Delegation of Myanmar’s Ethnic Minority Groups Visits Prime Minister Abe

Appeal for Peace-building Assistance in Myanmar

Japan is stepping up its diplomatic efforts in Myanmar. Twenty-three members of the United Nationalities Federal Council, a coalition of armed ethnic minority groups from Myanmar, met Prime Minister Abe Shinzō on April 2, 2013. At the meeting, the chairman of the UNFC (and representative of the Kachin Independence Organization), Lieutenant General N’Ban La, appealed for Japan’s help in bringing “democracy and equality to all of Myanmar’s ethnic groups.”

Prime Minister Abe said the “ethnic diversity of Myanmar is one of its strengths” and pledged that Japan will do its utmost to help fight poverty and develop human resources as Myanmar’s impressive development continues.

The UNFC delegation was accompanied by Sasakawa Yōhei, chairman of the Nippon Foundation, who is working to provide medical care and food supplies as Japan’s special envoy for national reconciliation in Myanmar.

(Photo courtesy of the Nippon Foundation.)