Estonia Establishes Diplomatic Relations With Myanmar
The foreign ministers of Estonia and Myanmar officially opened diplomatic ties between their countries at a meeting in New York on September 25.
At the meeting, one of many key get-togethers surrounding the first week of the 67th UN General Assembly, Foreign Minister Urmas Paet told his counterpart Wunna Maung Lwin that Estonia recognized the steps that Myanmar’s government has taken to carry out democratic reforms and create a more open society.
“Reconciliation in society is essential,” Paet said, as quoted in a ministry press release. “Political cooperation is the first step, which must be accompanied by social and economic reforms,” he added.
During their meeting, the two ministers discussed cooperation in the UN and offering each other reciprocal support for their bids to have seats on the UN Human Rights Council, elections for which take place in November.
Paet also said that Estonia is prepared to share with Myanmar its experiences with building up a democratic state and invited the country's representatives to visit the e-Governance Academy and ICT Demo Center in Tallinn.
The countries had agreed to establish diplomatic ties in April.
The same month, the EU dropped economic sanctions against the Southeast Asian country of roughly 60 million, which has been carrying out massive democratic reforms since its military government gave power over to a new government in March 2011.