The foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will hold an informal meeting with their Myanmar counterpart this weekend, for the first time in five years.
The meeting, which will take place in Bangkok on July 12, was confirmed yesterday by the foreign ministries of Thailand and Vietnam, Reuters reported.
“The meeting in Bangkok is an opportunity for ASEAN foreign ministers to directly exchange views, strengthen cooperation, and promote reconciliation dialogue in Myanmar,” Vietnam Foreign Ministry spokesperson Pham Thu Hang said in a regular press briefing yesterday.
Since the military’s seizure of power in February 2021, Myanmar has been paralyzed by conflict between the military and a host of ethnic armed groups and other resistance forces. There are now around 3.6 million displaced people within the country, according to the United Nations, most of whom have been driven from their homes since the coup.
The meeting with the military-backed government’s Foreign Minister Tin Maung Swe was agreed by ASEAN’s foreign ministers at their last summit in May, when Philippine Foreign Secretary Ma. Theresa Lazaro, the current ASEAN special envoy for Myanmar, briefed her counterparts on the “evolving political and humanitarian situation” inside the country.
