NEWS - Myanmar FM to Attend U.N. Ge

[TheTruth@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Myanmar FM to Attend U.N. General Assembly

            Xinhua
            17-SEP-98

            YANGON (Sept. 17) XINHUA - Myanmar Foreign Minister U Ohn
            Gyaw left here Thursday afternoon for the United States to
attend the
            53rd session of the General Assembly of the United Nations
opened
            at the U.N. Headquarters in New York last Wednesday. 

            U Ohn Gyaw will join the two-week long general debate of the
General
            Assembly beginning next Monday. 

            At the just-ended 12th Non-Aligned Movement Summit in
Durban,
            South Africa, the Myanmar minister expressed that his
country agrees
            to the UN reform proposal initiated by Secretary General
Kofi Annan,
            saying that the U.N. should be strengthened and restructured
in such a
            way that it responds to the needs and aspirations of its
membership,
            particularly of developing member countries. 

            On the issue of expansion and reform of the U.N. Security
Council,
            Myanmar objected the move to exclude the Non-Aligned
Movement
            (NAM) countries, claiming that the Council should be
enlarged by not
            less than 11 new members and that such an enlargement should
be
            based on the principles of sovereign equality of states,
equitable
            geographical distribution and rotation. 

            Dealing with the question of veto, Myanmar called for
limited use of it,
            welcoming the proposal of total annihilation of veto power,
presented
            by Nelson Mandela, chairman of the last 12th NAM Summit and
            president of South Africa. 

            During his attendance at the general assembly, U Ohn Gyaw is
also
            expected to continue his dialogue with the Kofi Annan on the
current
            situation in Myanmar. 

            Annan proposed to Myanmar leader Senior-General Than Shwe
last
            month to send a special U.N. emissary shortly to look into
the current
            political development in the country. 

            However, Than Shwe responded that there was no reason for
such a
            rushed visit, saying that the dialogue between the Myanmar
            government and the Secretary General could continue in New
York in
            September when his Foreign Minister joins the General
Assembly's
            general debate. 

            The Myanmar government and the U.N. had maintained the
dialogue
            since 1994. 

            In January this year, Envoy of the U.N. Secretary General
Alvaro de
            Soto visited Yangon and met with Than Shwe. 

            He then had discussions with the Myanmar foreign minister on
matters
            of mutual interest and also met with leaders of the National
League for
            Democracy (NLD) including Aung San Suu Kyi, the party's
general
            secretary.