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BOYCOTT Myanmar's attendence to ASE



Subject: BOYCOTT Myanmar's attendence to ASEAN-EU conference

Myanmar Issue to Be Tackled in Berlin

            Xinhua
            26-JAN-99

            BANGKOK (Jan. 27) XINHUA - The issue of Myanmar's
            participation in ASEAN-EU talks is to be thrashed out by a
            top Thai foreign affairs official in Berlin, the Bangkok
Post
            reported Wednesday. 

            Sajoj Chavanaviraj, permanent secretary for foreign affairs,
            will raise the issue on January 28, a source from the Thai
            Foreign Ministry was quoted as saying. 

            Saroj will attend a January 28-29 meeting of senior
officials
            of the ASEAN and the EU convened to prepare for a
            conference of their foreign ministers in Berlin in March 30. 

            He will raise the question of Myanmar's participation in the
            ministerial forum, as well as in the ASEAN-EU Joint
            Co-operation Committee, which brings together senior
            officials, and which was postponed for the second time this
            week. 

            Thailand and its ASEAN partners say ASEAN-EU talks are
            bloc-to-bloc and so should involve all members, the source
            said. 

            As co-ordinator for ASEAN, Thailand is also trying to
            convince the 15-strong EU that participants in the March
            meeting should be from the same level, the source said. 

            However, the EU foreign ministers indicated they might let a
            lower-ranking Myanmar official, possibly a deputy foreign
            minister, attend. 

            Thailand would like the 13th Joint Cooperation Committee
            (JCC) meeting, initially set to take place in Bangkok in
            November 1997, to meet before the foreign minister confer in
            Berlin. 

            The biggest sticking point is the EU's ban on Myanmar
            speaking at the JCC. "Myanmar has no right to speak at all,
            not only when not necessary, " a European source said,
            clarifying an earlier report. 

            The EU's two other conditions are for Myanmar and Laos to
            be seated separately, and for the JCC to display ASEAN and
            EU flags rather than national flags. The flag issue was
            resolved in October. But Myanmar has not yet stated its

            position on Thailand's proposal for Myanmar and Laos to sit
            behind a plaque reading "non-signatories", rather than
            "non-members" as proposed by the EU. 

            As non-signatories to the ASEAN-EU co-operation
            agreement, Myanmar and Laos are not attending the
            preparatory meeting opening in Berlin on January 28.