NAY PYI TAW, May 30 (Xinhua) -- The second meeting of Myanmar's 21st Century Panglong Peace Conference, which lasted six days from May 24 to 29 in Nay Pyi Taw, gave birth to some union accords for peace for the first time in Myanmar's history.
A total of 37 adopted principles, based on the Nationwide Cease-fire Accord (NCA), were incorporated into a union agreement and signed by representatives of participating groups of the government, parliament, military, signatory armed groups to the NCA and political parties on Monday, the final day of the conference.
State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, who is also chair of the conference's central organizing committee and the Union Peace Dialogue Joint Committee (UPDJC), hailed the signing as a significant step towards peace, national reconciliation and the emergence of a democratic federal union, urging all organizations and individuals that have not participated in the conference to join the historic endeavor towards a peaceful democratic federal union.
Thanking all the stakeholders for the peace making, Suu Kyi said she was greatly encouraged. Despite many different views and perspectives, it was able to reach some common agreements through frank discussions and negotiations.
She spoke of the importance of the accomplishments made at the conference and the long road that still lies ahead. Despite almost 70 years of armed conflicts, "We have shown clearly today that we can find similarities despite our differences and that we can identify common ground through peaceful negotiation," she said.
The 37 adopted principles out of 41, proposed by the UPDJC and resulting from state and regional level political dialogue, include 12 with the political sector, 11 with the economic sector, four with the social sector and 10 with the land and environment sector.
The six-day conference was marked by sometimes heated discussions, but there were compromise and agreement on enough issues to move forward the peace accord, officials said.
Officials said efforts would continuously be made to include the ethnic armed organizations that are still outside of the peace process, adding that door will always be left open for the remaining armed groups to overcome the challenges.
Inaugurated by Aung San Suu Kyi, the second meeting of the 21st Century Panglong Peace Conference, which began last Wednesday, was attended by some 1,400 representatives from the government, the parliament, the military, invited political parties, ethnic armed organizations and civil society.
The 15 ethnic armed organizations that participated in the conference include eight signatories to the NCA, led by the Kayin National Union (KNU). Other seven Northern Alliance non-ceasefire signatory armed groups, led by the United Wa State Army (UWSA), left without reaching agreements but accepted the idea of going through further dialogue.
