Thai-Myanmar meeting postponed

Fri, 10 Dec 1999 | Source: AP

BANGKOK (AP): Talks to restore Thai fishing concessions in Myanmar waters, suspended after the October siege of the Myanmar Embassy in Bangkok, have been postponed, the Thai foreign ministry said on Thursday.

Ministry spokesman Don Pramudwinai said a Thai delegation of government officials and fishery industry chiefs had been set to travel to Yangon for two days of meetings on Thursday, but the talks were postponed because of "technical problems".

Myanmar closed its long land border with Thailand and banished hundreds of Thai fishing boats from its Andaman Sea waters after Myanmar students seeking democracy in their homeland stormed the Myanmar Embassy in Thailand on Oct. 1.

The incident frayed usually cordial relations between the two countries. It took two months for Myanmar's military regime to agree to reopen the border. But before letting fishing boats back in, Yangon wants to renegotiate the concessions it has granted, saying the terms have been violated by some Thai vessels.

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