Hanoi: Myanmar Foreign Minister Nyan Win
"got an earful" from his Southeast Asian colleagues on the
need for elections in his country to be fair and credible, the
ASEAN bloc`s chief said Tuesday.
"Myanmar, I think, got an earful last night," Association
of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Secretary-General Surin
Pitsuwan told reporters, referring to a working dinner
yesterday by the group`s foreign ministers.
"ASEAN is very much concerned and ASEAN is very much
interested in the peaceful national reconciliation in
Myanmar."
Surin said Nyan Win was told the elections could have
"positive or negative implications" for ASEAN, a 10-nation
group of about 600 million people trying to project itself as
a major trade and investment partner.
The United States says it expects the elections, the
country`s first in two decades will not be free and fair.
But Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said
ASEAN "won`t have any preconceived notion of how it will be",
except to refer to previous commitments from Myanmar.
"So we have a reasonable degree of hope," Natalegawa
said.
Myanmar`s top diplomat "listened very, very attentively"
during the dinner discussions, Surin said.
Nyan Win briefed his fellow ministers on the progress of
the elections planned for this year, but gave no date for the
vote.
PTI
