22 Sep

U Kyaw Tin, Union Minister for International Cooperation of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar held discussions with Marise Payne, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Women of Australia via videoconference at 10:00 am on 21 September 2020 from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nay Pyi Taw. During the videoconference, the Ministers cordially exchanged views on further advancement of the existing bilateral relations and cooperation between Myanmar and Australia including the holding of a High-level Consultations on Development Cooperation between two countries before the end of the year, preparations for holding of the forthcoming Myanmar’s General Elections successfully in November in line with the COVID-19 preventive health guidelines and sharing of Australia’s experiences in holding elections during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Union Minister expressed thanks to Australia for its contribution of 1 million Australian Dollars to the ASEAN COVID-19 Response Fund and Australia’s support for the GAVI COVAX facility Advance Market Commitment (COVAX AMC) that will provide access to the Southeast Asian countries including Myanmar to have safe, effective, and affordable COVID-19 vaccines. The Ministers also discussed matters related to the arrangements and facilitations of relief flights to repatriate their citizens stranded in Myanmar and Australia and Australia’s two-year assistance programme for Myanmar in health security and economic recovery to mitigate the socio-economic impacts brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Furthermore, the Union Minister gave a brief account of Myanmar’s preparation for the repatriation of displaced persons from Rakhine in accordance with bilateral agreements between Myanmar and Bangladesh, the ongoing cooperation between the Myanmar Government and the UN agencies, ASEAN and other development partners in creating a conducive environment for the returnees, the collaboration between the Myanmar Government and ICRC and WFP in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic for the vulnerable groups, including IDP Camps. He also stressed the importance of understanding each other’s challenges and concerns as well as the need to support each other in a constructive manner in addressing the challenges. The Australian Foreign Minister expressed Australia’s understanding of the complexity of challenges faced by Myanmar including the Rakhine issue and reaffirmed its willingness to provide constructive support and assistance to Myanmar’s efforts in overcoming the challenges in its democratic transition. 

MNA