Myanmar confident of ASEAN membersh

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Subject: Myanmar confident of ASEAN membership.



	Myanmar confident of Asean membership 
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     YANGON -- Myanmar Foreign Minister Ohn Gyaw yesterday expressed 
     confidence
     his country would be ready to join Asean as a full member next year. 

     He told a news conference that Yangon would make sufficient progress 
     between now
     and next July to become qualified as a member. 

     "There are plenty of opportunities to catch up ... we know there are 
     different levels of
     development," he said. 

     "Some are technically advanced and some are industrially advanced 
     but whatever it is,
     there is determination and conviction to contribute to the region." 

     Myanmar, along with Laos and Cambodia, has observer status in the 
     seven-member
     Asean, and wants to become a member by next year. 

     An announcement after a one-day informal Asean summit in Jakarta on 
     Saturday said
     the group would admit Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia as full members at 
     the same
     time, but did not state the exact time that would take place. -- 

     [Straitstimes, 4 December 1996].

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