Hanoi backs Yangon's bid to join ASEAN

Hanoi backs Yangon's bid to join ASEAN

HANOI (Reuter): Vietnam yesterday reiterated its support for Myanmar's early membership in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and called for closer ties with Yangon.

The official Vietnam News Agency said that was the message that Foreign Minister Nguyen Manh Cam had for his Myanmar counterpart, Ohn Gyaw, who arrived in Hanoi on Wednesday.

"Warmly welcoming him...Cam expressed his hope for further development of the Vietnam-Myanmar cooperation and Vietnam's support for early accession of Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia to ASEAN," it said.

Last month's informal ASEAN summit in Indonesia ended with a declaration that the seven-member regional grouping would simultaneously admit Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia as full members. But it gave no date for when that might happen.