The Myanmar government Friday expressed, in an announcement, its regret over a presidential statement on the country unanimously adopted by the 15-nation United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Thursday.

 

The announcement blamed the UNSC for such adoption "although Myanmar's situation constitutes no impact on the regional peace and security".

 

Vowing to continue to adopt its fundamental foreign policy, the announcement insisted that the government would also continue to follow its own seven-step roadmap to democracy after the ending of its constitutional national convention, the first step of the roadmap.

 

The 15-nation UNSC statement called for efforts from the Myanmar government and all parties to achieve an inclusive national reconciliation and to boost democracy and development through dialogue.

 

Meanwhile, the National League for Democracy (NLD) expressed welcome over the presidential statement on Myanmar, stressing the need for prompt implementation of national reconciliation in line with the UNSC adoption.

 

A government announcement on Oct. 4 said Senior-General Than Shwe, chairman of the State Peace and Development Council, is willing to meet and talk personally on conditions with Aung San Suu Kyi, detained NLD general secretary, if she declares to abandon her "exerted efforts for confrontation, utter devastation, and imposing all kinds of sanctions including economic sanctions against Myanmar".

 

The NLD stressed that the main requirement to solve the critical issues which the country is facing is the desire for meeting and having dialogue, adding that it favors no pre-conditions for the move.

 

Than Shwe made the offer on Oct. 4 when he met with Ibrahim Gambari, the special envoy of the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who was on a special mission to Myanmar.

 

As a follow-up, as proposed by Gambari, the Myanmar government appointed on Oct. 8 Deputy Minister of Labor U Aung Kyi to act as liaison minister to get link with Aung San Suu Kyi.

 

Before his ending of the trip, Gambari was allowed to meet with Than Shwe in Nay Pyi Taw and twice with Aung San Suu Kyi in Yangon.

 

Gambari came to Yangon on Sept. 29 amid widespread mass demonstrations by Buddhist monks and people in several parts of the country to look into its situation and play the UN's part in seeking for Myanmar's national reconciliation.

 

So far, Yangon and Mandalay are still under curfew but the situation is generally calm.

 

(Xinhua News Agency October 13, 2007)