Myanmar sets eye on ASEAN membership

Myanmar sets eye on ASEAN membership

HANOI (Reuter): Myanmar wants to join the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and believes this will strengthen regional security, Myanmarese Foreign Minister U Ohn Gyaw said in an interview published yesterday.

"We welcome the concept of 'the ASEAN 10' and consider it an active step in the direction of strengthening peace, stability and prosperity in this region," he told Vietnam's Communist Party daily Nhan Dan.

Gyaw, accompanying Myanmar's military leader Gen. Than Shwe on his first official visit to Vietnam, also expressed his support for Vietnam to become an ASEAN member in July.

ASEAN currently groups Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Laos is an official ASEAN observer and Cambodia has said it wants to join.

Gyaw said Burma, also known as Myanmar, believed that cooperation among regional countries boosted progress. Now that Myanmar was moving towards a market economy, "the conditions are all the more favorable to tie up relations between Burma and ASEAN", he said.

Than Shwe, chairman of Myanmar's ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) and prime minister, held talks with Vietnamese Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet on Thursday.

They reaffirmed their resolve to implement signed agreements on cooperation in forestry, agriculture, precious stones, drug control, culture, education and oil, the official Vietnam News Agency reported.

They welcomed the scheduled signing next month of an agreement on sustainable development of the Mekong River basin.

Than Shwe had a meeting yesterday with Vietnam's top leader, Communist Party General-Secretary Do Muoi.

The two governments were due to sign agreements on undisclosed subjects today before the Myanmarese leader flies to Ho Chi Minh City for a two-day visit to Vietnam's biggest city.