Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai, who chaired the meeting, told his colleagues that Asean was committed to helping Myanmar to solve the humanitarian crisis, according to an official who attended the working dinner. Asean has commissioned its Asean Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management (AHA Centre) to play a role in providing assistance to Myanmar and its displaced people. Asean foreign ministers at a working dinner on ThursdayLim briefed the ministerial meeting on a need assessment mission he made in mid December and said the AHA Centre would be the main mechanism for mobilising assistance to the strife-torn Rakhine state. More than 700,000 people have fled Rakhine since August 2017, following the attack on a security outpost that prompted Myanmar military’s clearance operation. They expect to finish the first draft of the text to be completed this year.

Source: The Nation Bangkok January 18, 2019 03:11 UTC