Indonesia’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Roy Soemirat, says the Southeast Asian regional bloc ASEAN will discuss the Myanmar crisis at the ministerial meeting to be held in Thailand later this month.
Soemirat one of the major focus will be to discuss the crisis in member-nation Myanmar.
At the invitation of current ASEAN host Laos, the meeting will talk about ways to approach the crisis which has affected Myanmar since a 2021 military coup, including on the implementation of ASEAN’s five-point consensus plan.
The body’s five-point consensus seeks an immediate end to violence in the country; dialogue among all parties; the appointment of a special envoy; humanitarian assistance from Asean; and a special envoy’s visit to Myanmar to meet with all parties.
ASEAN body has made Little progress since it was unveiled in April 2021, months after Myanmar’s military unseated the elected government.
The junta has been battling a rebellion that erupted after the coup and has largely ignored calls by its Southeast Asian neighbours to cease hostilities and enter into dialogue with its opponents.
During an ASEAN summit in October, the bloc called for “an immediate cessation” of violence and the creation of a “conducive environment for the delivery of humanitarian assistance and inclusive national dialogue” that is “Myanmar-owned and -led”.
The meeting is expected to start on Dec. 20, and Indonesia’s foreign minister is expected to attend.
The summit is held biannually by the members of the ASEAN to discuss the economic, political, security, and socio-cultural matters of the Southeast Asian nations.
ASEAN Summit is ‘the supreme policy-making body of Southeast Asian nations’. Some of the key functions of the Asean Summit are to ‘deliberate, provide policy guidance and take decisions on key issues pertaining to the objectives of the Asean.
The first ASEAN Summit was held in November 1976 in Bali.
