ASEAN-EU ties at 'standstill' over Myanmar

ASEAN-EU ties at 'standstill' over Myanmar

BANGKOK (Agencies): The European Union's (EU) political dialog with Asia's largest trading bloc is at a "standstill" and will not resume until Myanmar improves its human rights record, a senior EU official said on Friday.

Michel Caillouet, head of the European Commission's delegation in Thailand, said the EU was looking for "some nice evolution" in military-run Myanmar before dialogue could resume with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

But he said there appeared to be no progress on the political front since the cancellation of an EU-ASEAN foreign ministers' meeting in Berlin earlier this year.

"On the political level we are still at a standstill," he told reporters at a press briefing here.

"We (the EU) are very firm on the principles of democracy and human rights."

He said a low-key meeting of officials from the two blocks scheduled to take place here next week marked the resumption of "technical dialog," which has been on ice since Myanmar became a member of ASEAN in 1997.

As a non-signatory of an EU-ASEAN cooperation agreement, Myanmar will be allowed to attend the Joint Cooperation Committee meeting but will not be permitted to speak.

Caillouet said Myanmar would be denied if it asked to become a signatory, primarily because it had no bilateral agreements with Europe on human rights.

The EU in April decided to extend sanctions against Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, in protest against widespread allegations of serious human rights abuses and the junta's denial of the results of 1990 elections.

The sanctions, which include a visa ban against senior Yangon officials, were first applied in 1996 and effectively block ASEAN from attending talks in Europe.

Caillouet said the EU and ASEAN "have a lot to do together ... and we are happy to be able to continue at the technical level."

Meanwhile, Thai officials have abruptly canceled an international trade union conference expected to discuss forced labor and democracy in neighboring Myanmar, organizers said on Friday.

The conference, months in the planning, was to run next week at the same time as a controversial summit in Bangkok between ASEAN and the EU.

The Singapore-based International Confederation of Free Trade Unions-Asia and Pacific Regional Organizations disclosed on Friday that the Thai government withdrew permission this week for labor the conference, which was to bring together 130 people from 20 countries.

Caillouet told reporters that the EU-ASEAN meeting would go on despite the labor conference's cancellation.

"There is no link between the two programs. The timing appears to be a coincidence," Caillouet said. "We would not be happy, because we support free speech. But there is no link."

The union organization said that the Thai Foreign Ministry had approved the gathering, which was to discuss trade union action in Myanmar, also known as Burma. Members of the Myanmar pro- democracy movement were invited to attend.

In a letter received Thursday, however, the Thai Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare, said that holding the conference "would result in negative effects on the good relations between Thailand and its neighbor."