India and Myanmar strengthen rare earth mining ties
India is significantly deepening its strategic cooperation with Burma in the critical minerals and rare earths sector. The bilateral expansion comes as New Delhi aggressively seeks alternative supply chains for resources vital to green energy and high-tech manufacturing, which are currently dominated by neighboring China.
India’s Ambassador to Burma Abhay Thakur outlined the rapidly accelerating momentum between the two nations over the past two years on Wednesday. Indian technical teams specializing in rare earths and critical minerals dispatched two official delegations to Burma in December 2024 and February.
The issue received high-level focus during a visit to India by regime leader Min Aung Hlaing. “India’s need for harnessing critical minerals, coupled with the benefits to Burma from sustainable mining, presents solid, win-win, short and long-term opportunities,” Ambassador Thakur told delegates in Mandalay. Read more on our website
Min Aung Hlaing to meet Thailand’s Prime Minister
Min Aung Hlaing will meet with Thailand’s Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul in Bangkok Aug. 6-7, Thai Foreign and Deputy Prime Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow told media at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Manila, Philippines, on Tuesday.
Sihasak confirmed the meeting between Min Aung Hlaing and Anutin Charnvirakul after what he said was a “frank and candid” discussion with ASEAN foreign ministers in Manila on how best to bring Burma’s regime, which seized power during the military coup on Feb. 1, 2021, back into high-level summits and meetings since it was excluded in October 2021.
Min Aung Hlaing agreed to the Five Point Consensus, the regional bloc’s peace plan, in April 2021 but did not implement it upon return to Burma. The upcoming bilateral summit with Thailand comes as it pushes a “dual-track” approach to address pressing border issues, even as ASEAN is criticized for breaking its five-year-long freeze. Read more on our website
ASEAN wants long-term Special Envoy for Myanmar crisis
ASEAN foreign ministers have reaffirmed their commitment to advancing a lasting, “Myanmar-owned and Myanmar-led” resolution to the country’s ongoing crisis since the 2021 military coup, following high-level deliberations during the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Manila on Wednesday.
Addressing the media, Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Ma. Theresa P. Lazaro—who also serves as the 2026 ASEAN Chair’s Special Envoy on Burma—stated that regional leaders remain firmly committed to the Five-Point Consensus as the core framework for restoring peace and regional stability.
“Through these meetings, I am optimistic about our commitment to assist Myanmar in achieving a lasting solution that is Myanmar-owned and Myanmar-led, and one that ultimately will benefit the Myanmar peoples,” Lazaro stated during a press briefing in Manila on July 22. Read more on our website
News by Region
ARAKAN—The Arakan Army (AA) has invited local merchants to apply for import permits for 30,000 MMK ($6.90 USD) to bring foreign alcohol brands from the U.K., the U.S., the Netherlands, and Denmark into the 14 townships in the state under its control, which will be valid from August to December.
A merchant, who imports alcohol into Arakan, told DVB on the condition of anonymity that the AA has not yet announced any further details. The AA banned alcohol sales in territory under its control in December 2024 but lifted the ban April 2 to May 30 to allow the sale of alcohol during the Thingyan festival. Read more on our website
MANDALAY—One woman was killed and her husband was injured during Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), or drone strikes, on Singu Township’s Kyautuyway village on Tuesday. Singu, located 58 miles (93 km) north of Mandalay, was recaptured by regime forces from the People’s Defense Force (PDF) on Dec. 18 after it was seized in July 2024.
A PDF member told DVB that the couple returned to the village to collect food items after having fled their home in June. Residents living in villages along the Irrawaddy River in Singu have been forced to flee their homes due to regime air and artillery attacks since July 12, according to local media reports.
YANGON—A mixed martial arts fighter and political prisoner named Phoe Thaw, who was due to be released from Insein Prison in September, was charged by the Bahan Township police station with an additional offence under Section 51(c) of the Counter-Terrorism Law on an undisclosed date in July.
Phoe Thaw was convicted under the Explosive Substances Act and sentenced to seven years following his arrest in May 2021 after an explosion at a gym he worked at. A source told DVB that he won’t be released due to his notoriety as a pro-democracy activist and former fighter.
(Exchange rate: $1 USD = 4,340 MMK)
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