Aung San Suu Kyi urges joint efforts to achieve national reconciliation in Myanmar

She made the call at the opening session of the second meeting of the 21st Century Panglong Peace Conference of Myanmar which kicked off here Wednesday, nine months after the first in August 2016.

Aung San Suu Kyi said the peace conference has reached a stage of discussing the basic principle of federal system and will open a new historical page of political dialogue which the people are desirous of.

She outlined three main objectives of the conference to be pursued - emergence of a union based on democracy and federal system; signing of the Nationwide Cease-fire Accord (NCA) by those yet to do so, followed by political dialogue to achieve eternal peace; open coordination on the path of national reconciliation efforts without exerting pressure and force politically to reach agreements that can be accepted by all parties.

The Myanmar state counselor said the conference is to further discuss the 41 basic principles submitted group-wise through national-level political dialogue and last agreed by the Union Peace Dialogue Joint Committee (UPDJC).

She also called for marching forward to overcome challenges with Panglong spirit that may be encountered in the course of peace pursuit.

Some 1,400 representatives from the government, the parliament, the military, invited political parties, ethnic armed organizations and civil society participated in the five-day meeting.

President U Htin Kyaw and two vice presidents, State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, speakers of both houses, Commander-in-Chief of the Defense Services Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, Chairman of the Union Solidarity and Development Party U Than Htay and Chairman of the Kayin National Union (KNU) Saw Mutu Sae Poe attended the opening ceremony.

The 15 ethnic armed organizations, present at the event, include eight signatories and seven non-signatories to the Nationwide Cease-fire Accord (NCA).

The seven non-ceasefire signatories, also known as Northern Alliance, include Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO), the United Wa State Army (UWSA), Arakan Army (AA), Kokang''s Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) and Ta''ang National Liberation Army (TNLA).