Myanmar leader to meet Thai PM August 6-7 in Bangkok

MANILA - Myanmar leader Min Aung Hlaing will meet with Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul over August 6 and 7 in Bangkok, Thailand's foreign minister told AFP on Tuesday.

Sihasak Phuangketkeow confirmed the sit-down after what he said was a "frank and candid" discussion with Southeast Asian foreign ministers in Manila on how best to pursue Myanmar's return to the diplomatic fold.

While still a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Myanmar has been formally excluded from the bloc's major meetings since the junta's 2021 coup toppled Aung San Suu Kyi's democratically elected government.

Thailand, which shares a long border with civil war-torn Myanmar and hosts millions of its refugees, has been leading a push for the pariah state's reintegration that has exposed deep divisions among members.

On Tuesday, Sihasak told AFP that coup leader turned president Min Aung Hlaing's upcoming visit to Thailand was part of "a dual-track approach".

"There are pressing bilateral issues we have to deal with, issues of ... transnational crime, scams, or the issue of drugs," he said, adding the approach did not mean an abandonment of ASEAN's long-standing five-point peace plan.

But he also said he had asked ASEAN counterparts to think about "how we measure progress" at a recent meeting in Bangkok with Myanmar Foreign Minister Tin Maung Swe.

"If the government in Myanmar provides access (to Suu Kyi) to the ASEAN special envoy, is that a measure of progress? If there's some reduction of violence, let's say along the Thai-Myanmar border ... is that progress?"

"Our point was that we have to be realistic," he said. "It's not going to happen overnight. Some progress will come incrementally."

He added that he hoped that the heavily restricted elections that saw coup leader Min Aung Hlaing installed as president would open the door to fresh talks with the country's armed ethnic groups and democratic opposition.

"Maybe we can help facilitate dialogue with those ethnic groups along the Thai side of the border," he added. "That's the building block."

Earlier in the day, Philippine Foreign Minister Theresa Lazaro had said the bloc was considering the appointment of a long-term, permanent envoy to Myanmar, conceding the current yearly rotation system had "not really been effective". — Agence France-Presse