FACT SHEET

Political Activities

The First Myanmar-U.S. Track 1.5 Dialogue was held in Yangon and NayPyiTaw, Myanmar on March 26, 2012. The Second MyanmarU.S. Track 1.5 Dialogue in Washington, D.C. will be held on October 23, 2012. A nine-person delegation will visit from Myanmar and approximately twice as many American participants will attend. During the First Track 1.5 Dialogue, we exchanged views on the evolution of the economic and political situations in Myanmar and how these developments are relevant to Myanmars external relations. The American delegation consisted of: David Steinberg (Georgetown University), Karl Jackson (SAIS, Johns Hopkins University), Robert Dohner (Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury), Joseph Yun (Deputy Assistant Secretary of State), Lex Rieffel (Brookings Institution), Kevin Thieneman (President, Caterpillar, Asia). The Myanmar delegation included: Ko Ko Hlaing (Chief Political Advisor, Office of the President), Winston Set (Presidential Economic Advisor), U Sit Aye (Chief Legal Advisor to the President), Nay Zin Latt (Political Advisor to the President), Yuza Htoon (Mingalar Myanmar), Tin Maung Shwe (Agriculture and Rural Development), Aung Tun Thet (Senior Advisor to the UN), Yin Yin Myint, (Myanmar Institute of Strategic Studies and Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Myo Myint (Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs), Hau Do Suan (Director General, Political Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs), U Nyunt Maung (Ambassador, Rtd.), Kyaw San, (Deputy Director-General, Attorney Generals Office), Professor U Htun Aung Chain, Win Myo Thu, Econdesk (NGO), Wah Wah Maung (Director, Ministry of National Planning and Economic Development), Thet Thet Hla (Assistant Director of the Central Bank), Tin Maung Shwe (Myanmar Academy of Agriculture and Forestry), Dr.Sid Naing, (Country Director, Marie Stopes International).

Now that U.S.-Myanmar relations have improved, including an exchange of ambassadors and a partial suspension of the sanctions, the Second Myanmar-U.S. Track 1.5 Dialogue will focus on forthcoming political and economic changes, legal reforms, and the investment climate reforms in Myanmar and the ways in which these Myanmar-initiated transformations can be encouraged and facilitated by outsiders, be their governments, international organizations, universities, or non-governmental organizations. On the Myanmar side, invited participants will include: Prospects for Improving Myanmar's Investment Climate, Thura U Thaung Lwin, Deputy Minister of Rail Transportation and Joint Secretary of the Myanmar Investment Commission, The Political Evolution of Myanmar, 2012-2015, U Ko Ko Hlaing, Chief Political Advisor to the President, Myanmar's Macro-Economic Policies, 2012-2020, Dr. Kan Minister of National Planning and Economic Development, Zaw,

Prospects for Legal Reform, U Than Kyaw, Myanmar Development Resource Institute Reconciliation among Myanmar Ethnic Groups, The Role of the Military in the Development of Modern Myanmar, H. E. Commodore Aung Thaw, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Defense, Human Rights in Myanmar, Democratic Party, Daw Than Than Nu, Member of the

Myanmar's Role in Asia's Evolving Foreign Retired Ambassador U Nyunt Maung Shein,

Policy

Arena,

A New Beginning for U.S.-Myanmar Foreign Relations? U Than Swe, Ambassador to the United States. Invited speakers on the American side will include: Problems and Prospects for Macro-Economic Development, 20122020, Vikram Nehru, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Prospects for National Integration in Myanmar, Mary Callahan, University of Washington, Agriculture and Prospects for Rural Poverty Myanmar, David Dapice, Harvard University, Sanctions Legislation: Where Are Congressional Research Service, The Future of U.S.-Myanmar Assistant Secretary of State, We Now? Alleviation in

Michael

Martin,

Relations,

Joseph

Yun,

Deputy

How Now Foreign Investment President, Caterpillar, Asia,

in

Myanmar,

Kevin

Thieneman,

Trade and Economic Development in Asia, Robert Dohner, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, U.S. Rebalancing in Asia, Vikram Singh, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for South and Southeast Asia, U.S. Department of Defense. Under a grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, round-trip plane fares, ground transportation, and hotel accommodations in Washington, D.C. will be provided from Sunday, September 30 through the morning of Thursday, October 4. The formal meetings will be held at the Johns Hopkins Universitys School of Advanced International Studies, Room 806, 1619 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C. Finally, an entirely academic conference on Myanmar/Burma Studies (co-sponsored by the Burma Studies Group within the Association of Asian Studies) will be meeting in DeKalb, Illinois, October 57 (For more information, see http://www.niu.edu/burmaconference/).

10/2/2012 8:21:33 PM

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