ASEAN: lift Myanmar sanctions

Leaders from the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) gathered in Cambodia on Tuesday for an annual summit, calling on Western countries to lift sanctions against Myanmar following Sunday's by-elections.

The leaders of the 10 ASEAN members had called "for the lifting of all sanctions on Myanmar," Cambodian Secretary of State Kao Kim Hourn told reporters on the sidelines of the summit in Phnom Penh.

He added that the removal of sanctions "would contribute positively to the democratic process and especially economic development of Myanmar."

Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi won her first seat in parliament in the by-elections, a vote that ASEAN monitors have declared "free and fair."

"We are encourage by the way the by-elections were conducted. We are cheered that all the major stakeholders had cooperated to ensure the success of this landmark political exercise," ASEAN secretary-general Surin Pitsuwan said ahead of the two-day summit, which concludes on Wednesday.

Homegrown endorsement

Myanmar's President Thein Sein, who rarely talks to the press, said on Tuesday through an interpreter that he considered the polls to have been successful - the first top-level endorsement for Sunday's vote.

Over the past few months, Sein's government has freed hundreds of political prisoners, eased media restrictions and welcomed Suu Kyi's opposition party back into the political fold. Her National League for Democracy party won a resounding victory in Sunday's by-elections, with the former Nobel Peace Prize laureate and political prisoner winning a parliamentary seat for the first time.

ASEAN comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Phillipines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, with a combined population of some 600 million people.

Nearby North Korea's controversial plans to launch a rocket and strategic maritime disputes with China are also likely to feature heavily during the summit.

The prime minister of Cambodia, Hu Sen, appealed to the group to prioritize ASEAN's attempts to form a single economic community by 2015, saying that the world's fragile economic situation presented "a great threat" to the bloc.

The Phnom Penh summit is ASEAN's 20th, with the bloc also celebrating the 45th anniversary of its foundation.

msh/ipj (AFP, AP, dpa)