Singapore Reiterates Myanmar Must B

[suriya@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Subject: Singapore Reiterates Myanmar Must Be Represented at ASEAN-EU  Dialogue 

    
Asia:Myanmar


Singapore Reiterates Myanmar Must Be Represented at ASEAN-EU Dialogue


Xinhua
19-FEB-99

SINGAPORE (Feb. 20) XINHUA - Singapore Minister for Foreign Affairs S.
Jayakumar has reiterated that all ASEAN member countries must be
represented in
the ASEAN-EU dialogue on an equal basis, according to a spokesman for the
Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In response to press queries Friday
evening, the spokesman said that Jayakumar made the point clear when he
discussed the problem on ASEAN-EU dialogue with visiting Myanmar Foreign
Minister U Win Aung who was on an official visit to Singapore from February 18
to 19, 1999. Jayakumar was referring to the 13th ASEAN-EC Joint Cooperation
Committee Meeting scheduled for January 24-27 1999 in Bangkok which has been
postponed over differences between ASEAN and the EU on the modality of
Myanmar's participation. The meeting was originally scheduled to be held in
Bangkok in November 1997 and has been postponed for the second time. Jayakumar
said ASEAN had to adhere to the principle of non-discrimination on the
question
of participation of ASEAN countries at bloc-to-bloc meetings with the EU,
adding ASEAN's position was both principled and consistent. 

"The ASEAN-EU dialogue was important to both sides and therefore the impasse
was regrettable," Jayakumar reaffirmed. 

The spokesman also added that both Singapore and Myanmar had agreed to support
the efforts of Thailand, the ASEAN Country Coordinator for the ASEAN-EU
dialogue, to find a way out of the current impasse and get ASEAN-EU relations
back on track without compromising ASEAN's principle. 




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