ASEAN Foreign Ministers Hold Special Meeting on Myanmar

Phnom Penh, MINA – ASEAN Foreign Ministers held a special meeting to discuss the issue of Myanmar in the 55th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM) in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

The meeting which was held in the form of a Working Lunch was a proposal from Indonesia and the only issue discussed was the issue of Myanmar.

“And the discussions were very extensive and very open,” said Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi in a video press statement, Wednesday night.

The foreign ministers said that ASEAN should not be hosted by Myanmar and ASEAN must move forward, said Retno.

They agreed on the importance of the AMM issuing a joint communique and the paragraph on Myanmar would be directly discussed at the Foreign Minister’s level.

“So once again there is an agreement that the AMM joint communique will be issued. Currently, the negotiations regarding the Myanmar paragraph at the Foreign Minister level are still ongoing,” said Retno.

Meanwhile, regarding Indonesia’s position, the Indonesian Foreign Minister said that it was very clear that currently there was no significant progress from the implementation of the 5-Points Consensus (5PC) by the military junta.

“We also don’t see any good will and no commitment from the military junta to implement 5PCs,” she continued.

Several countries during the discussion also made a lot of broken promises. So at the time of discussion with the Junta the commitment seemed to exist. However, what was done was actually the opposite of what was conveyed at the meeting.

“Therefore, Indonesia remains consistent that Myanmar is not represented at the political level at political meetings. And Indonesia re-emphasizes the importance of engagement with all stakeholders,” she said. (T/RE1)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)