President Office spokesman Zaw Htay said that among the two issues proposed under the political sector, gender Equality and ethnic minority rights, the latter was not approved for discussion at Third 21st Century Panglong Conference.
“We discussed this agenda at UPDJC meeting but we could not get agreement for discussion of ethnic minority rights. We had a heated debate and discussion on the interpretation of ethnic minority and other minorities. So, we will not discuss this issue at the coming conference,” Zaw Htay said.
He was speaking to media after the sector-wise working committee meeting for 21st Century Panglong Conference held at Myanmar International Convention Centre (2) in Naypyitaw on July 4.
“The main reason for non-inclusion of ethnic minority rights on the conference agenda is non-completion of federal principles at the conference so we have not yet discussed democratic principles. So, we have no plan to discuss democratic principles and we also have no plan for discussion of democratic rights, human rights, and a fundamental policy of citizens as we could not agree on the wording. We decided to focus only on gender equality in the political sector at this forthcoming conference,” he added.
The Working Committee meeting for Third 21st Century Panglong Conference is being held from July 4 to July 6 and they had decided to submit 10 points in security sector at the forthcoming conference for discussion.