Ambassador’s Speeches
10th anniversary of signing of Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement 15 October 2025
Speech by Ambassador Abhay Thakur
on the 10th anniversary of signing of Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement
(15 October 2025, Naypyitaw)
His Excellency Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, Acting President of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar,
Esteemed dignitaries,
Representatives of Political Parties and Ethnic Armed Organizations,
Distinguished guests,
Today marks a decade since the signing of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) in 2015, with the aim of establishing a union based on democracy and federalism, in accordance with the outcomes of political dialogue in the spirit of Panglong. In its quest for achieving lasting peace in Myanmar, the NCA has served as the leading institutional framework for dialogue between the Government of Myanmar and the EAOs.
Signing of the NCA was a watershed moment in Myanmar’s history. It embodied the shared determination of diverse ethnic communities to set aside conflict and work out mutually acceptable federal democratic arrangements to achieve lasting peace. It is this spirit of the NCA that must be nurtured and strengthened.
In this context, India welcomes the slogan for this 10th NCA anniversary “From NCA to Sustainable Peace: Shaping our Future”. Since NCA is the one available framework for addressing longstanding internal issues in Myanmar, we strongly urge all its signatories and non-signatories to make full use of the NCA mechanism for holding substantive discussions and achieving concrete, negotiated and sustainable outcomes, rooted in the principles of democracy and federalism. The future of Myanmar depends on the success of the NCA process.
As the largest democracy in the world, with over 1.4 billion people having 22 official languages living together in peace in the fourth largest and fastest growing major economy in the world with one tax structure and one unified digital public infrastructure, India has been privileged to share her experiences in constitutionalism and federalism with Myanmar, including holding 2 lecture series and 2 workshops in the last 2 years. With the participants, we have gone into details of legislative and administrative separation of powers as well as taxation and revenue sharing between the Centre and the States in India. We had also discussed the sixth schedule of the Constitution of India on special administrative provisions and autonomy for certain ethnic or tribal areas in North-East India. While doing so, we have always stood for a solution that is Myanmar-led and Myanmar-owned, best suited for the country.
Myanmar lies at the confluence of India’s key foreign policy priorities – Neighbourhood First, Act East and MAHASAGAR (Mutual and Holistic Advancement for Security and Growth Across Regions) including the Indo-Pacific. India has always stood by Myanmar as its trusted neighbour and partner, with age-old civilizational, spiritual and people-to-people ties. We share a 1643 km land border and 1060 km maritime border with Myanmar, so the conflict in Myanmar impacts us directly. We naturally have a huge stake in the cessation of violence and maintenance of peace and tranquility in Myanmar.
In conclusion, I would like to express our hope that the NCA will promote engagement and discussions among all relevant stakeholders, without unrealistic preconditions. In a country as diverse and as resource-rich as Myanmar, peace and stability can be brought only through concessions and compromises by all stakeholders, working within a united Myanmar. The peace process must embrace all stakeholders and all stakeholders must find space in the dialogue. The goal of a federal democratic republic can be realized only through political dialogue and negotiations, in a spirit of give and take, rooted in a free, fair, federal, inclusive and credible democratic process.
Thank you. May peace and unity flourish in Myanmar and our shared region.
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