Prime Minister Dr Sein Win's meeting with the Foreign Minister of the Czech Republic
EU plans to toughen stand if nothing changed in Myanmar
September 7 - The EU is disappointed at the absence of any visible progress in democracy and human rights observance in Myanmar and it is preparing certain measures, Czech Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda said after a meeting with Sein Win, head of the exile Burmese government today.
The EU would take concrete steps if no progress towards democracy were seen in Myanmar, a country with a military dictatorship regime, by October, Svoboda said.
October is the date of the EU and Asian countries' Eurasian partnership (ASEM) summit, organised in Hanoi.
Myanmar wants to join this organisation. The measures "concern an extension of the list of those who will be denied visas, the freezing of some loans," Svoboda said, referring to some of the possible sanctions.
The EU may also vote against certain kinds of loans in international financial institutions. Further measures will be announced at an official meeting of the EU's council for general affairs and external relations, which has to approve them. Up to now, the EU foreign ministers have agreed on them only informally at their recent meeting in Maastricht.
Sein Win stressed the necessity of concrete sanctions, including economic, against the Myanmar military junta, such as imposing embargo on its wood export.
Svoboda said the Czech Foreign Ministry has been monitoring the situation in the long run and is deeply disappointed. He said the Czech Republic would be strict in this respect. It is a duty of democratic countries to support the efforts at a change of the system in Myanmar and to conduct a dialogue with the opposition, Svoboda said.