[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index ][Thread Index ]

AP-Myanmar Eyes Better U.S., EU Tie



Subject: AP-Myanmar Eyes Better U.S., EU Ties

Sunday January 3 8:56 AM ET

Myanmar Eyes Better U.S., EU Ties

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - Myanmar's foreign minister hopes his country's frosty
relations with the United States and the European Union will warm in 1999, a
state-run newspaper reported Sunday.

The United States imposed economic sanctions on Myanmar in April 1997
because of the military government's suppression of a democracy movement led
by Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi and the regime's alleged
failure to fight drug trafficking.

The European Union has imposed more limited trade sanctions on the country
for similar reasons.

The embargos have hampered Myanmar's ability to attract the foreign
investment it needs to modernize its impoverished economy.

``I hope that friendship and cooperation with the E.U. and its members and
the U.S. could be regained as in previous years,'' Foreign Minister Win Aung
told
diplomats at a briefing, the New Light of Myanmar newspaper said.

Win Aung also said that Myanmar, also known as Burma, hoped to increase its
role in international affairs.

In recent months, the military government has stepped up its campaign
against Suu Kyi's political party, detaining nearly a thousand of its
members and refusing to let them return home until they sign ``voluntary
resignation'' letters from the party.