Chiang Mai (Mizzima)– The National Democratic Force (NDF) leader Khin Maung Swe said that the European Union (EU) will decide in April whether to modify or lift sanctions against Burma or not.

About 25 EU ambassadors and deputy ambassadors held talks with the leader of the National League for Democracy, Aung San Suu Kyi, and five political party leaders on Tuesday about the possibility of  lifting of sanctions.

‘The diplomats will pass the messages of the political parties and pro-democracy activists on to their governments. Then, they will make the decision’, Khin Maung Swe said.

Many spokespersons for political parties said in the meeting that sanctions do harm to the people, and the EU should lift the sanctions, said Khin Maung Swe.

He said: ‘The main matter we talked about was that the sanctions not only harm the junta, but they also harm the people. For instance, if an employee of a clothing factory loses his or her job, it also harms their family members. We told the diplomats that we wanted the EU to lift the economic and trade sanctions against Burma’.

Nai Ngwe Thein, the chairman of All Mon Region Democracy Party (AMRDP), said he told the diplomats in the meeting that many young people in Mon State  and Karen State, after they complete their secondary education, are jobless because of the sanctions and go to foreign countries such as Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore to find work.

Political party leaders who attended the meeting said that Suu Kyi did not make any comments about the sanctions during the meeting.

On February 8, the NLD issued a statement on sanctions, saying that the main cause of poverty in Burma was not international sanctions but the junta’s mismanagement of the economy.

Dr. Than Nyein, a NDF leader, said that if the EU lifts the sanctions, European countries will invest more money in Burma and workers will have more job opportunities.

‘European countries are democratic and developed countries. So, I think workers in our country will get higher salaries than before.  I think the workplace environment will be safer and more comfortable. European countries will stick to  democratic principles’, Than Nyein said.

Political party representatives gave the EU delegation a letter calling for an end to sanctions. It was signed by the Democracy and Peace Party (Myanmar), the Union Democratic Party, the White Tiger Party, the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party, the Wunthanu NLD, the Union of Myanmar Federation of National Politics and the National Democratic Force.

On March 7, a report by the International Crisis Group said that Western countries’ sanctions against Burma had failed to achieve their goals.