State Counsellor Suu Kyi , leader of the government that took power in March, reaffirmed Myanmar’s "faith and confidence" in the principles of the United Nations, saying the organization was a "receptacle of our hopes for a more peaceful and prosperous world. "She noted that her party’s sweeping victory in November - in Myanmar’s first free elections in decades - was an echo of the dreams and aspirations that are the founding principles of the UN. "The dream of turning swords into plough shares - or to use a more modern idiom, converting weapons of destruction into farm machinery -is one that our people, who have long been compelled to sacrifice their sleep and their fields to the exigencies of conflict, understand with their hearts and their minds," Suu Kyi said.Noting Myanmar’s commitment to creating a nuclear-weapon-free world, Suu Kyi told the assembly that her country would present ratification documents to officially join the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty later Wednesday.Suu Kyi was awarded the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize for her opposition to Myanmar’s long-ruling military junta. She spent 15 years under house arrest until being freed in November 2010 in the wake of political reform in the country.- DPA

Source: The Nation Bangkok September 22, 2016 00:22 UTC