Hopes for JCC meeting

Hopes for JCC meeting

BANGKOK (AFP): Thai foreign minister Surin Pitsuwan said on
Tuesday he was optimistic that delayed talks between ASEAN and
the European Union (EU) would be held soon.

Surin said problems delaying the Joint Cooperation Committee
(JCC) meeting between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) and the EU were close to being solved.

The planned JCC meeting was canceled twice in November 1997
and January this year due to differences over the status of
Myanmar, which was admitted into ASEAN in 1997 despite strong
western opposition.

The Myanmar junta is accused of serious human rights abuses
and of harboring drug lords. The EU bans entry visas for senior
junta officials and generally refuses to accept their equal
representation at intergovernmental talks.