Burma's Foreign Minister Nyan Win "got an earful" from his Southeast Asian colleagues on the need for elections in his country to be fair and credible, the Asean bloc's chief said Tuesday.
"Myanmar, I think, got an earful last night," Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan told reporters, referring to a working dinner Monday by the group's foreign ministers.
"Asean is very much concerned and Asean is very much interested in the peaceful national reconciliation in Myanmar."
Surin said Nyan Win was told the elections could have "positive or negative implications" for Asean, a 10-nation group of 600 million people trying to project itself as a major trade and investment partner.
Burma's top diplomat "listened very, very attentively" during the discussions, Surin added.
Nyan Win briefed his fellow ministers on the progress of the elections planned for this year, but gave no date for the vote.
Burma's democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi has been disqualified from taking part in the elections.
The country's military regime disbanded her National League for Democracy but gave permission to some of its former members to run under a new name.
Burma also assured Asean it was not seeking to build nuclear weapons, as reported in the media, Surin said.
As well as Burma, Asean groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
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