From March 7 to march 11 the Presidium of the Danish Parliament visited Myanmar, where they met with Myanmar government representatives, political parties and civil society groups.
The Speaker of the Parliament, Mr Mogens Lykketoft as well as the deputy speakers, Mr Bertel Haarder, Ms Pia Kjærsgaard, Ms Camilla Hersom and Ms Anne Baastrup participated in the trip that was accompanied by Ambassador Mikael Hemniti Winther. The five day long visit allowed the Presidium to discuss a wide range of political and development issues in Myanmar.
In Nay Pyi Taw, the Parliament’s Presidium held meetings with Myanmar Information Minister, Aung Kyi, Speaker of the Lower House, Thura Shwe Mann and opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi. The meetings were an opportunity to debate Myanmar’s democratization process, exchange views on political developments as well as to discuss possibilities for future cooperation between the Danish and Myanmar Parliaments.
In Yangon, the Parliament’s Presidium met with representatives from a broad range of prodemocracy and ethnic political parties as well as civil society groups to discuss the reform process and ethnic conflicts in Myanmar. While in Yangon, the Parliament’s Presidium also made a visit to the oldest historical and most sacred pagoda to the Myanmar people, the Shwedagon Pagoda.
In Rakhine State, the Speaker of the Parliament conducted a field trip organized in cooperation with UN-OCHA. The visit was an opportunity to review the complex humanitarian situation in Rakhine State following the recent inter-communal violent conflict in the area. During the trip the Speaker visited five Rohingya refugee camps, met with partners who are working on development projects in the area and held meetings with representatives from the Muslim minority population as well as from the ethnic Burmese population in Rakhine.
