Thailand backs ASEAN efforts to advance dialogue on Myanmar

• Thailand has offered to host and facilitate prospective peace negotiations to address the conflict in Myanmar.

• Thai officials, alongside the ASEAN special envoy, held separate meetings with both Myanmar's military-backed negotiating team and representatives of six rebel groups.

• Following these discussions, both opposing sides acknowledged that the conflict cannot be resolved militarily, creating an opening for dialogue.

• Thailand's foreign minister stressed that these actions support ASEAN's existing Five-Point Consensus peace framework for Myanmar.

Thailand has offered to facilitate and host prospective peace negotiations on Myanmar after separate meetings indicated that the opposing parties recognised the conflict could not be resolved militarily.

Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow said on Wednesday (July 15) that ASEAN’s special envoy had met both Myanmar’s military-backed negotiating team and representatives of six rebel groups. The development could help restart the regional bloc’s stalled peace efforts.

Myanmar has been engulfed in civil war since the military overthrew the elected government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021. An estimated 100,000 people have been killed, and millions have been displaced during the conflict.

The latest diplomatic engagement began on Sunday, when ASEAN foreign ministers held their first face-to-face meeting with their Myanmar counterpart since the coup.