Under discussion were resumed state government meetings with the KNPP, education, healthcare and regional development.
By NAW DWE EI KHU / KANTARAWADDY TIMES
Representatives from the Union government’s National Reconciliation and Peace Center (NRPC), the Karenni State government and the Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP) held a state-level meeting in Loikaw on Monday.
Participants came to a five-point agreement in the session, which lasted from 10:00 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. at the Famous Hotel in the Karenni State capital.
“We discussed openly in the meeting,” KNPP spokesperson Nei Neh Plo told Kantarawaddy Times. “I think we got positive results. Representatives from both sides seem to be satisfied with the results and discussion.”
In April of last year, the Karenni State government and the KNPP began holding regular monthly meetings, but these halted in October 2018. Some informal meetings have been held, but Nei Neh Plo said that it is hoped official meetings will restart.
As a result of inviting the NRPC delegation, he added that the schedule of monthly meetings would be “restored.”
“In the meeting, we agreed to the TOR [terms of reference] for regular monthly meetings,” Nei Neh Plo said.
Other topics of discussion included education, healthcare and regional development issues, according to NRPC member U Zaw Htay.
“We agreed about how to cooperate and how to open communication channels for regional development,” he told members of the media after the meeting.
Nei Neh Plo described the meeting as bringing the KNPP another step toward signing Burma’s Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA).
“We are trying. We are discussing in the meeting, which means we are trying to sign the NCA. There will be informal meetings, or communication between two sides. We will keep trying for negotiations,” he said.
The NRPC and the KNPP held a meeting in Naypyidaw on March 18, and agreed on some points. U Zaw Htay said that the government had offered to meet them again in May, but that the KNPP needed to discuss the proposition with their own central committee.