EU has conditions for Myanmar acceptance

EU has conditions for Myanmar acceptance

SINGAPORE (Agencies): Myanmar must allow visits by human rights groups and take concrete steps towards democracy before the European Union will accept it on equal terms as other ASEAN members, the EU Council president said on Tuesday.

Tarja Halonen, also Finland's foreign affairs minister, said the EU has set conditions for its dealings with Myanmar that included "the opening of the country for UN experts and other eminent organizations" to observe human rights conditions.

The EU also wants "concrete steps in the democratic process including discussion with the opposition", she told Reuters in an interview.

The EU has imposed sanctions because of Myanmar's treatment of its pro-democracy opposition led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. Her party won the 1990 election by a landslide, but the military ignored the result and detained many of its members.

The EU would also like to see Myanmar open up to non- governmental organizations and a freer media, she added.

Halonen, who met with Myanmar foreign minister Win Aung in bilateral meetings in Singapore, said she had conveyed to her counterpart what the EU would like to see.

"I had the impression that it was understood, but it remains to be seen which way the implementation will take," she said.

"No one expects any miracles," she said.

EU sanctions, which bar senior Myanmar officials from entering Europe, forced cancellation of an ASEAN-EU foreign ministers' meeting earlier this year after ASEAN said all its members should attend or none would.

The EU said on Tuesday it will not allow Myanmar representatives on proposed Southeast Asian roadshows, aimed at luring investments, pending progress on human rights by Yangon.

The EU made its stand known even as officials said the EU had agreed with ASEAN to work towards resuming an annual ministerial meeting suspended due to differences over Myanmar.

Manuel Marin, acting president of the European Commission, said the EU's economic agreement with the ASEAN covering such issues as investments, trade services and customs standards omitted military-ruled Myanmar.

The EU, which discusses the status of Myanmar twice a year, will review the country's progress at its next general affairs council meeting in September.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.