Hopes for JCC meeting

Wed, 03 Mar 1999 | Source: AFP

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.

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