Myanmar ready to be ASEAN member
Myanmar ready to be ASEAN member
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.