Myanmar Vice President Holds Talks With OIC Delegation

By Bernama

November 15, 2013

YANGON -- Myanmar Vice President Sai Mauk Kham on Friday held talks with a delegation from the Organisation of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on efforts to restore peace and stability in western Rakhine state.

The OIC delegation comprising several foreign ministers of member states is led by its secretary general Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu at the meeting in Nay Pyi Taw.

The two sides also discussed rehabilitation efforts being carried out in Rakhine state, Xinhua news agency reports state media as saying.

On Thursday, Deputy Speaker of Myanmar's Parliament U Nanda Kyaw Swa met the OIC delegation in the capital.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu presented tractors and agricultural implements to Myanmar's Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation, while Malaysian Deputy Foreign Minister Datuk Hamzah Zainudin visited Myanmar's Foreign Ministry.

The OIC delegation also held talks with leaders of four religions led by the patron of Interfaith Dialogue Group of Myanmar, U Hla Maung in the capital.

The delegation arrived in Nay Pyi Taw from Yangon on Wednesday to observe the situation in Rakhine state and Meikhtila of Mandalay region which had been hit by communal conflicts.

Before the delegation's arrival, hundreds of protestors including Buddhist monks staged street demonstrations in Yangon and Mandalay to oppose the visit by the OIC delegation which they accused of interfering in the country's internal affairs.

A series of communal conflicts in Rakhine, Meikhtila and Lashio in Shan state have displaced more than 200,000 people over the last two years.