ASEAN, U.S. leaders to call on Myanmar for credible elections

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JAKARTA, Nov. 11 Kyodo -
During the first-ever summit of the United States and the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations on Sunday, U.S. President Barack Obama and leaders of
the 10-member group will call on Myanmar's junta to create conditions for
credible general elections next year, a draft joint statement said.
Myanmar is also an ASEAN member.
''The leaders called on the government of Myanmar to help create the conditions
for credible elections including by initiating a dialogue with all stakeholders
to ensure that the process is fully inclusive,'' the draft, obtained by Kyodo
News on Wednesday, says.
Both Obama and the ASEAN leaders, according to the draft, will underscore the
importance of national reconciliation and the general elections in Myanmar ''be
conducted in a free, fair, inclusive and transparent manner.''
The draft does not mention Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.
Suu Kyi, the 1991 Nobel Peace laureate and leader of the National League for
Democracy, was sentenced in August to another 18-month stint under house arrest
for allowing a U.S. intruder to stay at her home.
On Sunday, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, the
ASEAN leaders will express welcome for ''the high-level dialogue and the policy
of the United States to engage with the government of Myanmar.''
The United States has recently sent its officials in a number of visits to
Myanmar as part of Obama's new policy of engagement with the repressive junta.
The policy reversed the George W. Bush administration's stance of avoiding
high-level contact with the junta.
Also, under Bush, Washington sent lower-level officials to previous ASEAN
meetings, causing quiet dismay among the ASEAN members.
In another part of the draft, Obama and the ASEAN leaders are expected to reach
an agreement for the establishment of an ASEAN-U.S. Eminent Persons Group to
support enhanced cooperation among both sides on regional and global issues.
Obama will also express his government's support for the establishment of the
ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights to promote and protect human
rights and will invite the commission members to visit the United States next
year to consult with international experts in the field.
On economic relations, Obama and the ASEAN leaders are to stress the need to
enhance economic cooperation and partnership through new initiatives under the
ASEAN-U.S. Trade and Investment Framework Arrangement to be agreed upon by
ASEAN trade ministers and the U.S. trade representative.
ASEAN received U.S. foreign direct investment of $153 billion last year and
two-way goods trade reached $178 billion.
Besides Myanmar, ASEAN comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia,
the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
==Kyodo