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Myanmar’s international relations better, says foreign affairs ministry official
Myanmar’s international relations have improved since the National League for Democracy-led government took power in 2016, U Kyaw Zeya, permanent secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), said yesterday.
“When we review our performance, we mainly focus on where we have succeeded. It is difficult to assess our unsuccessful performance,” he said during a news conference on reforms in the first year of the new government.
The ministry’s greatest success, according to U Kyaw Zeya, is the decision of the European Union not to table a human rights resolution at the UN General Assembly Third Committee last year.
The European Union had put forward a resolution calling attention to human rights shortcomings in Myanmar at every UN General Assembly dating back to 1991.
The EU delegation said in a statement at the time that decision was in “recognition of Myanmar’s progress on democratic transition, the reinvigoration of the peace process and the positive steps taken by the new government to improve human rights”.
“We can say it is a unique success,” said U Kyaw Zeya.
He said Myanmar’s international relations have strengthened and only when the relations have been broken, can they be said to be unsuccessful.
“It is difficult to say which matters are not successful because the nature of our work is enhancing the relationship.
“Our country has been supported by foreign countries. Some countries want to focus more on human rights conditions in our country. We keep in touch with them more.
“When we are building relations with them, we have to protect and focus on our interests, especially the State’s sovereignty. Special consideration is given to our country’s national reconciliation efforts,” said U Kyaw Zeya.
He said if there is interference from some nations in Myanmar’s interests, sovereignty and national reconciliation, the ministry rebuts any claims and communicates with the nations concerned to foster understanding of the conditions in Myanmar.
U Kyaw Zeya said the ministry has also served the interests of Myanmar citizens in foreign countries, such as getting full benefits for Myanmar migrant workers in Thailand, transporting voluntary returns to their home towns, protecting Myanmar maids in Singapore, calling back Myanmar nationalities from foreign detention camps, removing Myanmar nationals from black lists and increasing the social visa term.
He said the challenges faced by MOFA in the first year of the new government were international pressure on the violence in Rakhine, capacity building of civil servants, appointing new civil servants and successful handling of visits by officials from ASEAN, Asia, Europe and American given the ministry’s limited staff strength.
“We send government employees for training courses and encourage them to participate in international meetings. As the nation’s international relations have increased, we can say that we have handled this challenge smoothly,” added U Kyaw Zeya.
Source: http://www.mmtimes.com/index.php/national-news/nay-pyi-taw/25616-myanmar-s-international-relations-better-says-foreign-affairs-ministry-official.html