YANGON, March 1 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar has planned to hold the third meeting of the 21st Century Panglong Peace Conference in late April or early May, according to a decision of the 7th Joint Implementation Coordination Meeting (JICM) on the nationwide ceasefire agreement late Wednesday.
State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, in her capacity of the chairperson of the National Reconciliation and Peace Center (NRPC), urged the participants to take part in the discussions with confidence.
"It is not helpful to have doubts about building a federal union without taking part in the peace process and discussing a federal system that is suitable for Myanmar," she said, encouraging negotiation between the armed forces and the ethnic armed organizations (EAO) and calling on the EAOs to sit down and accept the invitation.
Aung San Suu Kyi urged peace makers to seize the opportunity of gaining understanding among participants and to make the best use of the understanding in building a democratic union.
On Feb. 13, Myanmar government and two more ethnic armed groups signed the Nationwide Ceasefire Accord (NCA) in Nay Pyi Taw, making a step forward in the country's peace process.
The join-in signing of the New Mon State Party (NMSP) and the Lahu Democratic Union (LDU) to the government's NCA has brought the total of such signatories to 10 since the first signing with eight armed groups in 2015.
NMSP and LDU, which are members of the United Nationalities Federal Council, are the first two armed groups signing the NCA in time of the incumbent government, led by the National League for Democracy.
The two fresh signatories will join the upcoming third meeting of the 21st Century Panglong Peace Conference, in which further discussion of unfinished fundamental principles on federalism as well as the formulation of new principles are to be made.
Following the 2015 initiation of the NCA, the 21st Century Panglong Peace Conferences were held twice during the incumbent government in August 2016 and May 2017 respectively.
The second meeting of the peace conference was able to incorporate a total of 37 adopted principles into a union accord in the country's peace process for the first time in Myanmar's history.
