BBC-Singapore backs Burma in EU-ASE

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Subject: BBC-Singapore backs Burma in EU-ASEAN row

Friday, February 19, 1999 Published at 13:19 GMT
World: Asia-Pacific

Singapore backs Burma in EU-ASEAN row

A senior government official of Singapore, the current chairman of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations, ASEAN, says the organisation will
stand firm on including Burma at a meeting with European Union foreign
ministers due to be held in Berlin next month.

The EU says Burma' s military-backed government must improve its human
rights record before it can take part, but the foreign minister of
Singapore, S Jayakumar, said all ASEAN members must be represented on an
equal basis at the meeting.

Indonesia and Malaysia have also backed Burmese participation.

Burma's Foreign Minister, Win Aung, arrives in Thailand today, shortly
before the Thai Foreign Minister, Surin Pitsuwan, leaves for Europe as
efforts intensify to resolve the dispute.

>From the newsroom of the BBC World Service