Naypyitaw, May 27: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrived here this evening — in the footsteps of other world leaders — hoping to make India a new player in dramatic changes unfolding in Myanmar.

Myanmar is where India meets China, geographically and otherwise. What Singh initiates during this trip could be the first step for opening up a new Silk Road, connecting the two countries with the rest of the region. It could also be the start, some have warned, of a new Great Game between the world’s largest rising powers.

Indian officials, however, insist that the country has no “expansionist” interests in forging a new relationship with Myanmar. No prizes for guessing which country is mentioned under the breath as having such interests in Myanmar.

Two things make Singh’s visit significant — he is the first Indian Prime Minister to come to this long-isolated country in 25 years and he comes here to fill an Indian void that was fully exploited by China for several decades.

There have been some preparations, though, for Singh’s visit over the past few years as India built bridges with Myanmar’s military rulers.

Singh’s visit is believed to be the result of the success of the earlier initiatives and of Myanmar’s first tentative steps towards democracy and opening up the country to the outside world.

The team of CEOs of big Indian companies accompanying the Prime Minister underscores New Delhi’s expectations from Singh’s visit.

The Prime Minister himself gave an indication of the importance of his visit here. Prior to leaving New Delhi for the Myanmar’s capital, he said: “India attaches the highest importance to its relations with Myanmar. ...India welcomes Myanmar’s transition to democratic governance and the steps taken by the government of Myanmar towards a more broad-based and inclusive reconciliation process.”

The Prime Minister also looked forward to the “opportunity” of meeting Aung San Suu Kyi at Yangon after his meeting here tomorrow with Myanmar’s President U. Thein Sein and others of his government.

The visit comes at a time when the world, too, is looking at Myanmar with new expectations and strategies. Once a pariah in the international community, which attracted the free world’s scorn and sanctions, Myanmar is suddenly changing into a country the world is making a scramble to reach out and invest.

Japan’s example is a testimony to the new international response to Myanmar. Once the largest donor of aid to the country, it stopped the aid as a mark of condemnation of Myanmar’s brutal suppression of its democracy movement. It is now all set to give Myanmar the “most favoured nation” status.

The Prime Minister’s visit is the final confirmation that India has joined the race in earnest. More than any other country, though, India’s has much more stakes in a new engagement with Myanmar.

First on India’s wish list from Myanmar is, of course, peace and stability on the two countries’ border, where armed and long-drawn ethnic insurgencies have caused security concerns for New Delhi. Four states in India’s Northeast border Myanmar and the insurgencies in Assam, Nagaland and Manipur have survived on the shelter and other support the militants have long received from hideouts inside Myanmar.

India’s first attempts to reach out to Myanmar’s rulers were necessitated by the threats posed by the northeastern militants.

It was also the main reason for New Delhi changing its position on Suu Kyi’s democracy movement.

Almost in a defence of that shift in policy, an Indian official said: “You’ve to deal with whoever is in power. We’ve our own interests, whether it is Nepal, Myanmar or some other neighbour.”

The second most important item on India’s list of “interests” in Myanmar is energy. Although some Indian companies have joined the race for new oil and gas blocks in Myanmar, the sector is hugely dominated by China, which took advantage of the world staying away from Myanmar and penetrated deep into this country’s economic and security systems.

The northeastern question merges into the broader economic issues, as India puts a great deal of emphasis on a new era of road and other forms of connectivity through Myanmar to the rest of the region. The ultimate Indian wish is to open up a corridor for the land-locked northeastern states toward the Bay of Bengal.

Two other areas where Indian and Myanmarese wishes converge are education and telecommunications.

The new urban class in Myanmar expects India to open up fresh frontiers in school and higher education. In this, India is believed to have greater opportunities than China.

Telecommunication in Myanmar is a state monopoly, utterly inefficient and prohibitively expensive for the common people. All that might change with Indian players entering the field and starting a telecommunications revolution here.