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NEWS - Thai minister aims for visit



Subject: NEWS - Thai minister aims for visit to patch Myanmar ties

Thai minister aims for visit to patch Myanmar ties

  
BANGKOK, Nov 14 (Reuters) - Thailand's foreign minister has said he aims
to visit Myanmar (Burma) to try to patch up relations soured since a
siege at the Myanmar embassy in Bangkok last month, news reports said on
Sunday. 

Surin Pitsuwan told reporters in southern Thailand on Saturday he had
discussed a visit to Yangon with his Myanmar counterpart Win Aung when
the latter stopped over in Bangkok on his way back from New York on
November 4. 

``I will go to Burma when everything is ready,'' Surin was quoted as
saying by the Bangkok Post newspaper. 

The Nation newspaper said Surin is expected to meet Win Aung at a
November 25-28 summit in Manila of the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations, to which both countries belong. 

Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Don Pramudwinai said he believed Surin
meant he would go to Myanmar ``if invited.'' 

``As he said, if everything is ready, if he is invited, I think he
should be ready to visit,'' he said. 

The Myanmar government spokesman's office said it was not immediately
able to comment. 

Thai-Myanmar relations have been dented since Thailand allowed five
dissidents who took over the Myanmar embassy in Bangkok from October 1-2
free passage to a safe border area when they released their 89 hostages
unharmed. 

Myanmar has kept its border with Thailand closed since the attack and
suspended fishing rights for Thai trawlers, causing tens of millions of
dollars of losses to fishermen and traders. 

Thailand's has since revived a programme to repatriate 600,000 illegal
Myanmar workers. 

23:10 11-13-99