News

On 24 November in Vilnius, Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Institute of International Relations and Political Science of Vilnius University held a discussion called “Burma: what next?” on future perspectives for Burma/Myanmar and the role of the international community in promoting democracy in this country. The discussion was attended by the Ambassador-at-Large of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania, main coordinator of Lithuania’s presidency of the Community of Democracies Ina Marčiulionytė, journalist from Burma/Myanmar Hawi Thar, British Ambassador to Lithuania Simon Butt, who had worked for two years as a diplomat in Burma/Myanmar, and Ambassador of Hungary to Lithuania Péter Noszkó-Horvath, who had worked for eight years in Thailand and Cambodia.

The participants of the event discussed possible scenarios for the future of Burma/Myanmar, the significance of the country’s elections and of the release from house arrest of democratic opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, as well as Lithuania’s role in solving the problems of Burma/Myanmar.

Ambassador I.Marčiulionytė said that Lithuania had to help Burma/Myanmar to pursue democracy and stressed that Lithuania’s presidency of the Community of Democracies had consistently urged Burma/Myanmar’s military junta to initiate democratic reforms.

“If you took a look at the history of Lithuania, you would be able to see that sometimes Lithuania also felt as though it were left alone in its fight for independence, and this is the worst feeling one might have when fighting for freedom,” the Ambassador said.

Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs organized this discussion in cooperation with Eastern Europe Studies Centre, Students’ Association of the Institute of International Relations and Political Science of Vilnius University and embassies of the United Kingdom and Hungary in Lithuania.