‘Frank’ talks on Myanmar dominate ASEAN foreign ministers meeting

Reuters:

JAKARTA, Feb 3 – The conflict in Myanmar dominated the year’s first meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers in Jakarta on Friday, with Indonesia’s top diplomat saying that member states had “frank” discussions on the issue.

The foreign minister of Indonesia, which chairs the Association of Southeast Asian Nations this year, said the bloc was pushing for inclusive dialogue between all stakeholders in Myanmar, with ASEAN candidly discussing the issue on Friday.

Retno Marsudi spoke after the opening of a retreat with her regional counterparts, which Myanmar’s junta leaders have been barred from attending.

“The meeting is dedicated to discuss the Myanmar issue in an open, in-depth, and frank manner as one family,” she said in a news conference.

Since seizing power in a Feb. 1 coup two years ago, Myanmar’s junta has plunged the country in chaos and violence, and failed to implement an ASEAN peace plan, which includes the cessation of conflict and the start of dialogue.