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National security chiefs from six South and Southeast Asian countries have arrived in Myanmar for regional talks, state media reported on Friday, in a rare visit for the isolated and embattled junta.
National security chiefs from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Thailand and Sri Lanka arrived on Thursday, the Global New Light of Myanmar reported.
The six countries, plus Myanmar, make up the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) group, loosely focused on trade.
Junta Chief Min Aung Hlaing met BIMSTEC officials ahead of the talks which begin Friday. They discussed "peace and stability... cooperation among member states in drug eradication, combatting terrorism, anti-human trafficking," the newspaper said.
AFP has contacted the embassies of the six countries for comment. Myanmar has been in turmoil since the military seized power in 2021 and launched a sweeping crackdown on dissent.
It is now battling established ethnic minority armed groups and newer "People's Defence Forces" that are fighting its rule, and together have seized swathes of territory.
Rights groups accuse the military of massive human rights abuses as it struggles to crush its opponents. Bangladesh, India and Thailand all share borders with Myanmar, across which thousands have fled to escape the conflict.
Most western nations have not replaced departing ambassadors to the country to avoid having to present credentials to the junta chief.
The United Nations has not accepted the junta's choice of ambassador to the world body, keeping in place the representative who served during the civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi.
The junta is also barred from attending high-level meetings of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations bloc.
