Myanmar army chief General Soe Win ties a badge on a passout at the Officers Training Academy in Gaya on Saturday. Picture by Suman

Gaya, Dec. 14: The introduction of the chief of army staff banner added a new dimension to the passing out parade of the fourth batch of cadets at the Officers Training Academy (OTA) this morning.

A total of 172 cadets, including 40 under special commissioner officers (SCOs) and 132 under technical entry scheme (TES), who completed their yearlong basic military training, took part in the parade.

General Soe Win, the deputy commander-in-chief, defence services and Myanmar army commander-in-chief, reviewed the parade.

In his address to the cadets, General Win said India and Myanmar shared bilateral relations since a long time.

He presented the prestigious chief of army staff banner to the Kalidhar company for the overall best collective performance for the 2013 autumn term.

The general presented gold and silver medals to Mukesh Kumar Odd and Hawa Singh Yadav respectively under the SCO category.

He gave away gold, silver and bronze medals to Pushpendra Choudhary, Shubham Joshi and Bilal Ahmad Khan respectively under the TES category.