To mark the upcoming 4rth anniversary of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA), the government is recommending holding a high-level Joint Implementation Coordination Meeting (JICM) on or around the 15th of October.
Since 2015, the JICM has met seven times, most recently in February 2018. The JICM is a high level meeting, usually attended by the leaders of the government, the Tatmadaw (military) and the 10 ethnic armed groups that have signed the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA).
It is believed that convening this top-level meeting may help to move the stalled peace negotiations forward. As reported in the Myanmar Times, on September 12, 2019, U Tun Tun Oo, vice chair of the National Reconciliation and Peace Centre and Attorney General noted it is important for all parties to agree at the next round of the peace conference on establishing a democratic federal union, on a ceasefire, and on the basic principles of democracy and federalism. He said, “The main point is to restart official meetings and discussions that have been suspended for a long time.”
Nai Ong Ma Nge, a spokesperson for the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement – Signatories, Ethnic Armed Organizations (NCA-S EAO) said, “As the NCA anniversary is during Thadingyut full moon day [the Lighting festival of Myanmar], we have not yet decided whether to have the meeting before or after October 15th.”
On 10 September, 2019 parties to the NCA discussed a four point proposal, proposed by the government, to move the political dialogue forward. Nai Ong Ma Nge explained there was an exchange of proposals and “ [i]f both parties … agree, then there will be a plan for the Union Peace Conference.”
Both sides have reportedly agreed to hold the 4rth session of the Union Peace Conference (UPC) 21st Century Panglong in early 2020.
Over the course of the National League for Democracy’s term, there has been 3 meetings of the UPC. U Zaw Htay, a government spokesperson noted that “[a]fter the 3rd meeting, we have gathered 51 points of political agreement. …we will work on those agreements … to continue the [peace] process.”
