Chairman of the Peace Commission Dr. Tin Myo Win (C) speaks to media after a meeting of Myanmar's Peace Commission and the seven Northern Alliance armed groups in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar, May 25, 2017. Myanmar's Peace Commission met with the seven Northern Alliance armed groups on the sidelines of the second meeting of the 21st Century Panglong Peace Conference underway in Nay Pyi Taw Thursday. (Xinhua/U Aung)
NAY PYI TAW, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar's Peace Commission met with the seven Northern Alliance armed groups on the sidelines of the second meeting of the 21st Century Panglong Peace Conference underway in Nay Pyi Taw Thursday.
Welcoming the armed groups, which are non-signatories to the Nationwide Ceasefire Accord (NCA), Chairman of the Peace Commission Tin Myo Win told the press that their willingness of attendance at the conference represented a step of confidence building towards peace.
He thanked the seven armed groups for their attendance as well as China for its support of the holding of the peace conference.
The seven Northern Alliance group refers to the United Wa State Army (UWSA), Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), Arakan Army (AA), Kokang's Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), Mongla's National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA), Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and Shan State Progressive Party (SSPP)-North.
The second 21st Century Panglong Conference continued on Thursday, the second day session, focusing on papers in five sectors resulting from six state-and regional-level political dialogues.
According to the Union Peace Dialogue Joint Committee (UPDJC) Secretariat, apart from the papers, the 41 points of facts related to political, economic, social, land and environment sectors, reached by the UPDJC prior to the conference, were also to be discussed.
The conference, which aims to unite all ethnic nationalities and build a democratic federal union through dialogue, kicked off here Wednesday.
With State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi inaugurating the event, some 1,400 representatives from the government, the parliament, the military, invited political parties, ethnic armed organizations and civil society participated in the five-day meeting.
The 15 ethnic armed organizations, present at the event, include eight signatories to the NCA, led by the Kayin National Union (KNU), and seven non-signatories or Northern Alliance, led by the UWSA.
