ASEAN, EU end landmark conference

ASEAN, EU end landmark conference

VIENTIANE (AP): A European Union minister praised Myanmar's military junta on Tuesday for agreeing to free opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest and to allow an EU delegation to meet with the Nobel Peace Prize laureate next month.

"There is much to be done, but I am encouraged by their response," said John Battle, the British minister of state for Commonwealth, calling the agreement a major breakthrough in the political standoff in Myanmar, also known formerly as Burma.

His statement came as European and Southeast Asian countries ended landmark talks Tuesday, meeting each other halfway on the contentious issue of human rights in Myanmar and agreeing to strengthen their flagging trade ties.

The two-day talks in Laos' capital between the European Union and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) were dominated by Myanmar, which faces widespread criticism for imposing severe restrictions on political activity.

But Charles Josselin, France's minister responsible for cooperation and Francophonie, sounded a note of caution. He intimated the next EU-ASEAN conference, due to be held in Europe, would only take place if improvements in human rights allowed the EU to lift a visa ban against Myanmar leaders.

"We hope that between now and the next conference the situation in Myanmar with regards to democracy and human rights would significantly improve which would enable Europe to host the conference," he told reporters.

The past few months, Myanmar's junta has faced renewed international pressure for putting Suu Kyi and other leaders of her opposition National League for Democracy under virtual house arrest for trying to travel outside Yangon.

Myanmar also faced unprecedented sanctions from the International Labor Organization, which ruled in November that the government had failed to take effective action to end the use of forced labor.

Its image as a pariah state was reinforced by a report issued Tuesday by the London-based human rights organization Amnesty International which charged that torture and ill-treatment have become institutionalized in Myanmar.

This week's foreign ministers' meeting had been held up for the last three years because of differences over Myanmar. In Vientiane, European countries got their way by forcing a discussion on Myanmar.

But ASEAN, which says human rights in Myanmar is an internal issue, ensured that the joint statement issued at the end of the meeting on Tuesday carried a weaker reference to the situation in Myanmar than envisaged by Europe.

The statement noted the efforts by Razali Ismail, the UN secretary-general's special envoy to Myanmar, to forge a reconciliation between Myanmar's junta and Suu Kyi. It also expressed the hope that Razali's efforts would lead to an "early dialogue" between the junta and the NLD.

"What we came importantly to state was that we do all believe that there is a crisis in Burma. ... We want to really put pressure on Burma to suggest that they may want to open up and not continue in the way they have done in the past," said Battle, the British minister.

During the talks, Myanmar Foreign Minister Win Aung gave assurances that his government would lift house arrest restrictions on Suu Kyi and welcome a European team to Myanmar in January, which would be allowed to meet her.

ASEAN ministers said they were happy with the way the meeting went.

"What we want is that people must also understand our perspective. There is no such thing as a meeting of one regional organization trying to impose on the other. It is a partnership of equals," said Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar.

On other subjects, the joint declaration expressed the hope that the meeting would facilitate ASEAN-EU trade and lead to reduction in non-tariff trade barriers. It also supported launching a new round of World Trade Organization talks.

The two sides also expressed support for East Timor's transition to independence, and the efforts of the global community and Indonesia to resolve the problem of East Timorese refugees.