He was responding to the speeches delivered by the State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the Tatmadaw Commander-in-Chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing at the opening ceremony of the Union Peace Conference – 21st Century Panglong (third session) on July 11.

“I believe it’s impossible. It’s impossible to set down the foundations for the federal [system] before 2020 if one cannot compare with the ongoing situation. Nothing has been discussed so far regarding the basic principle on federal system. It won’t be easy to handle this issue since obstacles [tend to] arise before a dialogue is held,” he said.

Regarding the discussion on the basic principles on federal system, he continued that the 2008 Constitution cannot be easily amended since the Tatmadaw group believes the constitution is a federal system.

"In implementing ‘federal’, the main principles of non-secession from the Union and self-determination need to be negotiated, as these are very delicate matters. Although this matter is not included in this conference, it is beyond doubt that all need to notice this,” the State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said in her opening speech.

The State Counsellor outlined the plans to hold another session in 2018 and two more sessions in 2019 and aim to finalize the basic principles of democracy and federal system in the next three sessions and lay a firm foundation for a future democratic federal union.

However, the Tatmadaw Commander-in-Chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing said some amendments have been made in the 2008 Constitution.

“We also know that there are desires for constitutional amendments in connection with peace talks. In 2015, 34 points of the Schedule Two under title of Region or State Legislative List of the 2008 Constitution and 20 points of the Schedule Five under the title of Taxes Collected by Region or State were mainly amended in the interests of national ethnic people, and the mandate of the region and state governments was expanded,” he said in his address to the opening ceremony.

He earnestly urged the representatives to continue the peace process with consistency and complete it at the second session of the Union Peace Conference in 2020.

The opening ceremony of the Union Peace Conference was held at MICC-2 in Naypyidaw at 10 am yesterday (July 11). Over 1,500 people including the President, ministers, leaders of ethnic armed organizations, foreign diplomats and personnel from the United Nations, delegates from China and Japan, representatives of the government, Hluttaw, the Tatmadaw, ethnic armed organizations, and political parties, experts, people who deserve to be invited, ethnic representatives, and civil society organizations attended the ceremony.

The Union Peace Conference has been held once under the previous U Thein Sein administration and the 21st Century Panglong Conference has been held twice under the National League for Democracy (NLD) administration. The government, Hluttaw, the Tatmadaw, ethnic armed organizations, and political parties have only been able to agree on 37 points as part of the Union Accord.