Myanmar minister on official visits

Myanmar minister on official visits

YANGON (Reuters): Myanmar Foreign Minister Win Aung will leave
Yangon on Sunday for official visits to the Philippines, Vietnam
and Laos, official media reported.

A Foreign Ministry official described the visits as courtesy
calls to fellow member states of the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN) similar to visits he made to Brunei,
Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand last month.

However, political analysts in Yangon said Win Aung would
lobby for support for Myanmar's inclusion in a meeting of ASEAN
and EU foreign ministers to be held later this month.

The European Union objects to Myanmar's participation in the
meeting because of its human rights record. ASEAN says all its
ministers should attend the meeting. The dispute means the
meeting, which is supposed to take place every two years, is
unlikely to occur.