Japan-Myanmar Relations

September 12, 2018

On September 12, Mr. Taro Kono, Minister for Foreign Affairs, during his visit to Hanoi, the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, to attend the World Economic Forum on ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations), held a meeting commencing at 2 p.m. for approximately 25 minutes with H.E. Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi, State Counsellor and Union Minister for Foreign Affairs, Republic of the Union of Myanmar. The overview of the meeting is as follows. 

  1. At the beginning, Minister Kono expressed expectation that State Counsellor and Foreign Minister Aung San Suu Kyi's visit to Japan on the occasion of the Mekong-Japan Summit Meeting next month would be meaningful, and State Counsellor and Foreign Minister Aung San Suu Kyi replied that visiting Japan would be a pleasure. 
  2. Following that, with regard to the situation in Rakhine State, Minister Kono appreciated the commencement of initial assessments by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in 13 villages in northern Rakhine State, and noted the importance of actually starting assistance by the UN agencies and of demonstrating progress of creating environment for the repatriation to the international community in a visible way in the future. Subsequently, Minister Kono welcomed the commencement of activities by the Independent Commission of Enquiry (ICOE), and requested the cooperation of the Government of Myanmar and Myanmar military through providing necessary information to the ICOE. Minister Kono also encouraged State Counsellor and Foreign Minister Aung San Suu Kyi to showcase her government's efforts to the international community. In addition, Minister Kono expressed his concern on the conviction handed down to the two Reuters journalists in Myanmar.   
  3. In response, State Counsellor and Foreign Minister Aung San Suu Kyi stated that Myanmar would cooperate with UN agencies, would make progress on repatriation of the displaced persons in accordance with the Memorandum of Understanding with Bangladesh, and had granted the ICOE a broad mandate.

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