Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Prak Sokhonn, in his capacity as the ASEAN chair’s special envoy on Myanmar, met with Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, the chairman of Myanmar’s State Administration Council (SAC), and other senior SAC officials to discuss the current political and humanitarian situation there as well as their progress on the implementation of the Five-Point Consensus (5PC), ASEAN’s official plan to assist Myanmar with bringing a peaceful end to the conflict there.
Sokhonn – whose visit to Myanmar will run to July 3 – paid a courtesy call to General Min Aung Hlaing in the afternoon on June 30. Also in attendance at the meeting was Ekkaphab Phanthavong, deputy secretary-general of ASEAN for the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community (ASCC).
“Both sides exchanged views on the implementation of ASEAN’s 5PC and the current political and humanitarian situation on the ground in Myanmar,” said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation’s press statement on July 1.
Sokhonn and Phanthavong also met with SAC foreign minister Wunna Maung Lwin and Ko Ko Hlaing, chairman of the task force on humanitarian assistance to Myanmar.
The meeting covered various topics of pressing urgency, including the importance of further commitments by the SAC to moving forward with the progress of the implementation of the 5PC and developments related to the political situation in Myanmar.
The meeting also discussed the follow-up on the outcomes of the consultative meeting on humanitarian assistance to Myanmar on May 6 in Phnom Penh, and approaches to how the UN specialized agencies and international non-governmental organizations can engage in Myanmar-led humanitarian work, including a joint-needs assessment of the hard-to-reach areas of the country, the ministry said.
Myanmar’s SAC Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a Facebook post on June 30 that Wunna Maung Lwin had highlighted the SAC government’s claims regarding its “efforts at cessation of violence, achieving lasting peace in the whole country and designating 2022 as a year of peace”.
He also highlighted the SAC's claims regarding the recent advancement of peace talks with Myanmar's armed ethnic minority groups – who control substantial military forces based in their home territories – stating that the talks were a priority for Myanmar’s SAC government.
“Myanmar reiterated that it is committed to continuing its cooperation with ASEAN in implementing the 5PC based on the ASEAN charter and on the basic principles of ASEAN. He underscored the importance of mutual understanding and adherence to the principles of the ASEAN charter by all ASEAN member states,” the SAC’s Facebook post said.
