New Delhi — The United Nations General Secretary Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday convened a meeting of the 'Group of Friends' to review the situation in Burma and to discuss the ensuing visit of his special envoy Ibrahim Gambari.
 
"The Group expressed strong support for the Secretary-General's good offices and efforts," said a statement by the UN Secretary General's spokesperson.
 
At the same time the Group noted that Gambari's next visit to military-ruled Burma need to show tangible progress that includes resumption of dialogue between Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the regime, the credibility of the electoral process, and the regularization of engagement with the UN Secretary General.
 
The meeting was attended by Australia, China, France, India, Indonesia, Japan, Norway, Russia, Singapore, the Republic of Korea, Thailand, the United Kingdom, the United States, Vietnam, the European Community and the European Union.
 
The UN chief's Group of Friends met for the fourth time since it was set up in December 2007, following the Burmese junta's use of force to crackdown on peaceful protesters in September.
 
Gambari, who has visited Burma three times since the September protests, is scheduled to revisit the troubled Southeast Asian nation in mid-August.
 
With the Burmese military junta's tradition of using international diplomacy as a tool to ease pressure, Burma's opposition political parties said they are not hopeful about Gambari's upcoming visit and do not expect him to bring about a tangible result.
 
Gambari, during his three earlier visits, was able to facilitate talks between Burma's opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the Burmese junta's Liaison Minister Aung Kyi.
 
But the talks were short-lived with the junta showing no inclination of continuing with it.