The Myanmar Peace Center (MPC) delegation met with Aung San Suu Kyi and a NLD delegation for about one hour on Tuesday in Nay Pyi Taw, to brief her on the upcoming political dialogue with ethnic armed groups and the state of ongoing national peace accord talks.
According to an National League for Democracy (NLD) press release, both sides exchanged views on the current peace process.
An NLD spokesman, Win Htein, said the MPC submitted topics which will be discussed at a political dialogue peace conference scheduled for Jan 12, 13 and 14. A preliminary meeting will be held on Jan 5, 6 and 7 to coordinate the agenda for the conference.
Win Htein told Eleven news the NLD does not plan to abolish the MPC but will review its duties. The MPC is reported to have a staff of more than 100 people.
The MPC is led by Union Ministers Soe Thein and Aung Min in the President’s Office.
According to its organizational set-up, the MPC functions under the government’s Union Peace-Making Central Committee and the Union Peace-Making Implementation Work Committee. The MPC includes a special advisory team, international donors and experts.
It recently completed a National Ceasefire Accord with eight ethnic armies. At least four significant ethnic armies have refused to sign the agreement.
Suu Kyi has said that she supports an “inclusive” peace agreement. Negotiators have been repeatedly frustrated in moving forward with the hold-out ethnic armies, and have said that greater autonomy and other issues have made an agreement difficult.
The NLD has not revealed a strategy for dealing with the ethnic armies that have refused to reach a peace accord with the government.
