US recognises Myanmar on promise of reform
A special opportunity to meet its Ambassador
Hosted by: Australian Institute of International Affairs, Sydney
The event will start on: Tuesday, 14 February 2012 6:00 PM
And will end on: Tuesday, 14 February 2012 7:30 PM
At The Glover Cottages, Sydney
Posted by: nsw
The United States has now fully restored diplomatic relations with Myanmar, following the release of significant political prisoners.
The past two months have seen a flurry of international activity from Myanmar, including high-profile visits from the billionaire investor and philanthropist George Soros, US secretary of state Hillary Clinton and Britain’s foreign secretary William Hague. Mr Hague was the most recent visitor, and said the Myanmar government had assured him reforms in the country are irreversible.
And when people talk of Myanmar these days, the conversation usually evolves round reform and a land of opportunity in the land once called Burma. . That opportunity is seen in terms of the potential for the development of agriculture and resources, and inevitably oil. The West, especially the United States and the European Union, hold out the prospect of an end to sanctions and strong financial support.
China sees Myanmar as offering a secure gateway to the all-important Indian Ocean. Every Asian nation has the prospects of economic and human development in its sights.
So there is cautious optimism. Some political prisoners have been released - including opposition leader and Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi - and the country is moving towards elections this April, Australian companies are looking hard at the investment prospects. It is time for the AIIA to ask the questions - what beckons?
Meet the Ambassador of Myanmar: HE Paw Lwin Sein,
For the first time in more than two decades, we have the opportunity to hear from Myanmar’s senior representative in Australia on how he sees his country’s political future and its prospects. The ambassador has held senior positions in the Myanmar foreign ministry for more than a decade.
Mr Paw Lwin Sein is now a career diplomat in the Myanmar foreign service. He was educated at the Arts and Science University in Yangon, where he obtained arts and law degrees before joining the advocate general’s office as a deputy assistant judge. He then continued a legal career as assistant director in the legal division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In 1992 he was posted to Moscow to serve as first secretary, but then, one year later, began a four-year stint as first secretary at the embassy of Myanmar in Washington DC. He then returned home to serve first as deputy director and then as director of the political department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. At the millenium he was posted to Manila to serve as minister-counsellor in the embassy there, and four years later returned home again as principal officer in the private office of the foreign minister.
In 2006 he was promoted first to deputy director general and then to director general in charge of research, training and languages at the Myanmar foreign ministry, until becoming ambassador to Australia and New Zealand in 2010.
We shall also be joined by Hamish McDonald of the Sydney Morning Herald, who writes regularly about Myanmar.
Refreshments served from 6pm
Entry Fee: Members: $15.00 Senior/Student members $10.00 Guests $20.00
Advance Registration essential
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