Abstract

At the Ninth ASEAN summit in Bali in October 2003, then Prime Minister of Myanmar, General Khin Nyunt, received the endorsement of his regional peers for his plan to return Myanmar to democratic governance. In 2006, Myanmar will chair ASEAN and the country's leadership will need to be in a position to show that real reform measures have been instituted. The Prime Minister's discussions with his counterparts from China, Japan, Korea and India, as well as the ASEAN governments at the Bali summit, could set the scene for a new era of peaceful cooperation, trade and investment capable of providing Myanmar with the resources for implementation of the democratic governance urged upon her by the international community. Myanmar's international relations strategy, focused within the Asian region, is designed to complement its domestic policies in pursuit of stability, unity and peaceful development. This article analyses Myanmar's new international relations agenda in the context of its domestic reform programme and its overarching search for security.

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