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Foreign Minister Maas on the appointment of the ASEAN special envoy for Myanmar
Foreign Minister Heiko Maas issued the following statement today (4 August) on the appointment of Dato Erywan Yusof as the ASEAN special envoy for Myanmar:
I welcome the appointment of Dato Erywan Yusof as special envoy for Myanmar. This is an important step towards finding a political solution to the ongoing crisis. The suffering of the people of Myanmar must come to an end. What is important now is for the military regime to cooperate with the special envoy and allow him unrestricted access to all parts of the country. Together with our European partners, we will actively support the special envoy in his work.
Background:
Today (August 4, 2021), the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) appointed the second Minister of Foreign Affairs of Brunei Darussalam, Dato Erywan Yusof, as Special Envoy to Myanmar. The appointment of a special envoy had been set out in the “5-Point Consensus” of April 24, 2021. The Federal Foreign Office has advocated for the appointment of a special envoy to support ASEAN's pivotal role in resolving the Myanmar crisis.
In 2021, Brunei chairs the ASEAN. The current 10 member states are: Brunei, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.