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.