Myanmar ready to be ASEAN member

Wed, 04 Dec 1996 | Source: REUTERS

YANGON (Reuter): Myanmar Foreign Minister Ohn Gyaw yesterday expressed confidence his country would be ready to join the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as a full member next year.

Ohn Gyaw told a news conference he was confident Yangon would make sufficient progress between now and next July to become qualified as a member.

Myanmar, along with Laos and Cambodia, has observer status in the seven-member ASEAN and wants to become a member by next year. ASEAN groups the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei and Vietnam.

A fresh military crackdown since May on pro-democracy supporters of the National League for Democracy of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi had earlier prompted Philippine and Thai leaders to express reservations about Myanmar's speedy membership in the grouping.

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