Asean Secretary-General Encouraged By Myanmar Preparation Efforts

By Ahmad Fuad Yahya JAKARTA, March 30 (Bernama) -- Asean Secretary-General Dr Surin Pitsuwan has welcomed Myanmar's initiative in inviting its Asean neighbours, dialogue partners and international organisations to observe its by-election, scheduled for April 1. "We are pleased to be here to lend our support to this very significant political process. This significant political process which, we hope, will contribute further to national reconciliation. "We are encouraged by the preparations that we have seen and the efforts done to advance and facilitate this democratic exercise," he was qouted as saying by the Asean Secretariat in a statement Friday. The Asean Secretariat received an invitation on March 20 to observe the Myanmar by-election on April 1. The invitation came, just a month after Dr Surin visited Myanmar President Thein Sein and suggested that the election be open to Asean observers, especially, the Asean media. In addition to Asean observers, Asean Secretariat and the Asean media, the Myanmar Government has also invited dialogue partners, European Union and the United Nations, along with their respective media. Meanwhile in Yangon, the old building of Myanmar's Foreign Affairs Ministry was bustling with activities early Thursday morning, as election observers, liaison officers, reporters, and camera crews busied themselves with passes and registrations. Order was quickly restored just before Myanmar's Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin arrived to brief the gathering. "Observers, and members of the media, you are free to travel without constraints," the minister was qouted as saying, in a separate statement Friday. Myanmar wanted to show the world it was serious and open with the monitoring process, said Danny Lee, director of Community Affairs Development, Asean Secretariat. Over 150 observers and hundreds of media personnel have been invited to observe the by-election. -- BERNAMA