The Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) stated that Myanmar, through the presence of its non-political officials, would continue to participate in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) joint discussions.
“Myanmar’s restriction on participation is only limited to the extent of its political leaders. The country is still adequately represented by its civil servants like us in various discussion forums,” MFA spokesman Faisasyah told ANTARA in Labuan Bajo, East Nusa Tenggara province on Thursday.
According to Faisasyah, it means that the country would continue to be part of the discussions towards agreements.
After the military junta overthrew the elected government of Myanmar in a coup in February 2011, ASEAN leaders reached an agreement on the so-called Five-Point Consensus with the leader of the military junta, General Min Aung. Hlang, which was intended to serve as a blueprint to help Myanmar address its crisis.
However, the situation in Myanmar, by contrast, has worsened in the two years since the agreement, with the military junta launching incessant airstrikes while abandoning its obligation to carry out the agreed consensus.
However, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi stated that ASEAN would not capitulate to find a way to resolve the conflict despite Myanmar making no progress in implementing the consensus.
Together with ASEAN, he said that Indonesia would continue to maintain relations with all stakeholders in Myanmar.
At the 42nd ASEAN Summit, ASEAN leaders issued a joint statement to complement President Joko Widodo’s statement in response to recent armed attacks on the ASEAN coordination center for humanitarian assistance and management (AHA Center) and the ASEAN monitoring team in Burma.
In addition to the joint statement, ASEAN leaders produced at least 10 other documents during the main events of the 42nd ASEAN Summit on May 10-11.
The documents include the Declaration on Combating Trafficking in Persons Caused by the Abuse of Technology; Declaration on the Development of the Regional Ecosystem of Electric Vehicles; and Declaration on the progress of regional payment connectivity and the promotion of transactions in local currency.
In addition, ASEAN leaders also issued several other declarations, including the ASEAN Community Post-2025 Vision Development Statement, the ASEAN Institutional Effectiveness and Capacity Building Statement, and the ASEAN Declaration of the Chairman of the 42nd ASEAN Summit.
https://en.antaranews.com/news/281430/indonesia-reiterates-myanmars-involvement-in-asean
Category: Indonesia
