At the August 11th conference, the UPWC and various political parties discussed topics concerning nationwide ceasefire implementation; a point that must be considered for the framework of future political dialogs, according to U Hla Maung Shwe, senior advisor to MPC.
“This is the first time [the UPWC] met with political parties like this. The purpose [of the conference] is for the political parties to get involved in future political talks. Because this [conference] is also [supported] by the Nationwide Ceasefire Coordination Team (NCCT), this [meeting between the UPWC and political parties] is just like preparation [for future political talks],” said U Hla Maung Shwe, in an interview with IMNA.
According to Saw Than Myint, Vice Chairman of the Federal Union Party (FUP), political talks should not be held only between ethnic armed groups and government groups, but should include political parties as well. It is vitally important, says Saw Than Myint, that political parties are involved in aspects of peace-talks, framework drafting, and political dialogue.
“According to politics, [political parties must be] concerned when the union-level [political] talk[s] [are] held. Now is it only informal-level talks, so the political parties [have] not yet [gotten] involved, but [they will] soon when the important sector [union-level talk] comes. The UPWC now has a meeting with the political parties [to prepare for future talks],” said Saw Than Myint, in an interview with IMNA.
The NCCT has recently come out with a 10-point plan, created at the committee’s recent conference in Laiza Town, Kachin State, which highlights the need to hold union-level conferences as tripartite talks with the government, ethnic armed groups, and political parties, after a nationwide ceasefire has been signed.
“Our Nationalities Brotherhood Federation requests a 5-sector dialogue, while the United Nationalities Federation Council (UNFC) and NCCT request [a] tri-partite dialogue; but they are not quite different. We have divided political parties into two groups and, including civil society organizations and academic experts, it is 5-sector groups,” said Saw Than Myint.
At yesterday’s conference, U Aung Min, the Vice-Chairman of UPWC and the Minister of the President’s Office, said that such meetings between political parties allows for the chance for political parties to consider various points for political talks and political frameworks; political groups can think about their points ahead of official talks, where they will be able to more easily include their points during the decision-making period. As such, U Aung Min says that this conference will be held again.
It has been reported that the NCCT and UPWC will meet again on August 15-16th to discuss a nationwide ceasefire agreement.
Representatives from 67 out of the country’s 68 political parties and more than 130 representatives participated in yesterday’s conference.
