Signatories to the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement and the
Union Peace Dialogue Joint Committee, which has been formed with
representatives from political parties, held an unofficial meeting in Yangon
yesterday, with both sides resolving to deal with the bottlenecks to the
stalled official peace talks.
The unofficial meeting comes as official meetings of the
UPDJC Secretariat have been stalled for nearly a year since July, 2018, though
a monthly meeting had been agreed upon.
The two-day meeting kicked off at 10 a.m. at the National
Reconciliation and Peace Centre with 10 representatives from the government, 9
from the group of EAOs, and 10 from the group of political parties in
attendance.
“The unofficial meeting will help build trust between the
stakeholders. But, discussions at unofficial meetings are not enough to build
trust. Official meetings, that follow the procedures, are needed to be held to
strengthen relations between the stakeholders,” said Lt-Gen Khin Zaw Oo (Retd),
the leader of the group representing the government.
“The decisions made at official meetings are important to
overcome challenges and to keep the negotiation process on,” he said adding,
“We must confess that the negotiation process could not move forward because
official meetings have been stalled.”
He also said assistance from foreign countries must
remain just enough to meet the actual need, to avoid outside influence on the
peace process.
The retired senior military officer also stressed the
need to maintain stability when negotiations are on to avoid any hindrances to
the process. Maintaining stability while agreements have not yet been reached
at the negotiating table can help build confidence that both sides will not
back out of the peace process, he added.
As the national reconciliation and peace-making process
takes shape, all stakeholders are urged to follow the NCA, which guarantees the
strengthening of the ceasefire and political dialogues, he said.
U Sai Ngin, the Secretary of the RCSS, the representative
of the group of EAOs, and a member of the UPDJC Secretariat, said ways to
resume official peace talks, matters related to the Union Peace Conference-21st
Century Panglong, and implementation of previous agreements must be discussed
at the unofficial meeting.
An inflexible position on policies at the negotiating
table is the main bottleneck in the peace process, said U Sai Ngin. He urged
all stakeholders to work towards implementing the basic principles of a federal
system and a democracy before 2020 as the time is limited for the government to
implement the peace process.
On behalf of the stakeholders, he acknowledged the
efforts of the government to open the door to the non-signatories to the NCA.
Speaking at the opening of the meeting, U Myint Soe, the
Secretary of the Union Solidarity and Development Party and a representative of
the group of political parties, called for taking a constructive approach to
the peace-making process and deciding on a common interest.
“If we all accept a common interest, our negotiation
would be okay. But, if we continue the negotiation with the policy of self
defence, we will be far away from giving a legacy of peace to the next
generation,” said U Myint Soe.
(Translated by GNLM)
Photo:MNA
Ref; The Global New Light of Myanmar
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