UN Envoy to visit Myanmar next week to aid confidence-building talks

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s Special Envoy for Myanmar, Razali Ismail, will visit Yangon next week as part of a continuing effort to help facilitate the country’s national reconciliation process, a UN spokesperson said today in New York.

“The Secretary-General hopes that Mr. Razali’s mission will provide the process with a fresh momentum to assist the two sides to develop their confidence-building talks into a more substantive dialogue in the near future,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

During Mr. Razali’s trip, from 19 to 22 March, he is slated to meet with Government leaders, including Senior General Than Shwe, Prime Minister and Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC).

The Special Envoy is also expected to hold talks with senior members of the National League for Democracy (NLD), including its General Secretary, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

This will be Mr. Razali’s seventh mission since he was appointed the Special Envoy in April 2000.