EU FMs hope to break ASEM summit deadlock

EU FMs hope to break ASEM summit deadlock

THE NETHERLANDS: European Union foreign ministers met on Friday in a bid to break a deadlock with their Asian partners over whether to let military-ruled Myanmar take part in a joint conference next month.

Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot, whose country holds the six-month EU presidency, said he and his 24 colleagues would try to "strike a balance between the importance of a strategic relation with Asia and the critical attitude of the EU" toward human rights abuses in Myanmar.

Bot told reporters that Myanmar would be the first item on the agenda at two days of informal talks at this town in the southern Netherlands and said: "I hope to reach a conclusion today."

A final decision will "be formalized" at a meeting on Sept. 13 and Sept. 14, he said.

The EU is scheduled to meet with seven members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) plus China, Japan and South Korea in Hanoi on Oct. 8 and Oct. 9 for a Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) summit. -- AFP