Myanmar’s upcoming elections will be crucial for the credibility of reforms that remain “fragile,” the EU’s foreign aid chief said ahead of a trip to offer 150 million euros in aid.
While calling for free and fair polls that “bring more unity,” Andris Piebalgs, the European Union development commissioner, said the EU would not be sending observers to the April 1 byelections. “There is a lot of opening and a very promising dynamic in Myanmar, even if it is still fragile,” Piebalgs said before travelling to Myanmar on Saturday.
He will become the first EU official to meet President Thein Sein since reforms began there in March. The commissioner will also meet with democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi. We’ll pass the message that we have noticed it and appreciate what is being done, and what still has to be done,” he said.
Published 09 February 2012, 18:43 IST