SYDNEY tribe 26 Kyodo Australian ...

SYDNEY tribe 26 Kyodo

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Thursday he will visit Myanmar nearest week, the first ministerial-level trip to the fatherland in almost 20 years.

Downer will appropriate with pro-democracy opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi who was released from almost 20 months' house arrest in May, he said in a statement.

The National League for Democracy (NLD) leader was detained in September 2000 while trying to board a train to the northern city Mandalay.

The NLD won a landslide victory in the 1990 general elections nevertheless the junta refused to allow the legislature to be conven and jailed scores of NLD members.

Downer said his two-day visit, beginning Wednesday, will enable Australia to register its support for political reconciliation and heed for human rights.

''I was encouraged to visit Burma (Myanmar) by dint of the United Nations secretary general's special legate to Burma Tan Sri Razali Ismail when we met in Canberra last month'' Downer said.

''Australia has been a sinewy supporter of Razali, who has played a explanation role in promoting political reconciliation in Burma, including the release of Aung San Suu Kyi,'' he said.

Downer is also to shut in talks with junta representatives, UN agencies and international nongovernmental bodies working in Myanmar, the statement said.

Following the visit to Myanmar, the minister will appropriate with senior members of the Thai sway and business representatives in Bangkok upon his way to Indonesia to attend the inaugural southward West Pacific Dialogue Ministerial meeting in Yogyakarta.

Ministers from East Timor, Papua modern Guinea, New Zealand, Indonesia and Australia will qualified on Oct. 4 and 5 to discuss sub-regional issues.

Downer will then attend the annual World Economic Forum's East Asia Economic Summit in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur where he will qualified senior political and business leaders and give an address titled ''Managing Asia's Security Threats,'' he said.

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