Myanmar junta host of labor meet

Myanmar junta host of labor meet

YANGON (DPA): Myanmar, notorious for the use of forced labor and other workers' rights abuses, has been chosen to host an upcoming meeting of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) labor ministers, news reports said on Thursday.

"The 13th ASEAN Labor Ministers meeting will be the first ASEAN ministerial-level meeting to be held in Myanmar," said Lt. Gen. Khin Nyunt, the military regime's First Secretary, speaking at a preparatory meeting in Yangon on Wednesday.

Khin Nyunt said the meeting, the date of which was not announced, would give Myanmar an opportunity to "highlight its cooperative participation in ASEAN activities" and to discredit critical news reports about the country's political and economic conditions.

Myanmar joined ASEAN in July 1997 amid strong criticisms from Western democracies who opposed the country's admission to the regional grouping because of its human and labor rights record.