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