Country
given some long-sought recognition after it holds elections, frees opposition
leader and eases media curbs.
Leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations, or ASEAN, have approved Myanmar's request to chair the Southeast Asian
regional bloc in 2014, giving the country some long-sought international
recognition.
The 10-member bloc made the decision two years
before schedule, as they began their 19th summit on Thursday in the Indonesian
resort island of Bali, with maritime territorial disputes, free trade and other
regional issues topping the agenda.
Marty Natalegawa, Indonesia's foreign
minister, confirmed that the leaders agreed that Myanmar could chair ASEAN in
2014.
"Be assured that we are now growing into
a democratic society and we will do all our responsibilities and duties as a
responsible government, reflecting the desires of the Myanmar people," Ko
Ko Hlaing, chief political adviser to the Myanmar president, said in Bali.
"We will do what we have to do as a
democratic government and a democratic society. As a family, ASEAN nations have
welcomed Myanmar to be a responsible chairman."
Myanmar, which has more than 2,000 political
prisoners, was forced to skip its turn last time around because of intense
international criticism of its human-rights record.
'Positive
improvement'
Recent overtures by Myanmar's government have
included calls for peace with ethnic minority groups, some tolerance of
criticism, the suspension of an unpopular Chinese-funded dam project and the
legalisation of labour unions.
"We believe that with the positive
improvements in Myanmar right now, this has shown that Myanmar would like to
come back to the democratic way," Surapong Towijakchaiku, the Thai foreign
minister, said at the summit.
Thein Sein, Myanmar's president, has also
reached out to democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was freed last year from
15 years of house arrest.
Her National League for Democracy is expected
to decide on Friday whether to re-register as a political party to contest
imminent by-elections.
Aung San Suu Kyi's party said Myanmar's ASEAN
chairmanship would help to drive political change.
"Their decision is tantamount to
encouraging the present Myanmar government to step up the momentum for
reforms," Nyan Win, a senior official in Aung San Suu Kyi's National
League for Democracy, told the Reuters news agency in Myanmar's biggest city,
Yangon.
"Myanmar's political activities will
become more vibrant after assuming the chair and Myanmar will also become a quality
member of ASEAN."
Obama's
remarks
Barack Obama, the US president, cautioned that
Myanmar must still demonstrate improvements in human rights, in his first
remarks since the Myanmar government freed hundreds of political prisoners in
October and vowed more reforms in the weeks ahead.
"Some political prisoners have been
released. The government has begun a dialogue. Still, violations of human
rights persist," Obama said in a speech to the Australian parliament on
Thursday.
Obama landed in Bali after his visit to
Australian on Thursday evening.
In his opening remarks, Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono, the Indonesian president and host of the meeting, said ASEAN needs
to increase its ability to resolve conflicts.
ASEAN has often been dismissed as a talking shop,
given its policy of consensus and non-interference in member's internal
affairs.
"The establishment of an agreement
guideline on the implementation of the declaration on the Code of Conduct of
parties on South China Sea, between ASEAN and the Peoples' Republic of China,
has established great optimism on the management of issue of South China
Sea," Yudhoyono said.
The ASEAN summit comes just after the US urged
claimants in the South China Sea territorial dispute not to resort to
intimidation to push their cause in the potentially oil-rich waters, in an
indirect reference to China, who is due to attend the meeting.
Trade matters and also the effects of the
European debt crisis is also on the discussion agenda.
"We must strengthen our economy in the region
so that such growth of our economy will make us more resilient to global
economy volatility," Yudhoyono said.
Partners
of the bloc
This year the meeting, which brings together
the 10 member countries, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar,
the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, will be expanded to include
Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
The leaders of Japan, China, South Korea,
India, Australia and New Zealand - all partners of the bloc - will also join
the talks on Friday.
ASEAN is due to consolidate regional
free-trade agreements, boosting trade in what is arguably the world's largest
regional bloc.
With Obama due to travel to Bali from
Australia late on Thursday, he is likely to discuss the industrial dispute in
the Indonesian province of West Papua with his Indonesian counterpart that
began in mid-September.
The Grasberg copper and gold mine, the world's
most profitable mine, is run by the controversial US-based company Freeport.
Violence has escalated during the strike in a
region seeing a long-running and low-level armed campaign, and several striking
workers have been killed at the hands of Indonesian security forces.
Source: Al Jazeera and agencies
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