51 countries to participate in Asia-Europe Foreign Ministers' Meeting

A total of 51 countries will participate in the 13th Asia-Europe Foreign Ministers' Meeting, opening on Monday in Myanmar's capital city of Nay Pyi Taw.

The host country's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi will inaugurate the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), in which the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and the European Union (EU) will participate, reports Efe news.

According to diplomatic sources, the Rohingya crisis will be included in the bilateral meetings, to be held on the sidelines.

The crisis has worsened since the Army launched an operation in August against the Muslim minority in the western state of Rakhine in response to attacks on police posts by Rohingya militants from the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army.

At least 400 people have been killed and some 300 villages have been razed in the military operation.

The High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs, Federica Mogherini, will participate in the meeting after a stopover on Sunday in Bangladesh, where 620,000 Rohingya refugees have fled due to the violence in Myanmar.

Mogherini visited a refugee camp in southeastern Bangladesh and said the EU will help find a "sustainable solution" to the humanitarian crisis.

The 13th ASEM Foreign Ministers' Meeting, an informal forum that aims to boost cooperation in every area between Asia and Europe, will conclude on Tuesday with the release of a final declaration.

--IANS

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