Myanmar allowed to go to EU-ASEAN meeting

Myanmar allowed to go to EU-ASEAN meeting

BANGKOK (AFP): The European Union (EU) has agreed Myanmar can join an ASEAN-EU joint cooperation meeting next month after a request from Thailand, the Thai foreign ministry said yesterday.

The EU, which has imposed sanctions on Myanmar's unelected military regime, was persuaded by Thailand to let Yangon attend the November meeting in Bangkok, despite the EU's initial objections.

However, Myanmar, along with another new entrant into ASEAN, Laos, will only attend as observers, the Thai ministry said in a statement.

Thai Foreign Minister Prachuab Chaiyasarn told his Myanmar counterpart Ohn Gyaw of the decision during talks in Yangon Wednesday, on the first day of a two-day official visit.

The gathering of ASEAN and EU senior officials is designed to review cooperation plans of the two regional groupings.

Prachuab told Thai television in the Myanmar capital that Myanmar had made progress since being admitted into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in July.

"Myanmar is improving after being accepted in ASEAN. Previously western countries disagreed about Myanmar's access to ASEAN, but ASEAN thinks we cannot isolate Myanmar," the minister said late Wednesday.

"A country which has been isolated will make more trouble," he said.

The EU objected to Yangon's entry into ASEAN because of the ruling junta's human rights record and suppression of democracy.

The regime has never recognized the 1990 election of the democratic opposition led by Aung San Suu Kyi.

Europe has indicated that Myanmar will not be invited to the Asia-Europe Meeting of heads of state in London next year.

The EU has not yet extended its cooperation agreement with ASEAN to include Myanmar and Laos. It now covers only Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Myanmar would not automatically become a signature to the cooperation agreement, the Thai statement said.

Under its largely symbolic sanctions taken out last year, EU refuses visas to officials of the ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) and their families.

Meanwhile in Yangon, Prachuab was due to meet yesterday with SLORC chairman Senior Gen. Than Shwe and first secretary-general Khin Nyunt, official sources said.

He was expected to seek the release of Thai fisherman jailed in Myanmar after caught plying their trade in Myanmar territorial waters.