exportable surplus of industry or importable high growth sink for workers. there are FAR more NEers in NCR, pune, mumbai, hyd, chennai and blr than in kolkata
north myanmar is a rain deficient area and many parts are dusty and bone dry. but culturally buddhist and contiguous to our NE people in ethnic terms, we should fit right in.
in my opinion we should also strengthen the road and rail network with bangladesh. right now we have all the cons (illegal migration, smuggling, terrorism) and none of the pros (tourism, trade, easier travel from tripura, manipur, nagaland to kolkata and so on. the pros will not make the cons go away immediately, but we can expect the BD political and economic elite to benefit hugely from such activity as opposed to expecting handouts from KSA/TSP/Cheen. once they start benefitting , it would be in their interest to atleast be neutral if not actively in our camp.
