Coincidentally, an International Conference on Burma/Myanmar Studies is being held in Chiang Mai on 24 to 26 July as the city plays host to the ethnic armed organisations (EAOs) meeting to discuss the nationwide ceasefire agreement (NCA) from 25 to 27 July.
The 15 person EAO Senior Delegation (SD) is scheduled to meet with the EAO's Nationwide Ceasefire Coordination Team (NCCT) in Chiang Mai from 24 to 26 July to discuss whether to sign the renegotiated NCA final draft.
Prior to that the SD will re-negotiate the NCA final draft with the government's Union Peacemaking Work Committee (UPWC) in Rangoon from 22 to 23 July.
While the NCCT are holding their talks in Chiang Mai the city's university will be holding round tables and panels about Burma as part of the Burma Studies Conference.
Among the panels and talks to be held will be a panel discussion on 'Ethnic Politics and Citizenship', which will include amongst its panelists of scholars Martin Smith, Matthew Walton, Ardeth Thawnghmung and Helene Kyed, whose paper focuses on how EAOs will integrate with the security and justice sector, political parties, the civil service, large-scale businesses and CSOs after the ceasefire is signed.
The panel will be held in two parts from 10.30am to 12pm and then from 1.00pm to 2.30pm on Friday 24 July.
On 25 July there will be a two part roundtable discussion about the ongoing peace process in Burma. The first discussion, which will be moderated by Khuensai Jaiyen a Pyidaungsu Institute director, will discuss the latest updates in the peace process. The second discussion will be about how the peace process is expected to move ahead and it will be moderated by the Pyidaungsu Institute director Dr Chayan Vaddhanaphut. The first discussion will be held from 2.00pm to 3.30pm and the second discussion will be from 3.45pm to 5.15pm.
Representatives from EAOs, the Myanmar Peace Center (MPC) and the National League for Democracy (NLD) as well as preeminent academics like Hannes Siebert are among the invited participants.
The conference opens at 08:25 on Friday 24 July. Other participants whose names are familiar to Burma watchers include:
- Mon Mon Myat and Aung Zaw participating in the roundtable discussion 'Media and its Role in Democratic Transition'.
- Ashley South participating in the panel discussion 'Ethnic Armed Groups and Political Parties'.
- Khin Ohnmar discussing Vibrant and Independent Civil Society in the second plenary on 'Transitional Myanmar and Reforms'.
- Paul Sein Twa participating in the roundtable discussion 'Land confiscation in Burma'.
Chayan Vaddhanaphuti, the principal organizer of the event, said: “We Thais, despite being Myanmar’s closest neighbor, know very little about it. I’m confident we are going to learn a lot from the conference which will further strengthen our bilateral relations.”
For more details, please see the attached schedules.
