A two-day meeting in Chiang Mai, Thailand, concludes on Thursday between two ethnic negotiating teams – the Delegation for Political Negotiations (DPN), which represents the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC), and the Coordination Team (CT), which is made up of delegates from the eight armed groups that have signed the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement with the Myanmar government.
“This was a follow-up meeting to the Mai Ja Yang conference,” said CT member Sunny ahead of the talks. “We are here to lay the groundwork for future negotiations. We will be discussing security and defence issues, the political dialogue framework, and the points of the Panglong Paper.”
The so-called Panglong Paper was a set of principles agreed between ethnic groups at the Mai Jar Yang meeting in Kachin State in July 2016. In addition to matters of security and defence, the documents record agreements on federalism and the Myanmar peace process.
Sunny told Mizzima that the results of this two-day meeting will be further discussed at an ethnic armed group conference on 8–9 April, when both NCA signatories and non-signatory groups will come together.