Members of the government’s negotiating team and representatives of armed ethnic groups will meet at the Myanmar Peace Centre on March 9 to decide a date for the next round of talks on a nationwide ceasefire, the MPC’s U Hla Maung Shwe said on March 5.
The talks between the Union-level Peace Work Committee and the Nationwide Cease-fire Coordination Team will be held in the Kayin State capital, Hpa-an.
The talks in Hpa-an were originally scheduled for January but have been postponed several times since being agreed by the two sides in November.
The March 9 meeting will also discuss a request from the NCCT for a ceasefire agreement to provide for a political dialogue between the two sides, U Hla Maung Shwe said.
He said another meeting may be needed after March 9 to set a date for the Hpa-an talks.
NCCT representatives at the March 9 meeting will include Naing Han Thar from the New Mon State Party, the general secretary of the Karen National Union, Saw Kwe Htoo Win, and Pa-O National Liberation Organization leader Khun Okka, the deputy secretary of the United Nationalities Federal Council, a coalition of armed ethnic groups.
The vice-chairman of the government negotiating team, U Aung Min, has said at previous meetings that President U Thein Sein is ready to sign a ceasefire agreement if the Hpa-an talks are successful.
