At the invitation of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Thailand Mr Don Pramudwinai, Union Minister U Wunna Maung Lwin of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar attended the Informal Consultation held on 22 December 2022 in Bangkok, Thailand. The Union Minister was accompanied by Dr Kan Zaw, Union Minister of the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Economic Relations, and U Ko Ko Hlaing, Union Minister for International Cooperation and senior officials.
During the Informal Consultation, the Myanmar delegation cordially exchanged views on matters of Myanmar’s cooperation with ASEAN for the implementation of the ASEAN five-point consensus, providing correct information, reflecting the actual situation on the ground, and reiterating Myanmar’s position on the recently adopted “ASEAN leaders’ review and decision on the implementation of the five-point consensus”.
The Myanmar delegation explained the Myanmar government’s efforts in peace talks with Ethnic Armed Organizations (EAOs) with unilateral ceasefire announcement, successful prevention of the COVID-19 pandemic and economic recovery, meetings with political parties, Union Election Commission’s preparation for free and fair elections in implementation of the five-point consensus.
The Myanmar delegation highlighted the progress of the delivery of humanitarian assistance to Myanmar under the five-point consensus with the cooperation of the AHA Centre including the delivery of Phase I life-saving humanitarian assistance and the need for the assessment and planning process for Phase II life-sustaining assistance in Myanmar.
In addition, the Myanmar delegation explained terrorist activities committed by unlawful and terrorist organizations namely so-called NUG, CPRH, and PDF obstructing the Myanmar government’s efforts to restore peace and democracy.
Due to their terrorist acts and violent attacks, many innocent lives including monks and nuns, civilians, and government staff were sacrificed, and they destroyed many public buildings and infrastructures including schools, hospitals, banks, markets, roads, bridges and transport vehicles. The Myanmar delegation stressed that the violent activities of PDF are in breach of the International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and other provisions of International Law, particularly the Geneva Conventions. Therefore, the Myanmar delegation urged ASEAN member states to denounce terrorist activities of NUG and PDF and to discourage any moral, material and financial support to terrorist organizations.
At the sideline of the informal consultation, Myanmar and Thailand delegations cordially exchanged their views on bilateral cooperation encompassing political, economic and socio-cultural matters charting the way forward on future cooperation.—MNA
