SINGAPORE: Ban Ki-Moon meets with Singapore Prime Minister ahead of his trip to Myanmar
Record ID:
561626
SINGAPORE: Ban Ki-Moon meets with Singapore Prime Minister ahead of his trip to Myanmar
- Title: SINGAPORE: Ban Ki-Moon meets with Singapore Prime Minister ahead of his trip to Myanmar
- Date: 3rd July 2009
- Summary: SINGAPORE (JULY 02, 2009) (REUTERS) SINGAPORE PRIME MINISTER LEE HSIEN LOONG WAITING UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY-GENERAL ENTERING ROOM/SHAKING HANDS WITH LEE HANDS SHAKING VARIOUS OF U.N. DELEGATION GREETED BY LEE BAN KI-MOON AND LEE HSIEN LOONG SITTING BAN AND LEE SPEAKING BAN SPEAKING LEE SPEAKING BAN AND LEE SPEAKING U.N. SPECIAL ENVOY IBRAHIM GAMBARI BAN ENTERING ROOM/ GREETED BY SINGAPORE SENIOR MINISTER GOH CHOK TONG GOH CHOK TONG BAN INTRODUCING U.N. DELEGATION ENTRANCE OF DINING ROOM GOH CHOK TONG AND BAN ENTERING DINING ROOM VARIOUS OF GOH CHOK TONG AND BAN SPEAKING AT DINING TABLE GAMBARI SPEAKING
- Embargoed: 18th July 2009 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Singapore
- Country: Singapore
- Topics: International Relations
- Reuters ID: LVA69ESCJ10ZNN0AX8I4DPPYWY5S
- Story Text: U.N. Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon, meets with Singapore Prime Minister before leaving for Myanmar on Friday.
United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon, met with Singapore Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong, in the city state on Thursday (July 2), ahead of his trip to Myanmar on Friday (July 3).
Ban Ki-Moon, who was travelling with his delegation, including U.N. special envoy Ibrahim Gambari, also met with Singapore Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong.
The U.N.secretary general is in Singapore ahead of his visit to Myanmar on Friday, which coincides with the trial of Aung San Suu Kyi, military-controlled Myanmar's democratic icon and main opposition leader who has been under house arrest for years.
In a Tokyo townhall meeting with students on Wednesday (July 1), Ban made a fresh call for the release of Suu Kyi, he also urged Myanmar's military government to start making swift preparations for a national election due to be held next year.
Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace laureate and the country's main opposition leader, has been in prison or under house arrest off and on since 1989.
The military junta that has ruled Myanmar since 1962 put Suu Kyi on trial again recently, accusing her of breaking the terms of her house arrest by allowing an unauthorized guest to stay at her lakeside home.
Her trial is expected to resume on July 3, the day Ban arrives in Myanmar. U.N. diplomats have said the secretary-general was concerned his visit could be used as propaganda to legitimize Suu Kyi's trial.
Western governments have dismissed Suu Kyi's prosecution as a "show trial" intended to keep her out of multi-party elections planned next year, which critics say will entrench almost half a century of army rule in the former Burma. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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